BLOG: What it would mean to have a Jewish president

Honduras. El Salvador. Ukraine. The United Kingdom. Italy. Latvia. The Dominican Republic. Hungary. France. Panama. Austria. Romania. Switzerland. Peru. Guyana. Russia. Georgia. New Zealand. The Czech Republic.

What do all these countries have in common?

All of them have had Jewish presidents, prime ministers or chancellors. Depending on the outcome of the November 2019 election, one more could be added to the list: President of the United States of America.

Bernie Sanders celebrates his first electoral victory as mayor of Burlington in 1981. (Photo and caption courtesy of Jacobin Magazine)

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was born-and-raised in Brooklyn to Jewish parents — his father being a first-generation immigrant from Poland escaping widespread poverty and anti-Semitism. Sanders says his father’s family tree was virtually wiped out at the hands of the Nazi’s and their collaborators.

Many journalists, politicians and Jewish institutions, as well as others, have previously criticized the senator for avoiding and neglecting to mention his Jewish ancestry.

The first time he publicly discussed his Jewishness while running for the presidential ticket was during the March 2016 debate where CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked him if he was intentionally avoiding it. Sanders' response?

“Look, my father’s family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust,” he said live during the debate. “I know about what crazy and radical extremist politics mean. ... I’m very proud of being Jewish. And that’s an essential part of who I am as a human being.”

(Screenshot from a campaign ad on the official Bernie Sanders Twitter account)

After this instance, it got quiet again, that was, of course, until Donald Trump stormed onto the scene and completely disrupted traditional American politics as many knew it.

The Trump presidential campaign and the current Trump administration continuously invokes racist stereotypes and pushes legislation that targets vulnerable communities.

Sanders has been openly condemning President Trump for his racism and bigotry, while noting his families horrific experiences with white supremacy during the Holocaust.

Why has Sanders previously been quiet about his heritage? Jewish Currents editor and reporter David Klion argues that it is because he is not religious.

“How uncomfortable he is talking about Judaism is very familiar to me,” said Rebecca Katz, a Democratic strategist, to Klion. “There’s a difference between religious Jews and ethnic Jews, and he is very much an ethnic Jew . . . he’s very much a Brooklyn Jew. People who are not Jewish may not understand the distinction.”

Sanders, like many Jewish leaders and activists, says his heritage compels him to fight for political, economic and social justice.

In a campaign add on his Twitter page he says, “I know that many Jewish Americans and Jews all over the world have, in one way or another, been impacted by anti-Semitism, and that is why I so strongly believe that Jews, who have been victims of discrimination for centuries, must help lead the effort in fighting back against hatred and racism whenever and where ever we see it.”

David Sirota, former journalists and senior advisor and speechwriter for the Sanders campaign, confirmed to Klion that Sanders' drive to fight for justice stems from his heritage.

“The secular Jewish social justice warrior is a real archetype in American society and culture,” Sirota said to Klion. “Justice is so central in Judaism. When he uses that term ‘justice’—social justice, racial justice, economic justice—I don’t think it’s a throwaway line. I think that is the frame through which he sees the world, and I think that clearly connects to his heritage.”