Nides to JI: People-to-people relations will build the Abraham Accords
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JA NUA RY 28 , 2022 ♦ 26 S H EVAT, 5782
THE WEEKLY PRINT
Nides to JI: People-to-people relations will build the Abraham Accords; In a first, an official
Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Egypt; The ‘Seder Guy’ attempting a leap to the
LG’s office; She could be the first Jew of color in Congress; Nina Turner’s uphill challenge in
Cleveland rematch; Meet the Israeli diplomat at the forefront of the Abraham Accords; Breyer
retirement leaves open the Court’s ‘Jewish seat’; The many names, and lives, of a child hidden
in the Holocaust; The secret Nazi POW camp and the Jewish soldiers who guarded it; and How
soap is changing women’s lives around the world
JANUARY 27, 2022
Nides to JI: People-to-people relations
will build the Abraham Accords
In his first interview with an English-language media outlet, Amb. Tom Nides
shares his vision for deepening the normalization agreements
By Ruth Marks Eglash
T
he first-ever Abraham Accords Abraham Accords with Israel in September was held virtually and included UAE
Working Group, inaugurated 2020, followed by Kosovo, with Morocco Ambassador to Israel Mohamed al-Khaja,
last night, will strengthen and and Sudan normalizing ties later that year. Bahraini Ambassador to Israel Khaled al-
deepen the connections forged since “At the end of the day, it’s all about the Jalahma, Moroccan Charge’ d’Affaires to
2020 between Israel and five Muslim- people of these countries recognizing the Israel Abderrahim Beyyoudh, Counselor to
majority countries, and underscore the importance of the other’s culture and of the U.S. Department of State Derek Chollet
importance of Israel’s long-standing other people,” Nides told JI. “That will drive and Director General of Israel’s Ministry of
ties with Egypt and Jordan, U.S. business, it will drive political stability, and Foreign Affairs Alon Usphiz, Nides laid out
Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides told the national security implications of this are the group’s three main working areas.
Jewish Insider in an exclusive interview also obviously quite important.” Boosting bilateral trade, including
on Thursday. “The more comfortable these countries developing energy and technological
In his first interview with an English- are vis-a-vis working with each other, the partnerships, is one aim.
language media outlet since becoming more it will only enhance the long-term Second, Nides said, the involved
ambassador, Nides explained the benefits for all the countries and for Israel,” countries will work to increase tourism
importance of the U.S.-facilitated forum, he added. with Israel. There are already direct flights
which will bring together Israel-based Nides said that the Biden administration between Israel and the UAE, as well as
ambassadors and representatives of Arab is “fully committed” to continuing the between Israel and Morocco. Flights from
states that have peace and normalization work already put in motion by the Tel Aviv to Manama, Bahrain, are set to
agreements with Israel. Its goal, he said, is partner countries and by the previous begin in a few months.
not only to build upon already blooming administration, giving credit to Jared “We need to figure out how to
business ties or to expand the people-to- Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s dramatically increase tourism,” Nides told
people relations but also to show the benefits senior advisor, and former U.S. ambassador JI, describing plans to convene in the coming
of cooperation and serve as an example of to Israel, David Friedman. As Washington months a regional meet-up of tourism
stability and peace in a volatile region. now seeks to broaden those accords with ministers, including representatives from
Egypt and Jordan have peace new regional partners, Nides said he believes Washington.
agreements with Israel dating back to the his role as envoy to Israel is to deepen and “The reality is there’s already been a
1970s and 1990s respectively. The United solidify the already existing ties. dramatic increase in Emiratis coming to
Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the At the inaugural meeting, which Israel and a lot of Israelis going to Dubai; for
1the Moroccans, the holy sites in Israel are issues,” he said. “Personal connections drive relationships with senior administration
important, and vice versa, there’s going to policy, there’s no question about it, and my officials such as Secretary of State Tony
be an enormous influx of Jews to Morocco,” role is to try to create the mechanism in Blinken, White House Chief of Staff Ron
Nides predicted. “I think the people-to- which to accomplish that.” Klain, National Security Advisor Jake
people [angle] is the single biggest part of the While Egypt and Jordan are not part of Sullivan and CIA chief William Burns.
Abraham Accords and I really want to figure the latest round of normalization, Nides Asked by JI about criticism that the Biden
out how to fix any problems, because the called them the “grandparents” of such administration might not be as enthusiastic
tourism piece is an enormously important agreements and said it was important or dedicated to broadening Abraham
part of this.” to include them in this working forum, Accords in the same way as the previous
In addition to building connections via especially in terms of developing economic administration, Nides countered that his
trade and travel, Nides said there will also be and regional ties further. team in Jerusalem and representatives of
an effort to increase cultural collaboration. Nides arrived in Israel at the end of the State Department in Washington are
His vision, he told JI, is to create an November, and although he is still living in spending “enormous amounts of time on
“Abraham Accords/normalization cup,” that a hotel (after the envoy’s official residence this.”
will draw youth from all partner countries to in Herzliya was sold to the late GOP super “I give the Trump administration, Jared
sports tournaments, joint cultural activities donor Sheldon Adelson), he has made quite and the team, Ambassador Friedman, an
in dancing and singing, and more. an impression on the country and via social enormous amount of credit for starting
“We want to show to the world why it media. this,” he said. “But as you know, the easy
is so interesting to be part of the Abraham On Twitter, he has shared details of his part of these things is starting them, the
Accords,” Nides said, adding that cultural meetings with a variety of Israeli officials more difficult part is deepening the piece
events would also introduce younger kids to and decision-makers, and with regular and getting things done.”
