Congregating with Jon Stewart Leibowitz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the beginning, there was the multimedia superstar Glenn Beck summoning his Tea Party congregation to a faith-friendly "Restoring Honor" rally on the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congregating with Jon Stewart Leibowitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the beginning, there was the multimedia superstar Glenn Beck summoning his Tea Party congregation to a faith-friendly "Restoring Honor" rally on the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-07T11:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/\",\"name\":\"Congregating with Jon Stewart Leibowitz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-07T11:23:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-07T11:23:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"In the beginning, there was the multimedia superstar Glenn Beck summoning his Tea Party congregation to a faith-friendly \\\"Restoring Honor\\\" rally on the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Congregating with Jon Stewart Leibowitz\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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{"id":2040,"date":"2010-11-07T06:23:15","date_gmt":"2010-11-07T11:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2010-11-07T06:23:15","modified_gmt":"2010-11-07T11:23:15","slug":"congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/11\/congregating-with-jon-stewart-leibowitz-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Congregating with Jon Stewart Leibowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the beginning, there was the multimedia superstar Glenn Beck summoning his Tea Party congregation to a faith-friendly \u201cRestoring Honor\u201d rally on the National Mall.<\/p>\n

And behold, two postmodern prophets witnessed this media storm and decided that it was good. In response, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central organized their pre-election \u201cRally to Restore Sanity and\/or Fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbert, a progressive Catholic Sunday school teacher who pretends to be a right-wing blowhard, provided the fake \u201cfear\u201d factor. In his upside-down catechism, preaching \u201cfear\u201d became the same thing as advocating that nonpartisan virtue \u2014 \u201chope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prophet of sanity was Jon Stewart. With his snarky call for rationality and civility, the Daily Show anchor implied that his critics were preaching insanity, irrationality and incivility. And, for once, he didn\u2019t season his satire with ironic shots at his own Jewish roots.<\/p>\n

Truth is, Stewart has become a hero for many Jews and a controversial figure for others, noted Jane Eisner, editor of The Jewish Daily Forward<\/em><\/a>. Nevertheless, Stewart \u2014 originally Jon Stewart Leibowitz \u2014 has once again been named<\/a> to the \u201cForward 50,\u201d<\/a> the newspaper\u2019s list of those who made a \u201csignificant impact on the Jewish story in the past year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very impressionistic,\u201d she said. \u201cWe try to identify people who are acting in ways that impact the Jewish community. \u2026 We are looking for people who are acting in ways that really show the impact of their Jewish values, whether we\u2019re talking about Judaism as a faith or a culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, many Jews have \u201creal questions about how Jewishly Stewart acts.\u201d Nevertheless, said Eisner, \u201cif we can translate this into Jewish terms, he keeps showing us that he knows his stuff, even as he makes fun of the fine details of Jewish life.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his Forward 50 mini-biography notes: \u201cA Democrat in the White House has hardly tempered the irreverent and distinctly Jewish voice of the liberal-leaning fake news anchor. \u2026 Stewart is quick to play the Jewish card, drop a Zabar\u2019s reference or cozy up to bubbes and zaydes at the 92nd Street Y.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one side of this identity question. However, the Hollywood Jew weblog noted: \u201cFor some Jews it\u2019s perplexing that Jon Stewart, an American Jewish icon, isn\u2019t religious. How could the Jew who makes Jewish \u2018cool\u2019 be so indifferent to Judaism? \u2026 Buried beneath the laughter from his jokes \u2026 is a deep and hidden disappointment that he isn\u2019t really doing what we\u2019re doing.\u201d This is, after all, a man who flaunts his bacon-cheeseburgers on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, with his edgy sermons about skepticism and reason, Stewart dwells comfortably with other Jewish progressives who see themselves as heirs of the Enlightenment \u2014 standing against blind faith and ancient traditions. The assumption for many on the Jewish left, said Eisner, is that there is always \u201csomething worrisome about people who take their faith really seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

These religious tensions were visible on the National Mall during the Stewart-Colbert rally. While organizers insisted their event was non-partisan, and pled with participants to temper their words and deeds, the crowd included flocks of people who clearly were there to mock the views of religious and secular conservatives.<\/p>\n

Consider, for example, the inevitable Hitler signs.<\/p>\n

When announcing his rally, Stewart said he planned to distribute signs that were both civil and witty. One sign, for example, would say: \u201cI Disagree With You, But I\u2019m Pretty Sure You\u2019re Not Hitler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many got the message, but some didn\u2019t. Someone produced signs containing images of prominent conservatives \u2014 with Hitler mustaches \u2014 and the headline, \u201cAfraid yet?\u201d Beck, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh made the sign, along with Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, almost certainly the next Speaker of the House, and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the likely House majority leader.<\/p>\n

Cantor is Jewish and, like Stewart, made the Forward 50 list for 2010.<\/p>\n

Stewart remained silent. Still, as his rally ended, the funny man soberly admitted that he could not control \u201cwhat people think this was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only tell you my intentions,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or to look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult, and that we have nothing to fear. They are, and we do.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we live now in hard times \u2014 not the end times.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"