Source: Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — As Bernie Sanders headed toward victory in New Hampshire, pundits noted the barrier he was about to break: Sanders would become the first Jewish candidate to win a major party presidential primary.
But since that Feb. 9 win, instead of the burst of communal pride that often accompanies such milestones, the response from American Jews has been muted. One reason: The Vermont senator, the candidate who has come closer than any other Jew to being a Democratic or Republican presidential nominee, has mostly avoided discussing his Judaism.
Sanders has baffled Jews by refusing to name the Israeli kibbutz where he briefly volunteered in the 1960s, sending reporters scrambling to solve the mystery. When they found the kibbutz, he wouldn’t comment.
In New Hampshire after his breakout win, he described himself as “the son of a Polish immigrant,” not a Jewish one. At a Democratic debate, he spoke of the historic nature of “somebody with my background” seeking the presidency, but didn’t use the word “Jewish.” A recent headline in the liberal Jewish Daily Forward newspaper read, “We Need To Out Bernie Sanders as a Jew — For His Own Good.”
Rabbi James Glazier of Temple Sinai n South Burlington, Vermont, said Sanders’ comments were being discussed by rabbis in the liberal Reform movement. “What did he leave out there? He didn’t say ‘Jewish Polish’ immigrant. Reform rabbis have picked up on this big time.”
Sanders’ lack of religious observance is not what rankles. It has become so common for Jews to identify “culturally” instead of religiously with the faith that the Pew Research Center, in its most recent study of the American Jewish population, used a category called “Jews of no religion.”
Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, also is not religious, but he was embraced for his unwavering support of Israel and his generous donations to Jewish causes. Louis Brandeis, who in 1916 became the first Jewish justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, did not practice his faith, yet he was the pride of American Jews. Brandeis went on to become a leading U.S. advocate for Zionism.
But Sanders, during more than three decades in public life as a mayor, congressman and U.S. senator, has developed few relationships with Jewish groups or leaders — on religious issues or on Israel. He has supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but has not made Israel in any way a priority.
“I would say that he has never been one of those in Congress who was active in a Jewish caucus, who turned out for Israel, who was involved in those issues — and he still isn’t,” said Jonathan Sarna, an expert in American Jewish history at Brandeis University.
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