Why do people keep saying that Bernie Sanders isn’t ‘really’ Jewish?
JVL Introduction
It is interesting that as Bernie Sanders star rises in the Democratic Presidential campaign, his Jewish is become an issue – particularly for Jews!
It is exposing a schism deep within America’s Jewish communities, as many – who don’t like his socialism and his critical views of Israel – find Sanders not Jewish enough.
But Sanders’ “not-Jewish-enough” Jewishness is shared by most American Jews, with 62% of American Jews thinking Judaism is mostly a matter of ancestry or culture, rather than religion.
Interestingly, it is also shared by Jewish rival Michael Bloomberg – but no-one speaking for “the Jewish community” seems to find that a problem.
A fascinating study of changing attitudes to Jewishness in the US today…
This article was originally published by the Forward on Fri 21 Feb 2020. Read the original here.
Why do people keep saying that Bernie Sanders isn’t ‘really’ Jewish?
Loading article text…
This analysis is just brilliant – I read it 3 times! Sarna’s quoted comment below is solid gold:
“In ‘popular halacha,’ there’s a huge difference between a Jew and someone who’s married to a Jew, raised Jewish children, involved in Jewish causes, and so on.”
Sarna correctly points out that most Jews are concerned with Jewish continuity in some shape or form and view favourably other like-minded Jews who tick some or all of the above boxes and some of the “and so on” boxes, including usually a connection to Israel.