the many unique cultural aspects of each of citizens. He’s also used his account to share “If it was that easy, then we would have
the participating countries, including food the wares he’s sampled in some of the had all these countries join the first time
and entertainment. “We’ll have a whole country’s best-known eateries. around,” Nides continued. “So obviously,
working group around cultural activity,” he In his only other interview so far, Nides we have work to do, but make no mistake,
said. generated some controversy by telling we are not only focusing on it, but we also
“I don’t like to be simple about this, but at mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot that believe that it’s really important. It’s really
the end of day, the more people understand unlike the previous ambassador, Friedman, important for the region and it’s important
each other, the better off they are when there he would refrain from visiting West Bank for the Biden administration.” ♦
are problems — it is an easier way to resolve settlements. He also discussed his close
JANUARY 25, 2022
In a first, an official Holocaust Remembrance
Day event in Egypt
The event was the first of two in the region — the other will be held in Abu Dhabi —
hosted by the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
By Gabby Deutch
E
gyptian officials, American take place later this week in Abu Dhabi, Egypt,” Robert Satloff, executive director
scholars and foreign diplomats where Noura al Kaabi, the United Arab of The Washington Institute for Near East
gathered on Monday at a luxury Emirates’ culture minister, is slated to speak. Policy and a speaker at the event, told Jewish
hotel on the banks of the Nile to (International Holocaust Remembrance Insider from Cairo. “I was just delighted with
commemorate International Holocaust Day is commemorated on Jan. 27, the day what happened today and the fact that this
Remembrance Day, the first time such the Auschwitz concentration camp was occurred in the largest, most populous,
an event has ever been held in Egypt. liberated.) Plans for additional events in trendsetting Arab state.”
The gathering was hosted by the Riyadh and Dubai were scrapped because of The event is the latest symbol of
U.S. Embassy in Egypt and the U.S. the COVID-19 pandemic. changing attitudes in the Middle East in
Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) “It was symbolically, I think, very the wake of the Abraham Accords signed
in Washington, D.C. A similar event will important that we were able to do this in in September 2020. While Egypt was the
2first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with way building. This was right smack in the across the Middle East and North Africa
Israel, in 1978, the Camp David Accords did middle of Cairo. This was an event to which to develop educational programming to
not lead to a significant shift in Egyptian diplomats from around the world — Middle reach young adults and emerging leaders in
attitudes toward Israelis and Jews. East diplomats, European diplomats and those countries with accurate and relevant
“There is a peace treaty between Egypt ambassadors — were there,” explained information about the Holocaust,” said
and Israel, but that peace has always been Satloff. Stahnke. Education efforts have begun to
a cold peace,” said Mina Abdelmalak, who The Abraham Accords “raised the bar for have an effect in Morocco and Tunisia, he
conducts Arabic outreach for the USHMM everyone,” Satloff said, including the “first- added. But yesterday’s event in Egypt, the
and was born and raised in Egypt. “It was generation peacemakers” — Egypt and most populous Arab country with nearly
never translated into the mainstream, Jordan. But there were other factors at play, 100 million people, marked the most visible
people-to-people level. It was mostly too: Egypt, like Israel, sees Iran as a foe. Last success.
government-to-government. So to be able to week, Egypt’s permanent representative to Outright Holocaust denial is rarer than
push this a little bit, that is significant.” the United Nations gave a speech in Arabic it used to be, Satloff said, explaining that
Abdelmalak and Tad Stahnke, the on behalf of the Arab Group, condemning it has been replaced by “relativism.” He
museum’s international outreach director, Holocaust denial as the United Nations defined the concept as “the idea that bad
spoke at the event, as did Jonathan R. General Assembly debated and then passed stuff happened, but bad stuff happens all
Cohen, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, and a resolution on the subject. The only country the time, that sort of thing. Or: 600, 60,000,
Magda Haroun, the head of Egypt’s Jewish to vote against the resolution was Iran. 600,000, 6 million, what’s the difference?”
community. Satloff took questions from the Satloff attributed the attitude change Holocaust distortion has found a home
audience following a screening of “Among at least in part to Israel’s new leadership. in Egypt in the past because of the overall
the Righteous,” a documentary he produced With the “post-[Benjamin] Netanyahu sentiment in the country regarding the
about Arabs who helped protect and save enhancement of bilateral relations, it’s easier Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abdelmalak said
Jews during the Holocaust. to be more public about it,” added Satloff. the result is that “the Holocaust has been
“If you would have told me a few years Domestically in Egypt, there is also “more weaponized” in Egypt.
ago that such an event would take place consideration of the issues of religious “It takes a lot of work with civil society to
in Cairo, I would laugh,” Abdelmalak minorities, countering extremism, interfaith ensure that we push back against years and
told JI on Monday. “Until this morning, it relations. I think all these come together to years of Holocaust denial being established
wouldn’t have completely surprised me if make the environment more receptive and in that part of the world,” Abdelmalak
the government of Egypt would say, ‘Due accessible to the type of event that we had added. Attendees at the event also reflected
to security reasons, this is not going to today.” upon Egypt’s own treatment of its Jewish
happen.’” The public event marked an important community, including in the 1940s, when
Some four dozen people attended the milestone for the USHMM, but came some Arab leaders spread Nazi propaganda
invitation-only event, including human only after the USHMM’s efforts to build and pogroms racked Cairo.
rights activists, business people and former relationships in Arabic-speaking countries “I think everybody left with the sense
members of Egypt’s parliament. over many years. that it was worthwhile and valuable,” said
“This wasn’t hidden away in some “We have for the past several years Satloff, “and perhaps just the first of many,
obscure corner of some small, out-of-the- been working to cultivate partnerships which itself is a very important milestone.”♦
JANUARY 24, 2022
The ‘Seder Guy’ attempting a leap to the
LG’s office
Eric Lesser got his start as the ‘bag man’ on the Obama campaign. He’s al-
ready a state senator and has his eyes set on becoming lieutenant governor
By Gabby Deutch
A
s a 23-year-old junior staffer president’s “bag man.” Lesser made morning, he loaded up the U-Haul for a
on Barack Obama’s 2008 sure everyone’s suitcases got from drive from Philadelphia to Harrisburg,
presidential campaign, Eric one place to the next as the campaign Pa., with suitcases and other precious
Lesser was tasked with being the future hopped from city to city. One April cargo — matzah, macaroons, bottles
3of Manischewitz and several Maxwell Boston isn’t the only part of the state that of the vote in 2020. (Baker, a moderate
House Haggadahs. deserves a chance to prosper. “The overall Republican, won 66% of the vote in his 2018
The campaign was on a whistle-stop tour message that I’m going to focus on is that reelection — the same percentage Biden
through Pennsylvania, where Obama would different regions of the state can work received in 2020.)
