Sanders keeps Judaism in background, irking U.S. Jews Rachel Zoll and Josef
Federman, Associated Press New York ' 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 in 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.
Ironically, when Sanders gave his most religiously focused campaign speech, he
only seemed to underscore his distance from Judaism. It was last fall at
Liberty University, the evangelical school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell in
Lynchburg, Virginia, and he addressed the school on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish
New Year, one of the most important holidays of the year. Discussing his
beliefs in the speech, he said he was 'motivated by a vision' for social justice
'which exists in all of the great religions. But Sanders didn't say he was
Jewish. Later, he did stop in at a Rosh Hashana gathering at the home of the
Lynchburg mayor. The Sanders campaign did not respond to repeated requests for
comment for this article. Stanley 'Huck' Gutman, former chief of staff in
Sanders' Senate office, wrote in an email, 'He is an old friend, a close friend
' but we have very seldom, if ever, discussed religion. Sanders' life follows
a familiar arc in 20th century American Jewish experience: The son of an
immigrant, he grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust, which Sanders has said
wiped
out much of his father's family. As a child in Brooklyn, Sanders went to Hebrew
school and had a bar mitzvah, but the lessons he drew from the teachings
seem closer to a golden rule morality than specifically Jewish. In the
presidential race, he often sums up his religious views with the phrase, 'We are
in this together. Larry Sanders, the brother of presidential candidate Bernie
Sanders, holds political leaflets in Oxford, England. 'Being Jewish is very
important to us,' Larry, says. (Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP) 'Being Jewish
is very important to us,' his brother, Larry, said in an interview in England
where he lives. 'There was no problem of debate, it was just a given in our
lives, just as being Americans was a given in our lives. But Bernard is not
particularly religious. He doesn't go to synagogue often. I think he probably
goes to synagogue only for weddings and funerals, rather than to pray. Like
many young American Jews in the 1960s, Sanders volunteered on a kibbutz, which
news organizations discovered to be Sha'ar Ha'amakim in northern Israel.
Irit Drori, who now lives on the kibbutz, said no one there remembers the
presidential candidate and self-described democratic socialist. 'It was a
socialist
kibbutz,' Drori said. 'If Mr. Sanders was interested in socialism, he could
find people to talk about it with here. After moving to Vermont in the late
1960s, he eventually began his political career. But setting down roots did not
mean joining a synagogue, though he sometimes would visit them. Rabbi Glazier
said Sanders had been to Temple Sinai once ' for a candidates' event. The
Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community in Burlington said Sanders, as mayor, helped
them overcome opposition to erecting a Hanukkah menorah on public land. In
1988, he married his second wife, Jane, who was raised Roman Catholic, just
as the national intermarriage rate was climbing so high that Jewish leaders
began calling it a crisis. In Vermont, where nearly 40 percent of residents
say they have no particular religion, Sanders was rarely called on to discuss
his faith. However, in the last couple of years, he has been facing increasing
challenges about his support for Israel. In a widely viewed video of a 2014
Vermont town hall event, after the war started between Israel and Hamas, the
Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, some voters demanded Sanders do more
to protest Israeli bombing. The war killed more than 2,200 Palestinians
in Gaza, including hundreds of civilians, and 73 people on the Israeli side.
Sanders was among a small number of senators who didn't co-sponsor a resolution
supporting Israel in the conflict, which passed by voice vote. Sanders said
Israel 'overreacted' with the intensity of its attacks, and he called the
bombing
of U.N. schools 'terribly, terribly wrong. But he also criticized Hamas for
launching rockets into Israel. Israel has said Hamas is responsible for civilian
casualties, since it carried out numerous attacks from residential areas in
Gaza. 'I believe in a two-state solution, where Israel has the right to exist
in security at the same time the Palestinians have a state of their own,'
Sanders said. Last year, Sanders was the first of several senators who announced
they would skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to
Congress. President Barack Obama hadn't been consulted, he said, and the speech
was too close to the Israeli elections, giving the appearance the U.S. was
trying to influence the outcome. As a presidential candidate, Sanders said he
consulted the dovish pro-Israel lobby J Street and the Arab American Institute,
founded by Jim Zogby, on Mideast Policy. 'That's not exactly a balanced
view of the region,' said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which has
not accepted J Street as a member. 'I hope he has other advisers or will take
other advisers. He's never really been that identified that strongly with
pro-Israel advocacy. While Jews mull the source of Sanders' reticence about
discussing his Jewish roots, they are relieved that a Jewish candidate can
run without prompting an outpouring of anti-Semitism. Still, they worry that
could change if he succeeds in the primaries ahead. Sanders did offer a rare
comment on his heritage last week on MSNBC's 'Hardball,' saying, 'I'm very
proud to be Jewish. Sarna, of Brandeis, said the candidate's religious identity
is clear even if he doesn't talk much about it. 'I think it is very much a
statement about America that someone who everybody knows is of Jewish background
and has a Jewish name and sounds Jewish from Brooklyn can get several
delegates,' Sarna said. 'There is a sense that only in America could a Bernie
Sanders
be a candidate. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York and Josef
Federman from Jerusalem. Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Jill Lawless in London
contributed to this report. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.