Being Jewish In America

I've been thinking about writing some variation of this post for many months, but based on two significant events from the last two weeks, I finally sat down to do this. I am Jewish. Not exactly breaking news, I know. It's a big part of my identity like being a father and being from Pittsburgh and a Pittsburgh sports fan. Besides hoping that the tradition of eating pickles during Hanukkah catches on, I don't write about being Jewish very often. It's personal. I mean, sure, some of my posts are personal, but it's more fun to write about the Pittsburgh Pirates or pop music. Actually, it's not much fun to write about the Pirates these days. Through June 2nd, the overall ERA of Pirates starters is 3.66, which is 13th out of the 30 baseball teams. That may not sound impressive, but it's better than the Dodgers, Mariners, Cubs, Padres, Guardians, and Astros, all teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. If only the team spent some money on hitting and the bullpen! Getting way off topic.

Before I get much further, this post may live up to this blog's title, Sean's Ramblings. I'm going to be rambling all over the place. Let's proceed.

On October 7th, 2023, Hamas, the governing body of the Gaza Strip, attacked Israel killing more than 1,200 people and taking approximately 250 hostages. Those killed and captured included men, women, and children from multiple nationalities. They attacked a music festival, burned families alive, and committed sexual violence. Over 600 days later, there are still hostages and bodies of hostages in Gaza. There seems to be no proof of life or Red Cross inspectors to check on the status of the hostages. That's not the point of this post though. Israel's response to this attack isn't the point either. Israel is in an impossible position. How do you respond to the worst attack in the country's history? How do you limit civilian deaths (something Hamas didn't try to do) to defeat Hamas when Hamas militants and leadership hide among civilian areas at places like schools and hospitals? And how do you get the hostages back? It's worth noting that Gaza under Hamas is not a bastion of democracy. They haven't held elections since taking power in the mid-2000s and kill their political rivals. Not a great place for those wanting freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or who are part of the LGBTQ community. Not much freedom of the press either as you don't see the New York Times or Washington Post or BBC or FOX or ABC ever reporting from Gaza. 

Thousands of miles away, protests emerged throughout the United States. You would think it would be about releasing hostages and against Hamas, but that hasn't been the case. Many protests, particularly on college campuses, have been against Israel. And this is where I'll admit that I've put my head in the sand a bit. Although my background is in higher education and student affairs, I haven't worked on a college campus in over 20 years, and my kids are still several years away from applying to schools. I've heard about or read about various protests on campuses and in cities, most notably in Washington DC since I live next door in Northern Virginia, but those haven't impacted me directly. For any protests in DC, I'm not driving near them as I'm more than likely taking my kids to their activities like basketball, scouts or theater classes. 

Of course, some of these protests have shifted from being anti-Israel to being anti-Jews. They have made Jews on college campuses (and beyond) feel unsafe or worse. For example, there were at least two attacks against Jewish students on the University of Pittsburgh's campus. By the way, I don't support someone getting arrested or deported for writing an op-ed in a student newspaper. Free speech is free speech. Inciting violence or actually conducting physical violence is a different matter.

Here's the reality. I don't walk around with a billboard or a sign stating that I'm Jewish. There are people who don't like Jews for whatever reason usually based on incorrect stereotypes. My friends know that I'm Jewish, but it's not something that I advertise. (And yes, while I guess this post is advertising that I'm Jewish, I still try to keep some anonymity here.) My religion/culture/social group, however you define Judaism, shouldn't be a big deal, but there's a long history of antisemitism in the United States and around the world. 

Small example. At our kids' elementary school, the 2nd graders had an activity where they put together slides or posters about their heritage and made items representing the heritage at a market. It's a fun project, and the kids get really into it. Both my wife's family and my family are from Eastern Europe, including Lithuania, Poland, and Russia (though there's some question about what country controlled what area at a specific time). For Luigi's project, he shared his Lithuanian heritage. It was fun researching and learning about Lithuanian food and historic sites, but Lithuanian heritage for him was a bit of a stretch since that goes back generations to his great-great grandparents. I guess the alternative could have been Israel, but we don't have family who lived there and came to the US. While my wife and I never discussed it, I think in the back of our minds, we didn't want to have the potential backlash of kids being mean to Luigi for being Jewish. And this is in 2nd grade! 