lose to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton a few days together and complement each other,” he Healey’s two competitors, Harvard
later. Given the intense campaign schedule, explained. political science professor Danielle Allen
Lesser knew he wouldn’t make it home to The Democratic frontrunner for and state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, are both
Longmeadow, Mass., for the Passover Seder. governor is Attorney General Maura Healey, running as progressives, while Healey has
So he organized one on the campaign trail. who officially entered the race last week avoided that term since she entered the race.
Twelve hours later, in a windowless after months of speculation. She has worked Lesser, for his part, has “always identified
basement multipurpose room in the in the Boston area her whole career, and myself as a progressive,” he said. ”I was a
Harrisburg Sheraton, Lesser and other Lesser thinks a lieutenant governor from supporter and a co-sponsor of the police
Jewish staffers commenced the Seder. A further west than Worcester will even out reform that we did in Massachusetts last
handful of senior campaign aides, including the ticket. year, which is one of the most aggressive
Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett and current “I think that providing a little bit of a reforms in the entire country. And I did that
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, sense of regional equity and balance to a in an area that’s more purple, but I believed
joined them around the table. ticket is really important,” said Lesser. “The in it, and it was the right thing to do.”
”Then a Secret Service agent pops his area of the state I represent, the greater He intends to win over those skeptical
head in and peeks under the table and looks Springfield area, is a big area, but it’s often voters by “focusing on those core issues:
around,” said Lesser. “And then I hear this invisible to decision makers on Beacon Hill.” People feel the prices are going up, they
voice, a very familiar voice going, ‘Oh, is this Lesser enters the race as a four-term state feel rent checks going up, they feel housing
where the Seder is?’ And it was Obama.” senator, first elected in 2014 at age 29 — then going up.”
Once seated, Obama asked attendees the youngest state senator in Massachusetts. “Families are really stressed about
about their families’ traditions and their He has joined a crowded field of Democrats childcare,” explained Lesser.
favorite parts of the festive holiday meal. vying to become the state’s second-in- In Massachusetts, the governor and
At the end of the Seder, when everyone said command. Other contenders include lieutenant governor do not run on a joint
“Next year in Jerusalem,” Obama added, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, fellow Western ticket; they are elected separately. (If
“Next year in the White House.” Massachusetts state Sen. Adam Hinds, state elected, Lesser would be the first Jewish
And so it happened: For the eight years Rep. Tami Gouveia and entrepreneur Bret individual to serve in either position.) The
of Obama’s presidency, the original group Bero. lieutenant governor role is viewed by many
of campaign staffers continued to meet in Charlie Baker, Massachusetts’s popular as a jumping-off point for higher office. The
the West Wing for a Seder. But by 2016, the Republican governor, has announced he most successful person to do that was John
group had grown and changed. Younger will not seek a third term, creating the Kerry, who served as lieutenant governor in
staffers like Lesser now brought spouses best statewide electoral environment the 1980s.
and children. Lesser had finished a stint for Massachusetts Democrats in years. Lieutenant governor hopefuls are
working in the White House, graduated (Massachusetts is one of six states with “thinking about being in a position where
from Harvard Law School and was serving an entirely Democratic congressional they can cultivate a statewide following and
as a Massachusetts state senator; like a good delegation.) improve their political fortunes,” said Jerold
politician, he showed up to the 2016 Seder “People don’t realize we’ve had one Duquette, a Western Massachusetts resident
with something local — shmurah matzah Democratic governor in 32 years here in and political science professor at Central
made in Massachusetts. Massachusetts. That’s it,” said Doug Rubin, a Connecticut State University.
Now, as a candidate for lieutenant Boston-based Democratic strategist. “I think Lesser’s political ambitions took hold
governor in Massachusetts, Lesser has this is a unique opportunity for Democrats his freshman year of high school, when he
more on his plate than handling bags and to step up.” notched two achievements: being elected
planning a Seder. While Democrats elsewhere in the high school student body president (a
”I think that there’s a collective feeling country fret over a midterm election season position he held for four years straight)
in Massachusetts that it’s a great place to characterized by growing inflation and and becoming the youngest member of the
live. People are very proud of Massachusetts plummeting approval ratings for President Longmeadow Democratic Town Committee.
and our reputation as being leaders on so Joe Biden, Massachusetts Democrats see an “We had to give him a ride,” said Candy
many issues,” Lesser, 36, told Jewish Insider opportunity to take the governor’s mansion. Glazer, who chaired the committee for 25
in a recent interview at a café in downtown The only Republican candidate for governor, years, “because he wasn’t old enough to
Boston. “But it’s really hard to live here. And Geoff Diehl, is running a Trump-inspired drive.”
that’s going to be the heart of my campaign.” campaign, a move that almost certainly will One day, Lesser walked into a school
The argument at the heart of the Western not gain support in a state where former assembly to see several teachers lined up in
Massachusetts native’s campaign is that President Donald Trump earned just 32% a row, as if in a firing line.
