Political Jews

This week, President Barack Obama appointed Jacob Lew as his new White House Chief of Staff. Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald, Director of Jewish Treats' parent organization the National Jewish Outreach Program points out that what's notable about this appointment is that Jacob is known to be an observant Jew. Historically, we see that this isn't the first time in history that Jews have reached high political positions. In Spain in the 10th century, Shmuel Hanagid was the vizier to the Berber king and in the 13th century, also in Spain, Don Judah Abravanel became the Secretary of the Treasury. They were both successful in their political positions. Henry Kissinger served as Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford, and it was known that Nixon did not allow him to participate in Israeli policy decisions. We learn from that that high political positions are not always beneficial for the Jews. How will Jacob Lew fair? Do you think he will be good for the Jews or bad?

There is a popular story about when Jacob worked in the Clinton administration and the President tried to reach him on Shabbat but got stuck having to leave a message. Since some of the decisions that will need to be made in his new position are life or death, Rabbi Buchwald points out that he would be allowed to answer the phone. We wish him luck and wish a Mazel Tov to the Jewish people.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• jack lew
• jacob
• jewish
• barack obama
• white house
• chief of staff
• njop
• rabbi
• ephraim buchwald