Jewish voters could play a role in swing states, and in the last days of the presidential campaign, both candidates are reaching out to Jewish voters with urgent testimonies about Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s… Jewishness.
On the Trump side, a conservative superPac has a new ad out with the message, “In case you were wondering where Donald J. Trump gets his Yiddishkeit [Jewishness] from, watch this.” In the ad, Trump’s father Fred sells land in Brooklyn to Holocaust survivors for a synagogue for $10, establishing a Jewish community there back in 1955. Here’s the moral–
“Donald Trump followed in his father’s footsteps to help erect another building, the United States Embassy in Jerusalem. Israel has no better friend than Donald Trump.”
On a Jewish outreach call last night by the Biden campaign, Sarah Hurwitz, former head speechwriter for Michelle Obama, told a story about Biden reaching out to her one day at the White House– and how that shows his Jewish values. Here’s her anecdote and commentary:
“I was walking one day from the East Wing of the White House to the West Wing and walking by the Rose Garden and Joe Biden comes out from the West Wing toward the East Wing, and he’s got his staff and Secret Service and I just thought, like, Oh no, I shouldn’t be in his way! I should get out of his way, he’s important! I don’t want to bother him, so I decided I shouldn’t just turn around and run away because that would be awkward, so I did something probably even more awkward, I crunched myself up against the wall and looked down at my phone and tried to be invisible, and as I’m doing this I hear someone saying, ‘Hey! Hey! What are you doing? Why are you up against the wall? Come on Kid, you’re fine! Come on! You don’t have to do that! You’re fine.’ Joe Biden!
“Here I am, a little staffer, a nobody, right? He doesn’t know who I am. But in that moment I think what we saw was actually something that I associate as very Jewish. If you study Jewish ethical law what you come to realize is that it’s so hyperspecific, which at first can be really maddening. But then you start to realize that by going down into the weeds that specificity actually has a purpose. Meaning it doesn’t say, Give to those in need. It tells you exactly how. You have to give in a way that empowers people, that doesn’t humilate people. People who receive financial assistance, they have to give themselves, so that no one feels like just a taker. If you run into someone who you know owes you money but they can’t pay you back, you should avoid them so you don’t embarrass them. It’s so hyper-specific.
“But why it that? It’s because it’s taking into account the needs of every person. Jewish law exhibits this exquisite sensitivity to the needs and the dignity and humanity of every person, and that is why every elevator operator, janitor, train conducter, anyone who’s been within like 15 miles of Joe Biden has a story about how he saw them, how he took their needs into account. How he cared about them. Right? That’s how Joe Biden sees the world. And he could care less if you’re a billionaire or a nurse or a teacher– he doesn’t care. He sees your humanity and– just seeing his relentless decency, integrity, kindness and compassion, it is such a balm for the soul after the cruelty and depravity and brutality and lying that we’ve seen for four years that has caused such a moral injury to our country. I think he embodies just the very best of our values and I could not be more proud and excited to have voted for him.”
PS. Hurwitz is author of a book on Jewish spirituality.
Thanks to Adam Horowitz.
So which part of “needs and the dignity and humanity of every person” were the AKs pointed at my pregnant relative by IDF thugs in Bethlehem?