4“These teachers aren’t coming back,” the Boston],” Lesser said of his part of the state. the challenges the Jewish community in
principal said, the result of statewide budget But unlike Boston, “we don’t have that red- Western Mass. has faced are similar to the
cuts. ”I remember as a 16-year-old, sitting hot economy.” challenges that the broader community has
there and feeling really angry that 14-, 15- The policy for which he is best known is faced, which is [that] we were an industrial
and 16-year-olds were paying the price for the East-West Rail, a transit project to create center,” Lesser noted. ”When those jobs left
frankly, bad decisions made somewhere a rail service linking Boston, Worcester, in the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s, the Boston area
else,” recalled Lesser. Springfield and Pittsfield. was able to fill in new jobs in tech and in
He undertook an effort to override the “We actually have gotten pretty close,” higher ed and education. Western Mass. has
budget cuts by getting town residents to Lesser said of the progress made on the done some of that, but it has obviously not
vote to raise their own taxes and better fund project in less than 10 years. “When I first been done at the same pace.”
local schools. He canvassed door-to-door ran for office in 2014, as a 28-year-old, I was The Springfield metro area has a strong,
with other students, parents and teachers. laughed out of a lot of rooms. And the idea historic Jewish community (“the public
But it wasn’t enough. of connecting the state by high-speed rail schools were closed on Rosh Hashanah
“The first vote failed. But something was really dismissed as some sort of fantasy. and Yom Kippur,” Lesser noted), perhaps
really instructive happened that I’ve always And we just kept at it.” best known for serving as the home of the
kind of kept with me, which is [that] after When the legislature first passed a bill Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the
the first vote failed, the pink slips went out, requiring the state to study the feasibility headquarters of the nonprofit PJ Library.
and it became very formalized, what was of the project, Baker vetoed it. But now, a Growing up, his family was active in a
going to happen,” said Lesser. “I sensed that commuter train already links Boston and local Reform synagogue, and that’s where
the community’s feelings changed when Worcester — and the state is competing Lesser’s interest in social justice and political
people saw the stakes, that it was going to be for federal funding from the federal advocacy was kindled.
these teachers. So we put another measure infrastructure bill passed last year to build He participated in a Black-Jewish
back up.” out the rest of the train service. dialogue with a local Baptist church, and as
The second vote passed, and 40 teachers “The focus he’s had not just in Western a member of his synagogue’s NFTY youth
got to keep their jobs. Mass., but in other parts of the state — the group, he participated in action campaigns
“I remember him being at the East-West Rail, some of the work with with the Religious Action Center of Reform
community house watching the votes come gateway cities — that work, I think is Judaism. In April of 2002, as a high school
in and seeing how happy the teachers were incredibly important, and positions him student, he traveled to Washington to join a
that they could rip up the pink slips,” said really well in a statewide race,” said Rubin, pro-Israel march on the National Mall that
Glazer. “That was something that was very the Boston-based strategist. drew tens of thousands of participants at
unusual for a teenager to do and just caught With more people than ever working the height of the Second Intifada.
my attention. And we’ve kept the political remotely, Lesser argues that a rail link In 2008, Lesser traveled with Obama to
friendship through the years.” connecting the state simply makes sense: Israel for a brief campaign visit, which was
Lesser’s early political activism also People who are tired of the high cost of followed by a stop in Berlin. ”It was not lost
owes a great deal to the Jewish community living in Boston can move out closer to the on me that I was on a plane with potentially
in Western Massachusetts. Born in Berkshires, in the western part of the state, the first African American president leaving
Queens, Lesser and his family moved to and commute into Boston a couple of times Israel on the way to Germany,” recalled
Longmeadow, a town of 15,000 outside week if needed. “They get on a train and go Lesser. “I thought about my grandparents
Springfield, when he was 7. to Boston. They can do Zooms the whole and what they would have thought,” he
“I remember the very first night we way back and forth,” he explained. added. “Only in America.”
stayed over in the house — it was so quiet, Part of this is a ploy to get fellow Western Later, he traveled to the Jewish state on
and you could hear bugs,” said Lesser. “We Mass. locals — people like him who left a delegation of Massachusetts legislators.
were sort of scared because it felt like a very the region as young professionals looking (”We introduced him as the Seder guy,” said
foreign place.” for opportunity elsewhere — to consider Jeremy Burton, executive director of the
The Lessers eventually adjusted. His moving back home. Jewish Community Relations Council of
parents opened a small medical practice, “Eric likes to say, when he speaks to Greater Boston, which organized the trip.)
where his father was a doctor and his political groups, to people particularly like “It’s very different going in an official
mother was a social worker. That upward my age, or parents or grandparents, ‘How capacity. One of the things that struck me
mobility for his parents, who both grew many people here have adult children who is, it’s a very important relationship for
up working-class, was a big reason for the do not live here?’ And a lot of hands go up,” Massachusetts,” Lesser said of the state’s
move. And a desire to help other people in Glazer said. connection to Israel. Several hundred Israeli
Western Massachusetts achieve that same Many young members of the region’s companies operate in Massachusetts,
success has animated Lesser’s time in office. tight-knit Jewish community have moved employing people across the Bay State, and
“We’ve got a high quality of life. We’ve got away as well. “It was a really vibrant place Lesser was pleased to learn the extent of
a comparatively better cost of living [than to grow up in terms of Jewish life. But the business and cultural ties between the
5states. “Certainly something as lieutenant What Lesser actually did when he It’s a gig that could have been scripted
governor I’d want to do is to continue to worked for the federal government was a bit into “Veep,” the HBO sitcom that skewered
strengthen those ties.” different. “He was upbeat, positive, friendly, American politics. Lesser would know:
Combating hate crimes and bias obviously bright and inquiring,” David He served as a consultant for the show
incidents has been a priority for Lesser, who Axelrod, a senior advisor and close friend throughout its seven-season run. He loves
helped create a nonprofit security grant to Obama, who hired Lesser as an assistant the show, and like any good political junkie,
program in Massachusetts, modeled off a when Obama became president, told JI. “He he has strong opinions on the three seminal
similar program at the federal level. The always got our bags to the right place at the political shows of the last two decades —
program began with $100,000 in 2018. Four right time, so I figured he could probably get “Veep,” “The West Wing” and “House of
years later, the program has $2.1 million to me to the right place at the right time in the Cards.”
