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The projected growth of the Orthodox Jewish community in America is cause for some dedicated tealeaf reading. How will it shape the outlook of organized Jewry in the next generation, especially with regard to Israel?

I think the answer, strangely enough, lies in a conversation George Washington had at a cocktail party in 1782 and a characteristically thoughtful essay by Walter Russell Mead published on his Web site in May.

Mead's essay was inspired by a Wall Street Journal column suggesting that to solve the conflict in Bangkok, both factions' leaders should forfeit their designs on elected office and hold new elections, in an act of personal sacrifice that would reflect the country's Buddhist nature -- a lesson for the West as well.

"Leadership in all walks of life must be rooted in real values and true leadership is inseparable from a commitment to sacrifice," he writes. "There is no surer sign of social rot than a society whose leaders are animated more by a sense of entitlement than a sense of sacrifice."

I would add here the aforementioned incident involving Washington, which took place when Col. Lewis Nicola advised Washington to dismiss Congress and declare himself the country's king -- something to which the populace would surely accede so long as he used a "more moderate title" than king. Washington responded that the idea "seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my country" and told Nicola to "banish these thoughts from your mind and never communicate them" to anyone again.

Furthermore, Mead, writes, "developing a foundation of values and the spiritual strength to keep working at them is the most important single quality leading to enduring personal happiness, social usefulness and professional success. Yet our elaborate university system, which offers people opportunities to specialize in all kinds of arcane knowledge, is frequently helpless when it comes to providing even the most basic guidance for young people."

Our universities, perhaps. But our yeshivot, seminaries, and other Orthodox educational institutions put a priority on "developing a foundation of values and the spiritual strength to keep working at them" in our young men and women. That should provide some reassurance about the future of the Jewish community in which a larger share will be Orthodox.

It doesn't, however, for Peter Beinart. Beinart, a Jewish former editor of The New Republic, penned an overwrought, intellectually slothful jeremiad in the New York Review of Books directed at the American Jewish community for too steadfastly supporting Israel.

"Morally, American Zionism is in a downward spiral," Beinart explains, because we're trending toward a "younger, Orthodox-dominated, Zionist leadership."

What's the matter with the Orthodox? Beinart lays out his case.

"In their yeshivas they learn devotion to Israel from an early age; they generally spend a year of religious study there after high school, and often know friends or relatives who have immigrated to Israel," writes Beinart. "The same AJC study found that while only 16 percent of non-Orthodox adult Jews under the age of forty feel 'very close to Israel,' among the Orthodox the figure is 79 percent."

Now, you could easily conclude from that paragraph that the Orthodox are more likely than others to understand Israel and the reality of life in the Middle East. Beinart sees it differently.

"But it is this very parochialism -- a deep commitment to Jewish concerns, which often outweighs more universal ones -- that gives Orthodox Jewish Zionism a distinctly illiberal cast," he writes, adding: "if current trends continue, the growing influence of Orthodox Jews in America's Jewish communal institutions will erode even the liberal-democratic veneer that today covers American Zionism."

To sum up: According to Beinart, Orthodox Jews' commitment to morality is a sign of their depravity; their sense of community and shared values proves their selfishness; and their personal connection to Israel is indicative of their disconnect with Israel's true ideals.

Beinart should pick up Ira Stoll's biography of Samuel Adams. Aside from Adams' compulsive comparison of the Colonists to the ancient Israelites, Beinart would be reminded that Thomas Paine's seminal "Common Sense" quotes Tanakh to argue against a monarchy and for popular government.

He would learn that Samuel Langdon criticized British rule in favor of "the Jewish government," established by God in the Torah, which constituted "a perfect Republic," and that John Hancock's justification for American self-government was based in large part on a quote from the prophet Habakkuk. Perhaps he'd be edified to learn that when Samuel Adams stood for governor, his election day sermon was given by Samuel Deane, who offered that the perfect example of a human governor was Moses (a fairly Orthodox Jew, no?). And there are endless more such examples.

In truth, this country's founding classical liberal principles -- the ones Mead rightfully believes will properly guide us -- are largely based on Torah Judaism; the Orthodox community are merely returning us to our roots.

If Mead is right, the expansion of the Orthodox Jewish community is one component in the possible resurrection of a culture that produces leaders of honesty and integrity. That will be good for the United States and for Israel. As Mead concludes: "The fear of the Lord remains the beginning of wisdom for most human beings."

Seth Mandel is the managing editor of The Jewish State.