Were we being overprotective or overly sensitive? Worrying for nothing? Maybe. However, at his recent baseball game, the mother of one of the kids of the other team wore a T-shirt with the Palestinian flag depicted over the country of Israel (like the picture below), seemingly to go with the "From the river to the sea" sentiment that there should be no Jews in Israel, so maybe not. (By the way, that kid was terrible at baseball.) 

Still, words and taunts are one thing. Physical violence is something else, and that's what has happened recently. During Passover, someone set fire to the Pennsylvania Governor's mansion with the family inside because Josh Shapiro is Jewish. On Sunday, multiple people who march peacefully weekly in support of the hostages in Gaza were set on fire via a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails in Boulder, Colorado. Much closer to me, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were killed at an event at the Capital Jewish Museum a few weeks ago. While the news has highlighted the fact that both were Israeli embassy staff, the assailant wasn't targeting them directly. He just saw two people leaving from an event at a Jewish museum. It didn't matter that the event was for young Jewish professionals working on humanitarian diplomacy throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It also didn't matter that Yaron and Sarah were peace advocates and that Sarah worked for an organization combining entrepreneurial training and conflict dialogue between young Israelis and Palestinians.

Threats or actual violence against Jews is nothing new. Still, I think my belief that it couldn't happen in the United States was shattered when 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue, a place my family belonged to until I was 16. Today, although my kids are used to seeing security at our synagogue whenever we go and probably don't remember a time when there wasn't security, I'm not a fan. I understand the reasoning, but it bothers me that we live in a society where this is necessary. So do I feel unsafe on a daily basis? Usually, no. But I also can't ignore the massive increase in antisemitic incidents.

The reality is that it's a scary time, and I don't see things getting better. On Monday, the national news covered the incident in Boulder, and a few stories later, shared that several dozen people seeking aid were killed in Gaza by Israeli troops. Except it didn't happen that way. Montana Tucker broke down the incident, and The Washington Post sent out clarifications on social media. Will we find out the truth about what actually happened? Probably not, and it doesn't matter. The headlines blame Israel, and people are right to be upset about civilian casualties. So the cycle of demonstrations and threats or worse will continue against Jewish organizations and groups and places of worship. Most have nothing to do with Israel and certainly not with the Israeli military. Yaron and Sarah were for peace and the victims in Boulder marched for awareness of hostages. That meant nothing to the perpetrators.  

Back to me (since this is my blog), I worry some. It doesn't dominate my thoughts, but it's unavoidable since I try to follow the news. I also know that I can't look at the comments section on Twitter or Bluesky or in articles. I'm curious what kind of comments I get to this post on Facebook and other sites. Even before I publish this, I'm grateful for the support that I'll receive. I also expect some hateful replies and maybe people unfollowing or unfriending me. If that's how someone feels simply because I'm Jewish, please unfollow. Meanwhile, I hope that the war in Gaza ends soon with the hostages released. 

Here are a few articles I came across while writing this post that I think are worth sharing:

An op-ed in The Kansas City Star, hometown of Sarah. (KC Star)

A message from American University's president on Sarah's murder. (AU)

Michael Rapaport sounding off. (Fox News)

How October 7th changed antisemitic attacks in the US. (The Washington Post)

An interview with the University of Colorado Boulder's Hillel Director. (ABC News)

March For Israel

I’m not really a rally or march guy. The older I get, the less I like being in big crowds and that was even before Covid. Plus, I’m busy. Between work and family activities, I don’t really have time to attend rallies or protests or anything like that. Tuesday’s March for Israel was different. First, it was held on the National Mall, so I only needed to travel a few extra Metro stops to get there. More importantly, I felt that I needed to be there to support the Jewish community and the Israeli-American relationship.

Let’s go back a month. On October 7th, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and brutally killed approximately 1,400 people and kidnapped 240 others. Children and the elderly were part of both groups. More Jews were killed on October 7th than on any other day since the Holocaust. While I shared my thoughts about the aftermath of the terrorist attacks and Israel's response two weeks later, I didn't touch on what has happened and continues to happen in America. Anti-semitism and threats against Jews on college campuses (including where I worked at Ohio State for two years). Vandalism at Jewish institutions. The number of antisemitic incidents has skyrocketed. The March for Israel was an opportunity to let our voices be heard that we're not going to take it. (Feel free to sing the Twisted Sister song.) That we support Israel and its right to exist. And that we demand the release of the hostages.

