Six Days That Shook the World

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the June 12, 2025, edition of the Washington Jewish Week:

It took just six days to achieve what many thought to be unachievable. Between June 5 and 10, 1967, Israel swiftly and successfully neutralized military forces from Egypt, Jordan and Syria in one of the Jewish state’s biggest victories in its history.

In the process, Israel took control of the Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula, West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City of Jerusalem. The iconic images of emotional Israeli soldiers at the Western Wall as Motta Gur, the commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ paratroopers brigade, famously declared “Har HaBayit B’Yadeinu!” (The Temple Mount is in our hands) are forever seared into the hearts and minds of Jews around the world.

In this month’s installment of “Remember When,” we look back at the June 4, 1987, issue of Washington Jewish Week, when a story titled “How the Six Day War Changed World Jewry” appeared.

Written by Theodore R. Mann, then president of the American Jewish Congress and former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the article provided some insights into the circumstances surrounding the Six-Day War and noted the significant impact that the military victory had on Jews around the globe.

“The Six Day War changed us,” Mann wrote. “We understood, far more deeply and universally than before, why there had to be an Israel. Moreover, we stopped seeing ourselves as powerless victims, and sensed a new respect from others. The Jewish community’s political assertiveness, sadly absent in the 30s and 40s, was greatly augmented by the self-esteem generated by the Six Day War. Gradually, the basis for America’s support for Israel shifted. It had been based on moral grounds and, marginally, on political considerations. But after the Six Day War, Israel began to be seen also as a first-class fighting machine, with a citizen’s army second to none and a democratic society in an area of the world where there was no other, and with political support in America that was far more determined than previously. As a determinant of American policy, Saudi oil had met its equal in Israeli military strength linked to American Jewish political strength.”

That increase in “the Jewish community’s political assertiveness” that Mann described has withstood the test of time and remains a major factor today.

As Israel continues to face existential threats from multiple fronts and Jews in the United States and throughout the world are contending with a frightening rise in antisemitism, the American Jewish community’s political involvement and activism is more critical than ever.

Our “political assertiveness,” as Mann termed it, is a critical means through which we can make our voices heard and urge our elected officials to do everything in their power to duly address the pressing issues impacting the Jewish community.

My letter in The New York Times about a public display of faith

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about a public display of faith:

May 17, 2025

To the Editor:

Re “E.P.A. Jewish Celebration Has Jewish Critics” (news article, May 13):

Criticizing Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, for a proud and public display of his faith because one disagrees with his policies and politics is a dangerous and disingenuous conflation of two unrelated issues.

At a time when antisemitism is rampant and far too many Jews feel the need to hide or play down their religious identity, we should be celebrating public figures who openly embrace their Judaism, not vilifying them because of public policy divergences.

N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

The Birth of a Jewish State

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the May 8, 2025, edition of the Washington Jewish Week:

It was one of the most significant moments in Jewish history, and the anticipation and excitement leading up to this historic event was palpable.

In this month’s installment of “Remember When,” we look back at the May 14, 1948, issue of the National Jewish Ledger, which subsequently became Washington Jewish Week, when the large headline “Palestine To Be Proclaimed A Jewish State On Sunday” ran across the top of the front page.

An article titled “Century-Old Dream Nears Realization,” quoted David Ben-Gurion, the chairman of the Jewish Agency who would ultimately become the first prime minister of the state of Israel, who noted that, “our generation will see the realization of the centuries-old dream of independence” as he asserted his belief that a Jewish state would soon be established.

The front page of that issue also featured text from the “Jewish Declaration of Independence.”

“We have decided, relying on the authority of the Zionist movement and the support of the entire Jewish people, that upon termination of the mandatory regime there shall be an end of foreign rule in Palestine and that the governing body of the Jewish State shall come into being.

“The state which the Jewish people will set up in its own country will guarantee justice, freedom and equality for all inhabitants, regardless of religion, race, sex or land of origin. It is our aim to make it a state in which the exiles of our people are gathered together and in which happiness and knowledge shall prevail and the vision of the prophets of Israel shall illuminate our path.”

The declaration of the state of Israel in May 1948 formalized the establishment of the Jewish homeland, and although it has spent the better part of its existence over the past 77 years battling enemies who are focused on its destruction, Israel has not just survived but thrived.

With technological advances that people never would have thought possible and a land that is rich in culture and history, Israel has become a precious commodity for the Jewish people and a beacon of hope for Jews around the world.

