Like so many others I’m also a bit nervous about Donald Trump’s victory. But he’s not the one I’m worried about — it’s his Jewish daughter and son-in-law that scare me. Not that I have anything against the new royal couple who have been catapulted to the top tier of power by their father’s election. Chalilah. They are a lovely gracious couple and their Orthodoxy brings a note of refinement and poise to the aura of aggressiveness and worrisome contrasts that surround the president-elect.
A combination like that in a family so surreal yet accepted so naturally could only happen inAmerica where democracy really is democratic. Stories have been emerging lately about the sympathetic attitude toward Jews displayed by Donald Trump’s father; about his help in building a synagogue in Beach Haven Brooklyn where he lived; or about Donald himself putting his private jet at the service of a Jewish family free of charge whose child needed urgent medical care in Los Angeles — examples that testify to an attitude in the Trump family that is at least on the surface free of any anti-Jewish prejudice.
But nevertheless there is something troubling about the official position soon to be occupied by Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka in the new administration inWashington. It’s not the first time I’ve had cause to feel this concern. It started back in 2000 when Senator Joe Lieberman was selected as Al Gore’s running mate on the Democratic ticket for the presidency. Lieberman was highly regarded for his many achievements as a senator and his record provided the perfect background for a vice-presidential candidate. But Lieberman also happens to be a Jew and an Orthodox one to boot.
Now at first glance that appointment looked wonderful. InAmerica Jews enjoy true freedom and equality; a Jew can even be elected vice president of the most powerful nation in the world. But then the gnawing doubts set in. After allAmericais not completely free of anti-Semitic sentiment. Perhaps the centuries-old feeling is more dormant than in other countries but it exists and I don’t think anyone would deny it. And isn’t it possible that a Jew especially a religious Jew holding such a high position in the federal government could be liable to wake up the sleeping giant of anti-Semitism?