I arrived on the National Mall via the Smithsonian Metro station around 11:00. While I considered showing that I'm a local and asking people to stand on the right of the Metro escalator, I just took the stairs while many groups with matching shirts emerged from the subway. I followed my way toward the stage and got in line to enter the "front" area. I found myself next to a group who flew in from Minnesota and saw that they all had blue wristbands to get into this area. I didn't have a wristband, so I went back to the "general admission" section and stood in the grass approximately between the Smithsonian castle and the Natural History Museum. 

A pre-show rally for/by students started at 11:30 with various high school and college student speakers. Other speakers for the pre-show included Tik-Tok and Instagram star Montana Tucker (who I follow), actor Brett Gelman from Stranger Things and Fleabag, and Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York who I thought was fantastic. 

There were also performances by Israeli musicians Ishay Ribo and Omer Adam. I wasn't familiar with either, though to be fair, most of the music I know from the last few years is what I hear on the SiriusXM channel Hits One. 

The "main event" started at 1:00. with speeches from actress Tova Feldshuh, CNN's Van Jones (more mixed reactions for him than anyone else), and former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician Natan Sharansky. Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke from the Western Wall, and there were speeches from other political figures like Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the US Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. To me, the most notable speakers during the rally were the Congressional leadership of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senator Joni Ernst. (I guess Senator Mitch McConnell was busy trying to figure out how the now 2-8 University of Pittsburgh football team handed the University of Louisville its only loss of the season thus far last month.) I really found the inclusion and words by Torres, Johnson, and Jeffries to be an important part of the event. These are non-Jewish allies sharing their support.

Debra Messing was terrific.

Matisyahu performed with the Maccabeats.

For years, I've joked about a rivalry between acapella groups the Maccabeats and Six13. While competition between these two groups is probably all in my head, I feel like the March for Israel should have been a time where they performed together. Sort of like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry coming together after years of feuding.

Although the event was scheduled to end at 3:00, it was still going strong at 3:20. After standing in one spot for about 5 hours, I was not still going strong and decided to head home. With the entrance to the Smithsonian Metro station packed, I walked about a mile away to the Farragut West station. Maybe it's because I left early, but I was surprised that the Metro wasn't crowded. I heard that buses parked at RFK, so maybe more people headed in the opposite direction. 

A few final notes:

* Many speakers mentioned their support of the Palestinian people and shared their prayers or grief with innocent Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives. (I noticed this the most in Debra Messing's speech above.) 

* While I enjoyed the rally, I think I would have had a better time if I went with a group and/or with friends. 

* 13 years ago, I attended the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear starring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. 13 years later, there's still no cell phone reception on the National Mall when there's a large group of people. 

Overall, I'm glad I attended. Hearing from several famililes of those kidnapped was powerful. More than anything, it was a sense of unity. Of coming together. Of knowing that we're not alone. 

Here are a few more photos from the event:

Am Yisrael Chai!

Israel Update

Part of the reason that I haven’t posted much recently is because of the current situation in Israel. I’m spending a lot of time reading news updates, watching videos online, and following various discussions on social media. (While also working and running all over the place for my kids' activities.) It’s terribly sad reading about the people killed in the Hamas attack and those currently being held hostage. How can people take infants and toddlers hostage? That's barbaric.

Naturally, Israel couldn’t just say, “this is terrible and we really hope Hamas gives us back those who were kidnapped. Sure, the Hamas charter calls for the destruction of our country, but we’re sure that if we do nothing there will be a peaceful solution.” Unfortunately, innocent Palestinians are getting killed in retaliatory attacks. I’m like nearly everyone else in the world who truly wants the bloodshed to end and peace in the region. That's never going to happen as long as Hamas runs Gaza. 

Does Israel deserve criticism? Absolutely. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone on for decades, and Israel is certainly not blameless. But I'm also not sure what Israel can do when Hamas wants the country destroyed. Israel pulled out of Gaza nearly 20 years ago, and Hamas governs Gaza. What are they doing to improve the lives of its citizens? I'm sure that some will blame the Israeli-Egyptian blockade for all the ills of Gaza though again, the reason for this is to prevent weapons from getting into Gaza. 

