Judaism and different politics: Becca and Elaine take One Small Step

In a world of disinformation and artificial intelligence, who do you trust?

Central Florida Public Media and StoryCorps are bringing together strangers with differing political views for guided conversations. Elaine Silver, a Longwood divorce attorney, sat down for a conversation with University of Central Florida student Becca.

We’re not using Becca’s full name because she asked us not to over concerns of a future career in law enforcement.

Becca said she gets most of her news from TikTok - but these days, she doesn’t trust much of what she sees. She said she’s in a generation that isn’t thinking about the news unless they're “seriously passionate about it.”

“I think everything's very distorted now, so that's kind of why I stopped looking at the Internet for answers, probably about like four years ago, or when COVID happened,” Becca said. “You can't trust absolutely anything, as far as, like, even just buying something online. … How am I going to trust politics online when people have such strong views and will do anything to turn something?”

Elaine said for her generation, you could choose a conservative-leaning newspaper or a liberal-leaning newspaper, and decide for yourself what was happening. But the facts were the facts.

The new reality is “so sad.”

“That scares me more than anything, that nobody is paying attention,” Elaine said. “It can't be the old people like me who try and change the world.”

https://youtu.be/jibLgPb6kxk

Meet Elaine Silver

Elaine Silver was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and lived in Connecticut for more than 20 years.

She said her parents were a huge influence on her life, and even took her to a protest against Joe McCarthy when she was an infant.

“So all my life, I've lived in a politically liberal household, and a Jewish household,” Elaine said. “There are people who see echoes of the Holocaust … not the concentration camps, but how Hitler changed Germany in a month. There are people who see echoes of that in what Trump is doing now.”

About 25 years ago, she moved to Florida with her two adopted children. She works as what she calls a peaceful divorce lawyer and mediator.

Her political concerns: She doesn’t believe anyone should push their religious views on anyone else, “especially when it comes to telling women what they can and can’t do with their bodies.”

And gun control is another important topic. She lost one of her sons to suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The information that I see, that I believe, that I trust, says that more people get harmed by their own guns than can ever make anyone else safer with them,” Elaine said. “And my son shot himself with guns that he shouldn't have had. So it's very personal to me, right?”

Meet Becca

Becca grew up in South Florida, and is currently attending the University of Central Florida.

She’s looking to go into law enforcement, choosing the same career as her late father. She said growing up, she would sometimes come home to things she shouldn’t have seen on their pool table after her dad would make an arrest.

“It would be like a big bag of money,” Becca said. “Like after school, he’s like, ‘I have to stop somewhere,’ and he would go undercover somewhere, like right then and there. I guess just like being raised around it, I always thought it was, like, insanely cool.”

Becca said she grew up with a conservative family, but she wasn’t sure about her dad’s political views - he didn’t seem to like either Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

But her father did believe that only law enforcement should have weapons. Becca said personally, she’s never shot a gun, and wishes no one would have them now.

“I actually lost a best friend from the Parkland shooting,” Becca said. “So when I tell people that I'm in favor of guns, you know, it's a little contradicting. … Now that everyone has them, what are we going to do? How are we going to protect ourselves?”

The Takeaway

Becca said her views on some issues have evolved.

She used to be pro-life. But seeing a friend get pregnant and have an abortion last year changed her views.

“And being in such a situation that was so scary, where she was so young, and it needed to happen,” Becca said.

Elaine said that sometimes the labels get in the way. When Elaine initially read Becca’s bio, which said she was religious and conservative, she didn’t think Becca was Jewish.

When she thinks conservative, she doesn’t think pro-choice.

“I went to the assumption that you were Christian, because typically faith-based and conservative, I think Christian,” Elaine said.

Elaine said there’s a story where a scholar had to describe Judaism while standing on one leg. His response was do not do unto others what you would not want done to you. “The rest is commentary,” Elaine said.

“So to me, the core value of Judaism is that taking care of other people, repairing the world,” Elaine said. “Working to care for other people, Jewish and not Jewish. We can't all fix everything, but doing everything we can to take one small step. Because we can't do everything, it doesn't stop us from having to do something.”

Becca said that’s a good outlook on life.

“And honestly, I think I label myself conservative, because my family is,” Becca said. “I feel like you've made me want to go and see for myself, as far as, like, learning about all of what we talked about, kind of forming my own opinion or expanding my knowledge on this to see where I really stand.”