(RNS) — My mother, of blessed memory, did not meditate.
Nevertheless, she had a mantra — and she was not alone.
Something was either “good for the Jews” or “bad for the Jews.”
- “Good for the Jews” — the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War. The movie “Exodus.” Leonard Bernstein.
- “Bad for the Jews” — Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and probably Lenny Bruce.
What would my mother have thought of the Josh Shapiro decision — that he would not become the vice presidential candidate, and that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz?
Good, or bad — or for that matter, neutral — for the Jews?
On the one hand, it feels like a stinging rebuff of Shapiro, and some Jews will paint it that way. Some might even say that the passing-over (deliberate pun) of Shapiro is antisemitic.
It will be tempting to think that, and for good reason. The Shapiro possibility was drawing a lot of heat from the left, from those who think that the Pennsylvania governor is too unwavering in his support for Israel and who have drawn attention to things that he wrote and said decades ago.
Throw into the mix: Every other vice presidential possibility was equally pro-Israel. But only Josh Shapiro was “nailed” because of his support.
As reported by JTA:
Among those agitating against a Shapiro pick are the Democratic Socialists of America, a group that recently made anti-Zionism a litmus test in deciding whom to endorse. Jewish Insider also discovered that one of the organizers of the “No Genocide Josh” campaign is “Dear White Staffers,” a once-humorous social media feed that has been relentlessly critical of Israel since Oct. 7. The feed is run by a staffer for Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the hardline left-wing “Squad” whose members are harsh Israel critics.
“Genocide Josh.” Sit with that for a minute — that updated version of the medieval blood libel.
Sit with it, and ask yourselves: Why was there no “Genocide Andy” (Beshear), “Genocide Mark” (Kelly), and certainly no “Genocide Tim” (Walz)?
The answer should be clear. Pro-Israel Jews are especially vulnerable, even and especially to Jews who are anti-Israel. They reserve the “genocide” epithet for other Jews. Why? Because they know that it especially hurts. It is vile.
But let’s dig a little deeper into the psyche of many American Jews.
Yes, many will be sad and frustrated over this choice. Many will see antisemitism. I don’t see that antisemitism, and as many of you know, I am hardly slow to call it out. I see a strategic decision on the part of the Harris campaign — an understandably hardheaded decision on who would appeal to the largest number of voters, and who would bring in the largest number of vulnerable electoral votes.
The purpose of this presidential campaign is not to give Jews nachas (comfort), and not even to discern which vice presidential candidate is the most pro-Israel. The purpose of this presidential campaign is to win and to defeat Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
But, now, let’s drill down on American Jewish reactions to the Walz choice.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a news conference at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
Many are disappointed. Many are angry. Many see the Shapiro rejection as a pandering to the anti-Israel people in the Democratic Party. No doubt: Both parties have problems with their extremes — the MAGA folk to the right; the anti-Israel folk to the left.
Many others are secretly relieved.
Why?
Because while Jews have been proud of Josh Shapiro, others wondered aloud: Was America ready for a Jewish vice president? Twenty years ago, America certainly was; his name was Sen. Joseph Lieberman, of blessed memory.
But, alas, that was 20 years ago, and things have changed — quite for the worse.
The question is less: Is America ready for a Jewish vice president?
The question is more like: Are American Jews ready for a Jewish vice president?
Many Jews are not ready for a Jewish vice president, and they will not be ready for a Jewish vice president any time soon. It goes back to Jewish historical fears: the fear of powerlessness, which has been lethal, and the fear of power, which is no less lethal.
In that regard, I note with sadness the recent death of David Biale, one of the most significant Jewish scholars of our time, perhaps best known for his interpretation of the life and work of Gershom Scholem.
I recently reread Biale’s classic book, “Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History.”
This is what he wrote in the preface:
The very rapidity with which the Jews have moved from powerlessness to power has produced a crisis of Jewish ideology. The ways in which Jews conceive of politics were developed in Eastern Europe at the turn of the century; the great ideologies of Zionism, Bundism, socialism, and liberalism were all responses to the increasing impotence of the Jews of Europe, an impotence that culminated in the Holocaust. Although some of these ideologies no longer exist and others have changed drastically, they remain the vocabulary of Jewish politics. Today, these forms of discourse appear increasingly irrelevant in the light of the achievement of Jewish sovereignty in Israel and the relative political power of the Jewish Diaspora in the West, especially in the United States. In both Israel and the Diaspora, a new political language is only beginning to emerge, a language for understanding both the possibilities and the limitations of Jewish political power in the modern world.
To quote Ruth Wisse in her book “Jews and Power,” when Jews became powerful, it led to a double bind: “Once damned for their lack of power, Jews would now be accused of becoming too strong.”
So, yes: I suspect that many Jews were nervous. A Jewish vice president? Isn’t Doug Emhoff, the potential first gentleman, “enough?” A Jewish vice president who is a “Jewish” Jew? Who went to a day school, who sends his kids to a day school, who observes the holidays? Won’t that give fodder to the bigots who obsess about Jewish power and influence in society? Can’t you see the negative caricatures already?
I get it. Jews have a very tightly honed early warning system.
I believe that this nervousness is both counterproductive and itself un-Jewish. The purpose of Zionism was not only to liberate the Jews in the land in which they are indigenous. It was also to liberate the Jewish spirit from powerlessness and fear — wherever they live. In the words of the old Israeli folk song: “We have come to the Land to build, and to be re-built by it.”
The time is long past — for us to destroy our self-constructed ghettos of the mind and spirit. It is way past time for us to realize that we are not a weak people, not a victim people, no longer those kids who had their lunch money stolen from them by bullies. That means both hard power in Israel and soft power in the halls of American politics and society.
Back to Gov. Josh Shapiro. I admire him from afar, and I believe that he has a great political future ahead of him.
God is not done with Josh Shapiro.
And neither is America.
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