Now that Israel has been forced to respond, innocent people are being killed. I'm sure you saw the awful news that hundreds of people were killed at a Gaza hospital. The immediate story was that this was an Israeli attack, but according to President Biden per the National Security Council, the explosion was likely caused by an errant rocket or missile launch carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group that's not going to be considered for a Nobel Peace prize. Of course, that didn't stop people from blaming Israel and Jews in general. A historic (though defunct) synagogue in Tunisia was destroyed, and a Berlin synagogue was bombed. There is also increased security at my synagogue and others throughout the country. We have nothing to do with what's happening in Israel, but there are people out there looking for any excuse to target Jews. I'm tired of people online (and at least one member of Congress) refusing to blame Hamas for anything and criticizing Israel for everything. Most people truly want peace and for the Palestinian people to be successful. But that should be the same for Israel too. 

I Stand With Israel

I'm posting this on Monday afternoon. I'd really like to write about yesterday's Steelers win over the Baltimore Ravens (and I guess I can since this is my blog!), but that's not on my mind right now. Instead, I can't stop thinking about the terrorist attacks in Israel over the weekend. 

I'm not getting into the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations in this post. I'm also not going to pretend like I'm an expert in this area. To my understanding, the West Bank and Gaza are operated by two completely different entities, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas respectively. There really seems to be a distinction between these groups. That's part of the reason why we're seeing attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza and not the West Bank. Hamas does not acknowledge the existance of Israel and wants to destroy the country. I also acknowledge that Israel has responded and will continue to respond to these terrorist attacks. Innocent Palestinians have and will be killed. I truly pray for peace.

At least 260 people were killed at a music festival. A music festival! Everyone in attendance was there for fun and to have a good time. They were hunted and killed and others were kidnapped. This brutality is simply incomprehensible. 

I'm sharing a few stories below that I saw on Facebook. These are just a few of the many individual stories. 

Since I mentioned sports at the outset, I want to recognize the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers, and Washington Wizards among others who shared messages over the last few days.

Donald Trump And The Jewish Vote

I've been thinking about this for a long time. I know that there are plenty of Jews who support and will vote for Donald Trump in November. Much of the reasoning behind this is due to his relationship and accomplishments surrounding Israel. Let's start with Trump moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On the surface, this seems like an easy call. How can an embassy not be in the country capital? Congress even authorized this move back in 1995. (Biden voted in favor of this.) For a variety of reasons, though, the move never happened until Trump took office. While maybe pro-Trump Jewish voters are okay with the end result here, Trump said that he moved the embassy “for the evangelicals.”

“And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the Evangelicals. You know, it’s amazing with that: the Evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people.” pic.twitter.com/nO8aIzuZJa

— David Pinsen (@dpinsen) August 17, 2020

 

I'm definitely not going to speak for evangelicals here. I'll let Walker Robins, a former Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University post-doctoral fellow (and current lecturer at Merrimack College) explain.

Some evangelicals "stress biblical prophecy, holding that Jewish possession of Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem, is essential to a number of prophesied events that will accompany the Second Coming of Christ." Many evangelicals see the embassy move as getting closer to the Rapture / End Times / Armageddon where good Christians go to heaven and the rest of us (including Jews) are left behind or worse. Therefore, it's fair to suspect the way the embassy move was done (it upset lots of people) and the reason for the move. 
 
By the way, Trump said this during his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention last month.

“Rather than spending $1 billion on a new building as planned, we took an already owned existing building in a better location … and opened it at a cost of less than $500,000.”

In reality, from this fact check from the link above, the cost for converting the building is over $23 million, and the costs for the permanent embassy could surpass $1 billion.

Even back in 2018 when Trump claimed that the site would only cost between $200,000 and $300,000, the State Department awarded a $21 million contract for embassy building upgrades.

I’m not going to write that Trump lied about the costs, but, um, I’m not sure the right way to finish this sentence if I don't write that. I should also mention that if people are worried about the status of the embassy if Trump loses, Biden said he’ll keep the embassy in Jerusalem.

I realize that I barely started this post, and I’m including lots of links and quotes. That’s not like me! You generally read stories about my kids or about how many burritos I ate in a year. I’ll try to have less of this.

Israel recently signed peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain thanks in part to assistance by the United States. Trump is taking credit for this, and he should. This is his biggest international accomplishment of his presidency. However, let’s not pretend that Trump was at Camp David with international leaders for weeks trying to broker a peace deal like Jimmy Carter. UAE and Israel have been building towards an agreement for years based on growing business connections and a mutual enemy in Iran. And honestly, the Saudi Arabia and Iran relationship is probably the key here. Hot take: They don’t like each other very much. UAE and Bahrain don’t do these deals without the backing of Saudi Arabia. And this is where things get tricky. Or maybe not tricky at all. 