Through an incredible sense of faith, resilience and perseverance, the “centuries-old dream of independence” that Ben-Gurion spoke about in 1948 thankfully became a reality.

Yeshiva University Men’s Basketball Team Nets a Big Win in ‘Rebound’

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the May 1, 2025, edition of the Washington Jewish Week, and the May 2, 2025, edition of the Baltimore Jewish Times:

Photo credit: FOX Nation

For this group of young men, basketball is much more than just a game.

In “Rebound: A Year of Triumph and Tragedy at Yeshiva University Basketball,” which FOX Nation premiered on April 9, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges faced by the Yeshiva University men’s basketball team in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks that shocked the state of Israel and Jews around the world.

Emmy award-winning filmmaker Pat Dimon does a masterful job conveying the conflicts the players felt after the horrific attack as they contemplated how to move forward with their basketball season, which suddenly felt insignificant after what transpired on that fateful day in October 2023, just two days before the start of practice for the team.

YU men’s basketball has experienced a resurgence in recent years, which began shortly after the arrival of Coach Elliot Steinmetz in 2014. Their 50-game win streak, which stretched from November 2019 until December 2021, and which was the second-longest in NCAA Division III history, captivated the nation and catapulted the team to the top of the rankings. I was at the Dec. 30, 2021, game at the Max Stern Athletic Center when the Maccabees’ historic win streak came to an end against Illinois Wesleyan University, who was ranked fourth in the nation at the time. The energy and excitement in the gym that night was palpable, a keen reminder of how much the dedicated YU fan base and the greater Jewish community values this team.

“Rebound” begins by chronicling the struggles faced by the team’s Israeli players after Oct. 7 and it does an excellent job underscoring the shock and disbelief that they felt as they learned about what was happening. The film opens with YU guard Adi Markovich describing the experience of hearing about the events of Oct. 7, including discovering that one of his friends was murdered. As he’s talking, we see jarring footage from the Hamas attack that presents viewers with scenes from the destruction and devastation that ensued, which is followed by a scene in which Markovich walks onto the basketball court at YU holding a ball in his left hand. The juxtaposition of those powerful images encapsulates the dichotomy that the filmmakers skillfully conveyed through “Rebound”: the inner turmoil the players were feeling and how to reconcile that with their passion for basketball, which seemed relatively trivial in light of the unimaginable suffering of their Israeli brethren.

We hear YU guard Roy Itcovichi, a native of Israel, say that, “it feels selfish” to be playing basketball “when other people are protecting my country, our country,” a sentiment that seems to be shared among the team’s Israeli players.

The film offers some star power, with appearances by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and Josh Harris, managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, Washington Commanders and New Jersey Devils. Additionally, it gives us a glimpse into the lives of the YU players and how they balance religion and basketball as it transitions from a clip of the players davening Shacharit, led by YU star Zevi Samet, who’s wearing a white shirt, black jacket and black hat along with his tefillin, to a play that may be among the best in YU basketball history, in which forward Gabriel Leifer threw a behind-the-back alley-oop pass to guard Ryan Turell, YU’s all-time scoring leader, who then dunked the ball with authority as the crowd erupts in cheers.

Photo credit: FOX Nation

As YU guard Tom Beza, whose good friend, Ofir Engel, was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, talks about the diverse religious backgrounds of the players, we see scenes of the team praying and eating together, giving us a sense of the unity and camaraderie that these players feel with one another.

Viewers get a lesson about Shabbat, as we hear Samet talk about how he wouldn’t play on the Sabbath, even if it could give him an opportunity to play basketball at an even higher level, and we listen to Samet’s mother, Jenny, describe the meaning and beauty of Shabbat as she works in the kitchen with her husband and son preparing for that special day by making challah.

Samet has earned a name for himself during his time as a YU Maccabee, with his three-point shooting prowess and vast offensive arsenal earning him accolades from near and far. Yet as we listen to Samet talk in the film, it becomes apparent that basketball, as important as it is to him, takes a back seat to his commitment to his Judaism, as he says that the prospect of compromising his religion to further his basketball career is “nonnegotiable.”

The film does a superb job conveying the distinctive nature of Yeshiva University as it relates to athletics, with Steinmetz noting that, “Yeshiva is definitely the most unique place in college basketball, probably in college sports.” Beza sums up what it means to him to be a Yeshiva University Maccabee when he says that, “Judaism for me is to be an Israeli, to be a representative of the only Jewish country in the world. I’m not necessarily the most religious Jew, but I do believe that it’s important to be here and to represent the Jewish people.”