award to “nonprofits at risk of terrorist or White House.” Like the other activists and political
hate violence: LGBTQ organizations, African His job was to make sure Axelrod could insiders who came of age during the
American churches, mosques, synagogues keep everything together. Not infrequently, optimistic Obama era of “Yes, we can,”
and religious centers,” he explained. he had to draw upon his knowledge of stain Lesser’s favorite of the three shows doesn’t
Ultimately, it’s an understanding of removal. come as a surprise.
the nitty-gritty parts of the policymaking “I’m not the most fastidious person in “’House of Cards’ is too cynical for me,”
process that Lesser wants to bring to the the world. I’m famous for spilling stuff on Lesser admitted. “I’m a diehard ‘West Wing’
job of lieutenant governor. “I’m the only myself,” Axelrod admitted. “Eric always kept fan.”
candidate that has really extensive federal club soda nearby. He would race in there Jed Bartlet — the earnest, idealistic
experience, and historically, a big part of like a volunteer fire department, because I’d president in “The West Wing” — got his start
our job has also been helping to work on the have to go on TV or I’d have to be somewhere in New England politics, too. ♦
nuts and bolts of getting the federal money and, you know, having a big block of oatmeal
to the state.” on my jacket was not desirable.”
JANUARY 26, 2022
She could be the first Jew of color in Congress
A self-described ‘HinJew,’ Vermont state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale is hoping
to make history in the House
By Matthew Kassel
I
t seems almost comically experience of immigrants in the United being corrected.
overdetermined that Kesha Ram States, of Black and brown people in the With three female candidates now
Hinsdale, a progressive state United States,” Ram Hinsdale said in a competing to succeed Rep. Peter Welch (D-
senator and former assemblywoman recent interview with Jewish Insider, “but VT) in the Democratic primary this August,
in Vermont, is now mounting a bid first we have to undo a lot of the damage that Vermont stands poised to send a woman to
for Congress that in many ways people like Stephen Miller have caused.” Congress for the first time in history.
embodies the fears of her old high The 35-year-old state lawmaker of Should Ram Hinsdale prevail in the
school classmate, the former Trump Jewish and Indian descent wants to upend upcoming general election, the Chittenden
administration advisor Stephen Miller. the status quo in historic fashion as she County legislator would not only become
The two occasionally butted heads when seeks to dismantle what for generations has Vermont’s first congresswoman but also the
they crossed paths as students at Santa been an unbroken chain of congressmen first member of a racial minority ever to hold
Monica High School in the early 2000s, who have exerted their dominance over the state’s lone House seat.
just as Miller was honing his reputation as federal politics in the Green Mountain State. Rounding out the list is another
a young conservative provocateur eager Despite its reputation as a national unprecedented achievement that, in
to puncture such long-standing liberal standard-bearer of progressive politics, something of an unexpected inversion,
precepts as multiculturalism, diversity and Vermont is the only state in the country would represent what no other state in the
inclusion — all of which are core to Ram never to have elected a woman to Congress, country seems to have done before at the
Hinsdale’s newly launched campaign for much to the dismay of local political congressional level, according to a variety
Vermont’s at-large House seat. activists who have regarded the distinction of Jewish leaders, professors and activists
“I hope to be able to advance the as a historical blemish in urgent need of who were consulted by JI. If elected, Ram
6Hinsdale would likely enter the House as the the California native became so enamored of Ram Hinsdale is among three
first Jew of color, a possibility that, for the her newfound environs that she never left. Democratic candidates vying to replace
most part, has so far flown under the radar. In 2016, after eight years and four terms in Welch, who announced last November that
For her part, Ram Hinsdale said she the Assembly, Ram Hinsdale set her sights he was vacating his seat after Sen. Patrick
only recently made the discovery during on statewide office, placing third in the Leahy (D-VT), the longest-serving member
discussions with Jewish organizations in Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. of the upper chamber, said he would retire
the state and nationally, including J Street, Following a short break from public at the end of his current term. While Welch
the left-leaning Israel advocacy group. While office, during which she received her is favored for the Senate seat, having
she is still actively mulling what it means master’s in public administration from the earned a high-profile endorsement from
for her personally, not to mention the state Harvard Kennedy School, Ram Hinsdale Sanders the day he launched his campaign,
and the country, the Vermont lawmaker marked her return to politics with an political observers in Vermont believe the
suggested that the insight has helped exclamation point of sorts, mounting a state congressional primary is comparatively
underscore what she regards as a key tenet Senate bid that would result in her election more mutable at the moment.
of her campaign. last cycle as the first woman of color to serve A recent poll from Vermont Public
“This is a critical moment in our nation’s in Vermont’s upper house. Radio and Vermont PBS suggests that race
history,” Ram Hinsdale, who lives in the Throughout a combined decade or so as remains in flux, not least because Ram
Burlington area of northwestern Vermont, an elected official, Ram Hinsdale has carved Hinsdale announced her candidacy just
told JI. “I believe we need to truly meet the out a diversity of legislative niches around after the findings were published and,
moment and think about how, particularly issues such as environmental advocacy, consequently, wasn’t included in the survey.
the Democratic Party, works to align around healthcare, affordable housing and social Among 600 respondents, Molly Gray, the
the most marginalized and unheard voices.” inclusion in public schools and beyond. current lieutenant governor of Vermont,
As a self-described “HinJew,” Ram Jen Ellis, a Burlington-area resident and earned the most support, pulling in 21%,
Hinsdale occupies somewhat rarefied public school teacher who is better known while Becca Balint of Brattleboro, who
political territory in Vermont, which, as the as the woman who crafted Sen. Bernie serves as president of the state Senate, came
second-whitest state in the nation, has long Sanders’ (I-VT) famous mittens, told JI in with 7%. Still, the overwhelming share of
been defined by a lack of diversity, even as that Ram Hinsdale is the kind of legislator those who were surveyed, 70%, were largely
recent census data showed that its minority who “shows up for people.” Last April, for undecided with seven months to go until the
population is on the rise. The first-term instance, Ellis recalled that Ram Hinsdale primary.