The CIA concluded that Mohammed bin Salman (“MBS”), the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Nevertheless, not long after the murder, Trump bypassed Congress to sell about $8 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and UAE. He also vetoed resolutions blocking the sale as well as a bipartisan bill to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s civil war. In addition, it was recently revealed that Trump bragged to Bob Woodward that he “was able to get Congress to leave MBS alone.” Clearly, Trump values his relationship with the Saudi monarchy (and probably more specifically their money), and they obviously love Trump. I mean, there were no repercussions at all for murdering a journalist. In fact, they were rewarded and protected!

So it clearly looks like Israel decided that they’re on the Saudi side of the Saudi Arabia-Iran whatever you want to call it. And this is where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes in. Bibi (and others including many in the American Jewish community) didn’t like the international deal between the US and other countries with Iran during the Obama administration. Obama and Bibi never seemed to get along, and the signing of this nuclear agreement strained the relationship (at best) between the two. Because of this, there are people who think that Obama and Biden (since he was VP under Obama) are against or hate Israel. However, it was under Obama and Biden in 2016 that the US signed a record $38 billion deal for military aid to Israel. Now, it’s fair to question this deal and incredible amount of money involved here, but it happened even with the sour relationship between Obama and Netanyahu. The point is America is committed to Israel no matter who is in the Oval Office. And it seems to me that Biden has a solid track record on Israel and to a lesser extent so does Kamala Harris.

Okay, sorry for a few more links. Joe Biden’s website discusses his record and plan pertaining to Israel and Harris shared her commitment to Israel. There are also some “fun” facts about Harris and her relationship with the Jewish community.

By the way, Israel definitely didn’t want Iran to have nuclear capabilities. Well, guess who may have enough uranium ore to produce nuclear fuel? That’s right, Saudi Arabia!

Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem is fine, and it’s great the Israel has peace agreements with UAE and Bahrain. However, anyone suggesting that Trump is the best president Israel has ever had certainly doesn’t know the history between the two countries. While I stand by my point that the US-Israel relationship will be strong with whoever is in the Oval Office, Israel needs to worry about their own leadership given that there have been approximately 87 elections for Prime Minister over the last few years! (That’s only a slight exaggeration.) I think most people want Israel to have peace agreements with as many countries (and including the Palestinians) as possible. Until that happens, though, I think it's fair to be skeptical (and there are probably other words you could use here) of the Saudi Arabian government.

Now that I wrote about America’s relationship with Israel, I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah.

Actually, I wanna really, really, really discuss this this September 2, 2020 opinion article titled "Many Orthodox Jews support President Trump. I'm one of them - here's why" by Mishpacha Magazine editor Binyamin Rose published in Washington Jewish Week. Here are some quotes from the article:

We feel an affinity to the president’s cadre of Orthodox Jewish advisers, including Jared Kushner. Jared’s father, Charlie, was my high school classmate at the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, NJ. The Kushners wore their commitment to Jewish causes and Israel on their sleeves.

It’s nice that Rose has a personal connection to the Kushners. It’s funny that he didn’t mention that Kushner pleaded guilty to 16 counts of tax evasion, one count of retaliating against a federal witness and one count of lying to the Federal Election Commission. And that one count of retaliating against a federal witness is quite a story. Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, videotaped it, and then sent the videotape to his sister to attempt to intimidate her from testifying before a grand jury. So Kushner served time in federal prison, but since he’s committed to Jewish causes and Israel, everything is okay? As for Jared Kusher, the only reason that he has such a prominent role in the Trump administration is because he married Ivanka Trump. I would say that he’s a real life Tom Wambsgans, but as pointed out in this amazing Last Week Tonight segment, he has plenty of responsibilities. (This video is not safe for work.)

If Kushner wasn't married to Ivanka and showed up at the White House with his resume and asked to be responsible for Middle East peace negotiations, on the coronavirus task force, as well as the other items he does, he would be laughed away. Back to the article.

Recent events have only solidified Trump’s standing despite the coronavirus pandemic, which most Orthodox Jews view as primarily a health issue and not one that politicians can solve. Biden can critique Trump from the basement of his Wilmington, Del., home all he wants, but he can’t prove retroactively that he would have done better.