“We want to show that Jews can play basketball, and we want to make the Jewish community proud,” Turell says, as he aptly sums up the mission of the YU Maccabees and goes on to discuss why he chose to attend Yeshiva University and describes the start of their historic win streak.

“We play for the Jewish people,” Samet says.

But it’s the film’s focus on Oct. 7 that really captures viewers’ hearts and minds.

“After Oct. 7, everything changed,” Samet says. “It was definitely very difficult to be playing basketball.”

At the first home game after Oct. 7, we see the players warming up, wearing T-shirts with photos of the hostages, and listen as Samet gives an impassioned pregame pep talk to the team in the locker room, which ends with the team proclaiming “spirituality before physicality” in unison before taking the court. The image of the YU players from Israel unfolding a large Israeli flag at half-court as the crowd sings Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, captures the moment and the mood perfectly.

Photo credit: FOX Nation

The film spends a great deal of time giving us an inside look into the team’s emotionally charged January 2024 trip to Israel, which Steinmetz says was an opportunity for them “to show our brothers and sisters in Israel that we’re here with them.”

While in Israel, Itcovichi’s father explains to the players the impact that they have by playing basketball for YU and standing in solidarity with the Jewish state. “You are supporting us … you are our ambassadors,” he says.

Through emotive scenes of the team praying at the Western Wall, visiting an injured Israeli soldier in the hospital, touring the Nova music festival site, going to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, and visiting Kibbutz Be’eri, where over 100 people were murdered on Oct. 7 and 30 were taken hostage, we have a front-row seat that enables us to comprehend what the players experienced during their trip.

The segment at the Nova music festival site is particularly jarring. “6:29 is when the music stopped,” a survivor of the attack tells the players, a reminder of how suddenly everything changed in an instant on the morning of Oct. 7. We watch as the players examine the various aspects of the exhibit, including mounds of shoes and glasses, which to me, evoked memories of the Holocaust and the atrocities that the Jews endured at that time.

The team’s Israel trip culminated with an exhibition game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the enthusiastic reaction of the large crowd speaks volumes about what it meant to the Israeli people to have the YU Maccabees with them in the Jewish state.

“On such a different level, it was the first home game we ever played,” Steinmetz says, describing the surreal nature of the experience. “Even your opponents are your brothers — I never felt like that before.”

Samet aptly sums up the lasting impact that the trip had when he says, “It was a wake-up call to recognize why I’m living.”

“We came back stronger as a team, mainly off the court, as one unit, as brothers,” Markovich says.

Photo credit: FOX Nation

“Rebound” takes us inside the YU locker room following a particularly tough loss to Mount Saint Vincent shortly after the team returned from Israel, and we get to listen in as guard Max Zakheim talks about the team’s loss and Steinmetz dresses down the players following what he considered to be a lackluster effort on the court. We then watch as YU notches two big playoff wins to set up a showdown with Farmingdale State College for the Skyline Conference championship, a game in which the Maccabees ultimately came up short.

Yet for the Yeshiva University Maccabees, who in essence carry the Jewish community on their shoulders, that unforgettable season was much bigger than just basketball. They felt an obligation to play for their people and a sense of immense pride as they did what they could to lift up their brothers and sisters in Israel and bring some light into what was a very dark time.

“Rebound” is an uplifting story about resilience, and regardless of whether you are a basketball fan, this film is absolutely worth watching.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Set to Address Baltimore Jewish Community at Beth Tfiloh

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the May 2, 2025, edition of the Baltimore Jewish Times:

Ambassador David Friedman
(Photo credit: wikicommons/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv)

His affinity for and deep connections to the Jewish homeland made it an easy decision. When President Donald Trump asked David Friedman to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Israel during his first term in office, Friedman jumped at the opportunity. He ended up serving as ambassador from 2017 to 2021, a tenure that was defined by several significant steps taken by the U.S. relative to Israel and the Middle East region.

On Tuesday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m., Friedman will be the featured speaker at Beth Tfiloh Congregation’s Annual Dahan Lecture sponsored by the Haron Dahan Foundation, where he will discuss the topic of “One Jewish State.”

“Beth Tfiloh takes tremendous pride in the success and prestige of our annual Dahan Lecture, endowed by our visionary benefactors, Mr. and Mrs. Rachel and Haron Dahan. The Dahan family and Beth Tfiloh share an unwavering commitment to Israel and Zionism, and this year’s lecturer, Ambassador David Friedman, follows in our tradition of featuring extraordinary Jewish giants, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Natan Sharansky,” said Mandi Miller, chief advancement officer at Beth Tfiloh.