senator, who announced her candidacy in was “the only senator” to have appeared “I think it’s far too early to anoint a front-
mid-January, believes that her background alongside public school teachers who were runner based on that survey,” said Matthew
speaks to a pressing need that has long been rallying against proposed pension cuts in Dickinson, a professor of political science
unfulfilled at the federal level. the state capital of Montpelier. at Middlebury College who specializes in
“Even though it’s a truly unique story, “She brought letters that her constituents state elections in Vermont. “At this point, I
it’s also a very American story,” she said, had sent to her and she read them out loud. wouldn’t say anyone’s a longshot.”
“and one that Vermonters really resonate I was so moved by her speech that I actually While one of the three candidates is
with as they think about the complicated gave her the mittens I was wearing,” said expected to claim the rare open seat after
backstories they may have as well.” Ellis, who furnished the Vermont legislator advancing to the general election, thanks
with a bright-red pair of the highly coveted to a political environment that is widely
*** hand coverings that, as Ram Hinsdale viewed as hospitable to Democratic House
enthused on social media at the time, had candidates in the state, they are all largely
If Ram Hinsdale wants to make history matched the scarf she was wearing. aligned in the progressive lane, having
of another sort in what would amount to Last Thursday, Ellis announced to her expressed their support for such policies as
a hat trick of previously unaccomplished more than 20,000 Twitter followers that she the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and
political feats, her electoral track record as had made a new pair of personalized mittens affordable housing, among others.
a local lawmaker in Vermont suggests she for Ram Hinsdale, whose congressional Beyond such commonalities are some
is in no way pursuing a quixotic mission for campaign she has endorsed enthusiastically. distinguishing stylistic approaches, said
the House. For the “Bernie mitten-maker,” such Dickinson, who suggests that Gray, 37, is
Ram Hinsdale was just 22 when she gestures seem designed to draw parallels in some ways presenting herself as a sort
defeated a Vermont Progressive Party with Vermont’s progressive godfather. of establishment figurehead, owing to
incumbent to become the youngest state “She’s so similar to Bernie, actually, in her her longstanding ties to both Welch and
legislator in the country in 2008. She politics and in her intelligence and her Leahy as well as what appears to be strong
assumed the role just after receiving her work ethic and the way that she approaches name recognition throughout the state.
bachelor’s degree in natural resource Vermonters,” Ellis said of Ram Hinsdale. For her part, Balint, 53, began her recent
planning and political science from the “The thing I really admire about her is she’s campaign kickoff video with a reference to
University of Vermont in Burlington, where not a performative ally.” her Jewish grandfather, who was murdered
7in the Holocaust, before transitioning to with prominent members of the House that would “shape” much of her “early
a testimonial about her efforts to achieve Progressive Caucus such as Reps. Jamie leadership and exploration” on the path
social and political inclusion in Vermont as Raskin (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) to elected office. “This idea that you could
the first openly gay woman elected to the and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). question everything,” Ram Hinsdale mused,
state Senate. “feels particularly based in my Jewish faith.”
Elaine Haney, the executive director of *** During her time at Santa Monica High
Emerge Vermont, a political organization School, the future lawmaker found herself
that supports women candidates in the Born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., clashing with Miller as he unleashed his
Democratic Party, said in an interview that Ram Hinsdale has long found herself in litany of stridently right-wing arguments
Ram Hinsdale is “far more deeply involved liminal territory. She is the daughter of that she now regards as presaging the anti-
with communities of color,” including an Indian-American Hindu father, whose immigration policies and conservative
Indigenous groups across Vermont, than family was displaced during the violent culture war fixations that he would help
her primary opponents. “She’s always been partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, and enshrine years later as a senior Trump
very engaged,” Haney told JI, “in making a Jewish mother, whose descendants fled advisor.
sure representation happens at whatever the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv before the “He would find me in the hallway and
table she’s at.” Holocaust. They met as college students at argue that climate change was caused
Ram Hinsdale, who in addition to her UCLA and were married in a Hindu-Jewish by volcanoes, and I was wrong that it
role as a state legislator works as a consultant ceremony that long predated what Ram was man-made,” Ram Hinsdale, who
on what she has described as “equity and Hinsdale described as a now “fashionable” at the time was finding her voice as an
community building work with school trend in Silicon Valley and beyond for so- outspoken progressive advocate, said of her
districts, municipalities and nonprofits,” called “HinJew” weddings that invoke the interactions with Miller, though she clarified
is a founding member of Emerge, which, customs and traditions of both religions. that they had not always been so fractious.
according to Haney, won’t be making an While childhood wasn’t so harmonious In her recollection, Miller had seemed
endorsement in the primary. for Ram Hinsdale, including moments of innocuous enough when he traveled in her
The congressional hopeful has financial upheaval, such circumstances brother’s middle school social circle, but the
characterized herself as a “practical have since contributed to her appreciation young conservative provocateur became
progressive,” and experts suggested that for government services such as free lunch increasingly radical in the ensuing years,
she may prove capable of tapping into the programs that, she says, helped the family “and shed a lot of his friends who didn’t
national grassroots fundraising network subsist during trying times. Though her present as white” or align with his views.