I’ll give Rose the benefit of the doubt that this was published in early September before the revelation that Trump told Bob Woodward that he was downplaying the severity of the virus to avoid panic. We all know that Trump tries to avoid panic at all costs. Remember all of the gang members and terrorists that were part of the Central American migrants ready to invade our southern border? He definitely tried to downplay that, right? Rose is correct that we can’t prove that Biden would have done better during the pandemic. But how could he have done worse? Biden never said that the virus would simply go away. Biden also never said that the virus "affects virtually nobody" under 18. Again, I'm not going to write that Trump lied, but um...

Aside from catching COVID-19, the two outbreaks Orthodox Jews fear most are a breakdown of law and order, and rising anti-Semitism. To an extent, the two dovetail.

American Orthodox Jewish voters are concentrated in and around major cities, where Jewish institutions have spent millions of dollars since 9/11 on security upgrades. We have watched in dread as this summer’s legitimate demonstrations against police brutality against Black Americans quickly gave way to rioting and looting, with big-city mayors looking the other way.

While the vast majority of the protests haven’t resulted in rioting and looting, let’s go with Rose’s point. So the way to improve law and order and rising anti-Semitism that has happened during the Trump presidency is to, re-elect Trump?

Yes, political dialogue has descended to gutter level. Trump bears his share of the blame for that. Judaism has laws for kosher speech, just as it has for kosher food. Jewish law forbids the use of derogatory nicknames. We’d like to see the president eliminate the name-calling from his political lexicon.

 
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Can I stop laughing now? Trump has been president for nearly four years. What makes you think he’s going to stop name-calling? He was just on Fox and Friends on Monday suggesting that Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Congressman Adam Schiff (who he called "Shifty Schiff") made up Ruth Bader Ginsburg's deathbed statement that "my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed." His political lexicon isn't changing.

Trump’s diatribes have emboldened far-right extremists and white nationalists.

 

But wait, you just said that rising anti-Semitism was the biggest concern besides COVID-19!

At the same time, Democratic progressives have ramped up their anti-Israel rhetoric, supporting the BDS movement under the banner of free speech. Both parties are guilty of fomenting anti-Semitism. But for an Orthodox Jew, what’s the bigger present threat? A far-right extremist in a distant rural town, or a looter in a Jewish neighborhood?

 
This makes no sense. Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embolden people to loot in Jewish neighborhoods? I’ve never once heard that correlation.

By the way, there were at least two far-right extremists in the last few years in Pittsburgh and Poway (just outside San Diego). Those aren’t distant rural towns. And just from personal experiences, Jewish agencies have spent millions of dollars on security upgrades since the Tree of Life synagogue shooting rather than since 9/11.

This is out of order, but one final quote from Rose.

We also support government funding of secular studies curriculums within parochial schools, as many Western countries do. 

If that’s your #1 election issue, I guess you’re going to vote for Trump. I mean, almost all school funding occurs on the local or state level, but go with Trump over Biden here. By the way, you know what else is a pressing item for Jews and all Americans? Healthcare. Trump's entire healthcare plan has been to abolish Obamacare, so much so that his administration is currently waiting to argue this in front of the Supreme Court. How many times over the last 3.5+ years has Trump said that he would have a new, better healthcare plan? It's late September, and there's still no plan or proposal.

Finally, please listen to Trump’s phone call with various leaders, rabbis, and Holocaust survivors (who he meets “on the campaign trail often”). I’d love to see a list of who exactly was on this call. Oh, and when and where exactly is Trump meeting all of these Holocaust survivors? Is it before or after his speeches at airport hangers? Anyway, while it seems like the premise of this call was to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and wish people a Happy New Year, the vast majority of the nearly 15 minutes of the video consists of Trump talking about himself and encouraging everyone listening to vote for him. A "may you be inscribed in the book of life" statement would have been nice. At around the 9:30 mark, he says, “If we don’t win, Israel is in big trouble.” Once again, he’s downplaying panic, right? He also complained that he only got 25% of the Jewish vote in 2016 even though “I have a son-in-law and a daughter who are Jewish” and grandchildren that are Jewish. Yes, when most people vote for president, the religion of the candidate’s family members is the deciding factor. I think he really feels like he should get more votes from American Jews simply for this reason.

At the end of the call, Trump says that “we love your country also.” Aren’t the people on this call American? American Jews certainly have a connection to Israel, but the United States is our country.

