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 | JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
|  | | Today: Trump’s Middle East team, attackers punch two pro-Israel college students, Jewish death row inmate gets new trial, and rabbis named Josh offer leadership advice from the biblical Joshua for the 6 percent of U.S. governors who will be Jews named Josh. |
| | |  | Trump’s election brought vindication for some Orthodox Jews. “Who’s out of step now?” said one. (Getty) |
| ‘Our guy’
There was a delicious surprise awaiting people who showed up for afternoon prayer services Wednesday at Rabbi Gil Student’s Manhattan office building: a celebratory chocolate cake with “Trump” written on it in white frosting. It was devoured before the rabbi could snap a picture. For some Orthodox Jews, there’s joy and a little schadenfreude as their candidate reclaims the White House. Many in the Orthodox world supported Trump’s Middle East policies during his presidency — including moving the embassy to Jerusalem and appointing an Orthodox ambassador to Israel. (Biden’s ambassador, Jack Lew, is also Orthodox.)
Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, an Orthodox podcaster who teaches at Yeshiva University, said the Democrats’ characterization of Trump as a Nazi sympathizer was a tough sell for Orthodox Jews. Trump’s personal failings — his crass language, sexual improprieties, even dining with avowed antisemites — were besides the point.
The issue of “wokeness,” more than anything, seems to be where the Orthodox broke with the rest of the Jewish electorate. Most mainstream liberal Jews have supported diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, marriage equality and trans rights. By contrast, one of the leading national voices of anti-wokeness is an Orthodox Jew.
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| |  | Uncertainty surrounds how Trump might approach the wars in the Middle East. (Getty) |
| Trump’s Israel advisers
Who will shape policy toward Israel in a second Trump administration? There’s uncertainty as many of the first term’s team have abandoned Trump. His son-in-law and former Middle East adviser Jared Kushner, who worked on the Abraham Accords, has said he will not be returning to the White House.
During the campaign, Trump leaned on a mix of advisers, including right-wing media figures and influential Jewish mega donors. Chief among them were former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, an “America First” isolationist like J.D. Vance, and Dr. Miriam Adelson, who poured more than $100 million into Trump’s campaign and is a strong proponent of Israel annexing the occupied West Bank.
Peter Deutsch, a former Democratic congressman from Florida who endorsed Trump, is vying for a role, potentially as U.S. ambassador to Israel.
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| | |  | Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event last month in Michigan. (Getty) |
| Gaza and the swing voter
Vice President Kamala Harris bled support in regions with large concentrations of Arab and Muslim voters, where the Israel-Hamas war was top of mind. While it did not appear to be a deciding factor in the election, it pointed to a broader problem. “The campaign’s approach on Gaza was similar to their approach on other issues, in terms of ignoring the overwhelming concerns of the base to court a white, Republican constituency that was always very unlikely to vote for them,” said Eva Borgwardt of IfNotNow, a Jewish group that has been campaigning against the war. Go deeper ►
Another misstep? Some Democrats wonder if it would have made a difference to choose as her vice president Josh Shapiro, the popular Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, the swing state with the most electoral votes.
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|  | Left to right: Governor Josh Green of Hawaii, Governor-elect Josh Stein of North Carolina and Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. (Getty) |
| Joshing around
Perhaps the most amusing stat from the election is that 6% of U.S. governors will be Jews named Josh. I spoke with rabbis named Josh (as well as Joshua Malina, The West Wing actor) who offered some leadership advice from the biblical Joshua. “The name Joshua literally means ‘God’s salvation,’” said Rabbi Joshua Lesser. “It’s a tall order to live up to.” Go deeper ►
Also in the Forward… On social media, Ivanka Trump asked her 10.7 million followers to avoid lashon hara, the Jewish commandment against gossip, and instead “choose words that heal, not harm.” Will her dad listen?
Opinion: Almost all voting groups shifted toward Trump, except American Jews. Why? “It’s not because Jews are so liberal — it’s because we’re so conservative,” argues our senior columnist, Rob Eshman.
Plus… Late-breaking races: Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Jewish Democrat, narrowly won her Senate race in Michigan. … Eugene Vindman, whose Jewish immigrant story played a role in Trump’s impeachment, was elected to Congress. … Amer Zahr, a Michigan activist who had urged Muslims to “stand with” Hamas and Hezbollah and to stop “condemning antisemitism” was elected to the Dearborn School Board.
Swing state rabbis and their communities are coping with the results. Trump “said a lot of things that, as a close reader of Jewish history, have left me very uneasy,” said Philadelphia’s Rabbi Abe Friedman. (JTA)
At major Jewish organizations, some said they looked forward to working with Trump, while others struck a less celebratory tone. “This outcome is nothing short of terrifying,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. (Haaretz)
HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit that works with refugees, said it would “not be intimidated into silence or inaction” and reaffirmed its commitment to aid migrants, despite Trump’s promise of mass deportations. (Religion News Service)
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| | |  | Mia Schem, who was a hostage in Gaza for nearly two months, spoke at the U.N. on Wednesday. “I stand here to shout the cry of the 101 hostages who are still in the pits of hell,” she said. (United Nations) |
| The latest… Middle East experts worry that there won’t be any serious hostage negotiations with a lame duck Biden administration and that talks won’t resume until January, when Trump retakes power. (New York Times)
In a joint operation with Israel, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates and the World Health Organization, more than 200 patients and their caregivers were evacuated out of Gaza to Romania and the UAE for medical treatment. (AFP)
Quotable ► “The thing I fear most for Israel is not an ‘activist’ Trump on the peace process. It’s a Trump that says – ‘It’s too messy, Bibi [Netanyahu], do whatever you want, annex it, keep it, occupy it’ – and then Israel will be left with 7 million Jews occupying more than 7 million Arabs.” — New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in a Thursday radio interview.
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| |  | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
|  | A man watches as workers remove a pro-Palestinian encampment in May at DePaul University. (Getty) |
| 😲 Masked attackers punched two Jewish students at DePaul University who were “visibly showing their support for Israel,” according to the school’s president. Police are investigating. (CBS Chicago, X)
⚖️ A Jewish inmate on death row in Texas was granted a new trialon Wednesday after an appeals court ruled that the judge in the case had “antisemitic bias.” (AP)
⚽ Fans of a Paris soccer team unfurled a large “Free Palestine” banner at a Wednesday match against a team from Madrid. The French team is set to take on an Israeli one next week. (Times of Israel)
🎒 Textbooks in Ireland contain antisemitic stereotypes and distort information about Israel, Judaism and Jewish history — including downplaying the Holocaust, a new report found. (Algemeiner)
What else we’re reading ► A Real Pain is Jesse Eisenberg’s love letter to Poland, the country his family left under duress … Former staffer sues prominent Christian university for firing her after she disclosed she’s a transgender woman … New book explores the 3,000 year history of Jews and the pig. |
| | |  | Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones star in the new historical drama The Brutalist, about a Jewish architect who immigrated to the U.S. after the Holocaust. The movie won the prize for best director at the Venice Film Festival, and will be released on Dec. 20. Watch the trailer above. |
| Thanks to Louis Keene and Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Julie Moos for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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