that has buoyed several left-wing candidates parents found some early entrepreneurial In December of 2020, Ram Hinsdale
in recent years who have also renounced success with a cleverly named Indian enjoyed some measure of personal and
contributions from corporate political action restaurant, New Delhi Deli, in Los Angeles, professional vindication as one of Vermont’s
committees. Just hours after announcing the premature closure of their ill-fated Irish three electors to cast a vote for incoming
her candidacy, Ram Hinsdale’s campaign pub would expose the family to a series President Joe Biden, gleefully remarking in
trumpeted that she had raised nearly of mounting business woes that were an interview that “nothing” had given her
$130,000. By comparison, Balint’s campaign compounded by a subsequent divorce. “greater pleasure” because her teenage foe
reported a first-day fundraising total of Still, Ram Hinsdale looks back on her would soon be gone from the White House.
more than $125,000 this past December, adolescence, when she and her two siblings Speaking with JI, Ram Hinsdale was
while Gray pulled in $50,000. were raised primarily by their mother, with careful not to suggest that her decision
When she launched her first bid for the a sense of gratitude for the values that to run for Congress had been motivated,
legislature, “it was pre-Obamacare, and I she describes as core to her personal and at least in any overwhelming sense, by
was running without access to health care,” political self-conception. a desire to undo the policies of her old
said Ram Hinsdale. “It was very real for “I think it gave me an incredible lens on classmate, even as she acknowledged that
me that we have bold ideas, but we take the ways that our cultures and our religions any reasonable Democratic mandate would
incremental steps forward, and we don’t often have much more in common than they naturally require such an approach.
leave the negotiating table empty-handed. I are different,” Ram Hinsdale said of growing “I don’t want to give him that much credit,
think we’ve seen a lot of practical progressive up in a household in which every aspect and I don’t want our politics to be so winner-
champions in Washington who would of her heritage was emphasized. “Both of take-all that someone like him could impact
otherwise be accused of being inflexible or my parents felt really strongly about the people’s lives in that way,” she said of Miller,
too far to the extreme left, and nothing could environment and environmental protection. who is now 36 and the founder of a recently
be further from the truth.” They felt really strongly about giving back to launched political group, America First
Ram Hinsdale voiced her admiration for the community and having a sense of justice Legal, that targets the alleged indiscretions
both Leahy and Welch, the latter of whom and fairness.” of the Biden administration. “In many ways,
she described as “incredibly responsive Equally formative, she suggested, was perhaps going to a diverse, pretty socially
to constituent needs,” while identifying her experience attending a Jewish preschool liberal school like ours helped him sharpen
8his insidious conservative arguments and Jewish community of how you can embrace live into those Jewish values of thinking
become an architect of so many damaging it and celebrate it and not be intimated by all about how to take care of others when we
policies.”” the hate that’s going on around these days.” take care of ourselves and repair what’s
Susan Leff, the president of Temple Sinai, broken.”
*** a Reform synagogue in South Burlington, On Middle East foreign policy matters,
and the founding director of the nonprofit Ram Hinsdale largely aligns with J Street’s
As her campaign moves into its third organization Jewish Communities of approach to the region. By way of example,
week, Ram Hinsdale has also distinguished Vermont, agreed. “We’re excited about the she expressed support for Rep. Andy Levin’s
herself by proudly and somewhat playfully prospect that she might represent Vermont (D-MI) Two-State Solution Act, which,
embracing her Hindu and Jewish heritage — in Congress as a Jewish woman,” she said of among other things, would bar Israel from
in contrast, say, with Sanders, who has often Ram Hinsdale. “We’d be proud to have the using U.S. military assistance to annex the
kept his Jewish identity at a distance even first Jewish woman of color in Congress.” West Bank, while also endorsing legislation
as he has become more outspoken about Even before she took office, Ram sponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN)
his faith in recent years. The state senator Hinsdale had sought engagement that would place additional restrictions on
identifies as a “HinJew” in her Twitter with her Jewish roots both locally and American aid to Israel.
biography, and, near the beginning of her internationally, including a Birthright trip to The state senator suggested that she
campaign kickoff video, characterizes the Israel a decade ago that marked her first and supported legislation to provide $1 billion
mixed-religion household of her childhood only visit to the Jewish state. “We had a lot in supplemental funding for Israel’s Iron
as “your average Hindu-Jewish family that of in-depth conversations about Judaism on Dome missile-defense system that passed
celebrated Christmas alongside Hanukkah the trip,” said Rabbi Zalman Wilhelm, who the House by an overwhelming margin last
and Diwali.” runs the Chabad Jewish Student Center at September. Still, she did not explicitly state
In a concession to her Christian the University of Vermont and traveled with whether she would have voted in favor of the
husband, Jacob Hinsdale, whom she Ram Hinsdale to Israel, where she had a bat measure and, instead, reiterated a broader
married last year in a weekend-long lakeside mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. goal of ensuring “that the resources we send
wedding in Vermont that included a two- “I know it was something that was very do not support occupation or annexation.”
hour-long Indian ceremony as well as a emotional for her.” Ram Hinsdale voiced some sympathy for
conventionally American celebration, Ram “What was meaningful to me about that a small handful of lawmakers on the left
Hinsdale said she dispensed with some of was this idea that I had grown up with a who criticized the manner in which the
the more traditionally Jewish customs such sense, in some ways, that you had to have legislation, now stalled in the Senate, had
as the ritual glass breaking, which they had the resources to have a fancy coming-of-age been introduced, while emphasizing her
briefly considered before abandoning the event, and that was never in the cards for appreciation for Sanders’ suggestion that
custom. “Honestly, my husband, who is my family,” Ram Hinsdale said of her own the U.S. provide the same amount of funding
French Canadian and Congregationalist, is experiencing participating in the Jewish rite for Gaza.
