The Jewish Case For Harris As President

Across the globe, Jews are heading to synagogues for Yom Kippur and praying that
their names be entered into the Book of Life for another year. But in just a few more
weeks, Jews in the United States will also be asked to their local voting centers and
decide whose name will be entered into the ballot box in the presidential election.
The answer should be as clear as a shofar’s blow: Vice President Kamala Harris.

Jews in the United States have always straddled a line between outsider and insider.
We entered as tempest tossed and embraced the promise of our American meritocracy,
never losing our religious beliefs and ethnic practices. Now Harris offers us an ambition
that those refugees and immigrants from a century ago only could have dreamed of: A
mezuzah on the White House door.

She already has a mezuzah, one of Judaism’s most ancient and important symbols, on
the door of the vice-presidential residence. Every visitor from near and far sees this
mezuzah, a sign of her love not only for her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish – but
of her love for our entire community. During their time together she has fully encouraged
Doug to live his religion proudly and openly despite the simmers of antisemitism that still
linger across the political spectrum and the potential harms they threatened to her
political career.

She attends synagogue with him, honors the High Holiday days, lights shabbat candles.
She gave his Judaism a life in her heart and in her home. And if she wins, she’ll give
Judaism a home in the people’s house. It is a fulfillment of George Washington’s own
letter to a Hebrew congregation in our nation’s infancy, promising a government “which
gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

In some marriages of mixed religions, the wife and husband practice faiths separate and
find that the best approach. It is a testament to Harris’ belief in America’s ideals that she
has championed her husband’s Jewish faith in the very public way. 

And if she wins in November, all of us in the Jewish community will be able to point to
the doorposts of the White House with pride. After centuries of being a people
persecuted from nation to nation — purged by the Romans, Turks, French, Germans,
Russians and more – we’ll be able to see proof of our own safe harbor in the world’s
greatest superpower. After the attacks of October 7 th on the Jewish people and terrifying
reawakening of antisemitism here, online, and across the globe, I can think of no
stronger rebuttal to the forces of hate.

Yes, not everyone in the Jewish community agrees with Harris’ views on all policies –
with some particularly worried about the state of affairs in the Middle East. But when has anyone in the Jewish community been in total agreement? As the saying goes: Two
rabbis, three opinions. Still, nobody can deny that Harris and her husband have been
staunch defenders of Israel. They have visited the Holy Land many times, and Harris
herself has a bond to Israel that I’ve personally seen over a decade of interacting with
her and her husband dating back to when she was Attorney General of California. She
may have disagreements with the Netanyahu government – as do many in the Jewish
community. But Harris continues to keeps working to reach a resolution that will return
the Israeli hostages and end the war.  

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s relationship with the Jewish community could not be more
starkly different from Harris. Where she offers respect and love, Trump provides only
fear and hate. He has said it will be the Jews’ fault if he loses. He says that Israel will
die if he is not elected. Trump surrounds himself with conspiracy theorists and
antisemites, consistently drawing on tropes about Jews and immigrants that are
dangerous and may get people killed – holding up the Jewish community as an outsider
that is disloyal to the United States, ready to stab him in the back. Trump sets us up as
a potential enemy rather than a full part of the United States. We cannot allow this man
to return to power. Anyone using such commentary brings us closer to violence and
harm. 

I rue to think back to the attacks on the Jewish community that happened under Trump
like the Tree of Life shooting. I shudder at the antisemitic rhetoric we hear on university
campuses now. Jews today feel isolated in ways we did not think possible in a modern
United States.

Yes, there are many areas where Harris aligns with issues widely supported in the
Jewish world: a right to worship freely, a right to reproductive care, compassion for
immigrants, and unwavering opposition to dictators. Trump’s promises of detention
camps, arresting political opponents, and scapegoating immigrants, on the other hand,
just put him in a long line of Father Coughlins and other demagogues who train their
followers to aim hatred at Jews.

But this is about more than any one policy. It is about whether we want the United
States to be led by someone who sees the sons and daughters of Abraham as sons
and daughters of America. With Harris and Emhoff in the White House we’ll see our
nation led by a couple who will truly make us feel safe, welcome, and at home. And that
home will have a mezuzah on the door.