Friedman, who launched the Friedman Center for Peace Through Strength following his service during the first Trump administration, is the author of two books: “Sledgehammer: How Breaking With the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East” and “One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

A longtime attorney, Friedman ruminated on his journey from the legal profession to becoming ambassador to Israel with a bit of levity.

“I get asked a lot by kids who want to follow in my footsteps, who are all really excited about the idea about getting into diplomacy and getting into foreign relations,” he said in an interview with the Baltimore Jewish Times. “And they say to me, can you give me some advice on how to do this? And I say, here’s the advice I could give you. I don’t know how practical it is, but what I would say is, you become a lawyer. You represent a series of wealthy, high-profile clients. You win as many cases as you can, and you hope that one of the clients that you represented becomes president of the United States. And that’s really my path.”

Turning serious, Friedman spoke about how grateful he is to have had the opportunity to serve.

“I practiced law for 35 years, something like that, and I would say a day didn’t go by where I didn’t think to myself, how can I spend a meaningful portion of my life doing things that are important and meaningful to me, important to America, important to Israel, important to the Jewish people. … My father was a prominent rabbi. I think he did great things for the Jewish people and I wanted a little bit of that feeling for myself. And so, to get the opportunity to pivot in a way which is so profoundly meaningful to the state of Israel, to the United States of America, to the Jewish people, was something that I could only see as literally an answer to my prayers,” he said.

Ambassador David Friedman visits Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel in December 2017. He is accompanied by Brig. Gen. Eyal Greenbaum, the commander of the base. (Photo credit: wikicommons/dvids/David Azagury)

The lack of foreign policy experience didn’t impede Friedman in any way, as evidenced by what he accomplished as the United States’ representative to Israel.

Friedman, who when presenting his credentials to Israeli President Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin in 2017, said that, “Serving the United States as its ambassador to Medinat Yisrael is the greatest honor of my life,” was ambassador when the American embassy was relocated to Jerusalem, the U.S. recognized the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory, the Abraham Accords were brokered and finalized and the U.S. declared that the Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are not per se inconsistent with international law.

To Friedman, moving the embassy to Jerusalem is the thing he is most proud of.

“It really was a statement, not just to the Jewish people, but to the world, that the United States of America will stand on its values and stand on its principles, and they won’t flinch from the threats of rogue nations. … Peace ultimately is the goal. And what Isaiah was saying in his prophesy is that the road to peace runs through Jerusalem,” he said.

“In retrospect, having done it, not knowing what would happen after we did it, the response from the Arab world was nothing. … Nobody went to war. You had the kind of rudimentary condemnations at the United Nations. But nothing happened. Nothing happened at all. Nothing negative happened, and then something positive happened, which is that for the first time in 25 years, and without giving up one inch of Israel’s biblical homeland, four Muslim nations normalized ties with Israel, which is the Abraham Accords. So, to me, everything got started by moving our embassy to Jerusalem. It just set everything else in motion. If you look at it sequentially, that was the first thing we did,” he added.

Ambassador David Friedman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. (Photo credit: wikicommons/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)

As for the Abraham Accords, Friedman noted that despite the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and the beating that Israel takes in the Arab press, the agreement has remained intact and none of the Arab nations that normalized relations with Israel have sought to back out.

“Not one of them tried to get out of the Abraham Accords, even though the media in those countries is enormously hostile to Israel,” Friedman said. “And I’ll tell you why. It’s because at the core these countries and Israel have more in common than they have that separates them — they’re all engaged in the war on the same side in the battle against radical Islamic extremism.”

Friedman, who played an integral role in the U.S.-Israel relationship during his ambassadorship, decried recent developments relative to the bond between the two countries. Citing Democratic members of Congress who voted to cut off arms to Israel or who refer to Israel as an apartheid state and a country that is committing genocide, he expressed concern about how the U.S.-Israel relationship has become highly partisan.

“In the aftermath of the election, there was a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party. And a lot of people are saying that for the Democrats to have a future, they have to abandon the far left, the progressive left, the pro-Hamas wing of the party, the anti-Israel wing of the party, and they have to move more toward the middle. And I hope they do. Because what we like to think is that Israel’s relationship with America doesn’t rise or fall every four years on an election. Nobody wants to see that,” he said.

Ambassador David Friedman visits a yeshiva
in the Israeli city of Sderot in October 2017.
(Photo credit: wikicommons/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv)

After Rep. Elise Stefanik’s name was recently withdrawn from consideration as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, there were murmurs that Friedman was interested in the post.