like, ‘There’s a lot going on,’” she said with of passage. “It actually meant a lot that some Such hesitancy is a departure from
a laugh. of the Jewish people I was around, when I comments Ram Hinsdale made to
Still, “Hava Nagila” found its way into the visited Israel, made it clear that all I had eJewishPhilanthropy following her visit
festivities, as did a “bagel brunch” that her to do was really believe in the words I was to Israel years ago. In the interview,
Jewish family members — who in Vermont saying and have that faith.” published in 2012, Ram Hinsdale said she
include Jonathan Goldsmith, the former Dos By extending the trip an extra day so she had been inspired by the IDF soldiers who
Equis spokesperson more widely known as could visit the Knesset, Ram Hinsdale said accompanied her as they traveled through
“The Most Interesting Man in the World,” she was further “moved to see how much the country. “It is Israel ‘Defense’ Forces not
and his wife, Barbara, a “direct cousin” of imagery and art was in the building,” with the Israel ‘Attack’ Forces,” Ram said, offering
Ram Hinsdale’s mother — found inclusive an emphasis on “living close to the land and what the publication described as a full-
enough. “My family felt very celebrated and being in relationship, peacefully, with one throated defense of Israel’s right to defend
seen as Jews,” she recalled. another,” that particularly appealed to her itself. “The media is often skewed against
“I’m very impressed to see someone as a Jewish Vermonter. Israel and it was important for me to see
running for office embrace their Jewish “The harvest has a place in so many firsthand how it feels to live in Israel and, in
identity,” said Rabbi Eliyahu Junik, a of our numerous holidays, and that is a lot the case of the soldiers, to defend it.”
program director at Chabad of Burlington of what I would consider to be the Jewish In the interview with JI, Ram Hinsdale
who has known Ram Hinsdale for years and experience here in Vermont,” Ram Hinsdale argued that she would bring a “unique
recently saw her when she participated in a said while highlighting a program that she lens” to such issues if she is elected this
public menorah-lighting ceremony during participates in with the local Hillel in an November. “I personally cannot imagine
Hanukkah. Owing in large part to rising effort to provide students with local vegan what it’s like to be a child in the West Bank,
incidents of antisemitic violence, he said, and vegetarian Shabbat meals. “We’re to be a child directly impacted by the Israel-
“we feel that she is a great example for the constantly talking about ways that we can Palestine ongoing conflict,” she explained,
9recounting an experience from her youth movement, which came up last fall in The aspiring congresswoman believes
in which she was detained by the police Burlington during a heated City Council that her Jewish background provides her
for what she described as a “bogus” curfew meeting that drew national attention. “I with a rare vantage point from which she
charge that left her feeling “dehumanized” would weigh that very carefully,” she said can explore such matters. In the initial
after a court appearance. “I do know what of the movement, “even if we were talking weeks of her campaign, for instance, Ram
it’s like to be arrested at the age of 13 in Los about our greatest enemies, because Hinsdale said that she has invited “a number
Angeles simply for looking too brown and ultimately, what that does is punish hard- of temples in the state” to participate in
how traumatic that experience was for me,” working, peaceful people who have nothing open dialogue with her about a question she
she said, noting that the officers were “joking to do with any of these conflicts. I get very has been mulling since recently discovering
about getting overtime” and questioned concerned when that is brought up first as a the added factor that indicates her election
whether she “was Mexican or not.” possible action against Israel.” would be historic for Jewish community
“That kind of one-time experience of Describing Israel as “an important members not only in Vermont but across
detention and feeling like my rights were partner” even beyond questions of foreign the country.
being stripped from me left a deep mark policy, Ram Hinsdale said that America’s “What does it mean to other people to
on me, and I can only imagine what that’s relationship with the Jewish state is one she potentially send the first Jewish person
like to go through daily,” she elaborated. “I looks forward to “continuing” as a member of color to Congress?” Ram Hinsdale said
don’t know that a perspective like mine, of the House. But she argued that debates she is now wondering aloud, though the
as a Jewish person of color who also has over Middle East policy can, at times, distract aspiring congresswoman suggested that she
family who fled a Muslim country in 1948, from engaging with Jewish issues that have hadn’t yet alighted on an answer. “Let’s have
can be replicated in Washington without my little to do with what she recognized as a an open conversation, because we as Jews
presence and that lived experience.” meaningful alliance between the U.S. and very much like to ask questions and answer
Ram Hinsdale said she believes the Israel. “So often,” Ram Hinsdale said, “we them in community. I’m really open to doing
U.S. can learn from Israel when it comes frame Jewish identity around that conflict that. I think it would be a really meaningful
to environmental issues such as “water in a way that we lose track, in the United process.”♦
retention,” and she expressed reservations States, of the other important facets of
with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Jewish identity.”
JANUARY 27, 2022
Nina Turner’s uphill challenge in Cleveland
rematch
Turner’s Democratic primary race against Rep. Shontel Brown in Ohio’s 11th
District comes amid changing political landscape
By Matthew Kassel
T
he sun had barely risen on senator and progressive stalwart, largely somewhat harder to find at the beginning
Wednesday morning, but over views she expressed last year during of the race a year ago. In her stunning
Pinchas Landis, an Orthodox the course of her campaign that many upset over Turner on election night last
Jewish rabbi from University Heights Jewish voters saw as hostile to Israel. August, Brown overcame an initial polling
in suburban Cleveland, was already With just over three months remaining deficit of more than 30 points in the hotly
fielding a cascade of text messages as until the scheduled May primary, Landis contested special House election to succeed
media reports of a surprise rematch told Jewish Insider that he was “springing Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), who vacated
between Nina Turner and freshman to action” hours after Turner declared her the seat for a Cabinet position in the Biden
Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) began primary challenge. But he also voiced a administration.
circulating among members of his note of optimism that Brown, who received In an interview last week on JI’s
community. widespread support from the local Jewish “Limited Liability Podcast,” Brown credited
Turner’s announcement arrived only five community and positioned herself as a the Jewish community with helping her
months after Landis had helped unite large friend to Israel, would have no trouble “get over the finish line” in a tight race. “This
segments of Cleveland’s sizable Orthodox defending the seat. was an organic, authentic relationship that
community in opposition to the former state Such assertions of confidence were had been forming for years,” said Brown,
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