(JTA has a good summary of this call.)

If you made it all the way through this post, thank you. Look, I know that this post isn’t going to change anyone’s mind, especially because I can’t imagine that there are any undecided voters at this point. I’m just trying to share that Israel will be just fine without Trump, and America will be better without him too.

Shana Tova, and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life!

(Photo of Trump and MBS from Getty. Photo of Biden and Harris by Anthony Lanzilote of Bloomberg.)

UPDATE: It was only a few hours after this post that I saw this story which states "After phone calls with Jewish lawmakers, Trump has muttered that Jews "are only in it for themselves" and "stick together" in an ethnic allegiance that exceeds other loyalties, officials said." Maybe this isn't true, but this certainly sounds like something he would say, right?

Steeler Nation Israel

I mentioned on Monday that my blog is going to be heavy on Pittsburgh Steelers content over the next few weeks. That happens when the team that you love advances to the biggest single game in the United States. But what about other countries? Daniel Sass is the founder of the Steeler Nation Israel page on Facebook, so I thought I would check-in with him about being a Steeler fan abroad.



How did you become a Steeler fan? Are you from the United States or have you always lived in Israel?

I was born in Pittsburgh in 1966. While I only lasted in Pittsburgh for 2 years, I was raised a Pirate/Steeler/Penguin fan. My earliest memories of the Steelers was their 1971 season (in which they had losing record).

I moved to Israel in 2002 (from Portland, OR).

Where do you watch Steelers games?

Fortunately [the] NFL has excellent coverage in Israel. There are weeks during the season that we have more games broadcast here than many cities in the States. ESPN, FOX Sports, and METV (a Christian station that pioneered showing NFL in Israel years ago), all broadcast NFL games. Last weeks AFC Championship game was actually broadcast simultaneously on two of these channels (ESPN & METV).

I have a video production company in the City of Efrat (a suburb of Jerusalem). I film and produce videos for Weddings, Bar/t Mitzvahs, etc. Years ago I converted the living room of my studio into a Steeler 'Man Cave' complete with Pool Table, big screen TV and probably the largest collection of Steeler memorabilia in the Middle East (including four chairs from Three Rivers Stadium). This is where we watch the games.



Do you know of Steelers bars in Israel?

As far as I know (and I did investigate) there are none.

Do you dread Sunday and Monday night games? They must start in the middle of the night for you!

NBA & MLB are kind of tough to follow closely because of the number of games played annually. But the NFL only has a 16 week season, so it is worth the investment of staying up all night to watch the games. It doesn't hurt that I am a night owl.

Since the Pittsburgh Pirates are never shown nationally in the United States, do they ever air Pittsburgh Pirates games there?

ESPN has the game of the week and the Pirates show up on TV a couple of times a year, but not more than that.

Tell us about the Steeler National Israel group.

This group has only become official recently, but there are an inordinate amount of people from Pittsburgh who now reside in Israel. AND it seems that EVERYBODY from Pittsburgh is a diehard Steeler fan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lived in the Philadelphia area for much of his childhood and spent a significant amount of time in Boston at Harvard and MIT. He later was Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. Based on all of this, if Netanyahu is a football fan, he probably supports either the Eagles or Patriots with a slim possibility of the Giants or Jets. This is a very odd way of prefacing this question, but are there any famous Steelers fans in Israel?

ABSOLUTELY . . . in my tiny little community there is a religious lady named Varda Epstein. You couldn't tell that she is a Steeler fan until you watch a game with her. She has one of the Three Rivers seats reserved for watching the games. Her uncle is (was) Myron Cope. It's a tiny little world.

Any Myron Cope stories from his niece?

You should ask her yourself. Her name is Varda Epstein and she is in the Steeler Nation - Israel group. (Sean’s Note: Maybe I will)

Finally, any predictions for the Super Bowl?

I know that the Pack is favored by 3, but I honestly believe that the Steelers will win by 10. They are post-season proven and I think Ben will prove again that the bigger the game the bigger he plays. Plus the Defense will do what they have been doing all season. Final score: Steelers 27 - Packers 17


Thanks to Daniel for agreeing to answer my silly questions. It's nice to get the perspective of how Steelers fans live abroad. In addition, thanks to Daniel for providing pictures of his man cave. I included a few more below. I'm extremely jealous of the Three Rivers Stadium seats. Don't forget to check out (and even join) the Steeler Nation Israel group.