Noting that, “It’s not my decision and not my call to make,” when asked about it by the Baltimore Jewish Times, Friedman did speak about the prospect of serving in that position with a degree of intrigue and a sense of duty.

“If he [President Trump] calls me, as he did when I was asked to be the ambassador to Israel, and he tells me that this is something where he feels I can make a contribution to strengthen the United States, it’s essentially impossible to say no,” he said. “Once you’ve been involved in public service and you understand how important it is and how you get a once in a lifetime, or maybe in this case, twice in a lifetime, opportunity to really take your values and export them on a large scale and bring them to others, you don’t say no. But I haven’t gotten that call and a lot of other people are qualified, and he’ll make that decision.”

Whether it’s he or someone else in the U.N. ambassador role, Friedman did have a lot to say about the current state of the international body in terms of the pervasive nature of its anti-Israel animus and how the United States should handle it.

“It’s time for the United States to take a very, very aggressive role in what it expects out of other members of the U.N. The U.N. was formed kind of out of the ashes of the Holocaust, to make sure that there was always a place for disputes to be resolved amicably and for wars to be avoided. Well, what a failure it’s been,” he said.

“Since it’s been formed, there’s been nothing but wars, nothing but killing, nothing but acts of real genocide. I’m not speaking about Israel and Hamas, but I’m talking about places like in Africa and in the Far East, where there was real genocide — genocide committed by ISIS and other organizations. So, there has been just enormous suffering all around the world, and the U.N. has done absolutely nothing to stop it. And in fact, they’ve done, as we’re finding out now, a good deal to promote it. We see the connection between UNRWA and Hamas, that frankly, UNRWA fueled a large portion of the Hamas massacre. We’ve seen UNESCO pursue this vile and fake argument that Jerusalem has no connection to the Jewish people.

“Whoever gets this job, I would recommend they come in, they articulate very quickly what they expect out of America’s continued involvement in the United Nations and they try to get that. At the end of the day, if we could fix the U.N., that would be the best outcome. Because the concept of the U.N. is a good one — the idea that before people start shooting at each other, they have a forum within which to talk — but that concept has long ago been buried in the dustbin of history,” he added.

Ambassador David Friedman delivering remarks at the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. (Photo credit: wikicommons/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)

At the Annual Dahan Lecture, an important evening of Jewish learning and inspiration for the Beth Tfiloh community and the greater Baltimore Jewish community, Friedman plans to talk about his experiences, which he said were greatly enhanced by his familiarity with the Bible.

“To take that [a knowledge of the Bible] and to then bring that to a government position for the United States in which you are responsible for the connections between America and the one Jewish state — the wellspring of all the biblical stories, values and messages that you studied for so long — I don’t think too many people have had that opportunity,” he said.

“There’s a reason why this book has been around for 3,000 years and why we’re called the ‘People of the Book.’ … The book is what’s kept us together. Because for most of the time that we’ve been around, we haven’t had an army, we haven’t had a nation, but we always had the book. And so that book is important. … Being fluent in Jewish history and the Bible, that fluency is the single most important thing that we can give to our children. It’s the way that we will survive.”

Predicting a Jewish Vice Presidential Candidate

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the April 10, 2025, edition of the Washington Jewish Week:

Forecasting the future is no easy feat. Yet in 1976, a prominent American Jewish historian and rabbi took out a proverbial crystal ball and made a bold prediction that ended up becoming reality.

In this month’s installment of “Remember When,” we look back at our issue from April 1-7, 1976, when an article titled “Jewish V.P. candidate in 25 years foreseen” ran on the front page.

At the 1976 biennial convention of the national Jewish Welfare Board, Rear Adm. Bertram W. Korn, a member of the U.S. Navy’s Chaplain Corps, stood up and predicted that the United States would have a Jewish vice presidential candidate within the next 25 years.

Citing historical trends upon which he based his prediction, Korn, who served as the rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in the Philadelphia area, said, “Two Jews serving as U.S. senators in the period before the Civil War, followed by two Jews serving at the same time on the U.S. Supreme Court prior to World War II, and two Jews serving simultaneously in the president’s cabinet during the Kennedy administration, foreshadow the ultimate political achievement of equality of Jews.”

Korn, the first Jewish chaplain in American history to reach two-star rank in one of the branches of the U.S. armed forces, added that, “No other American religious or ethnic community gave more generously to help its own new people. No other religious or ethnic community in the world has given more to help its refugees and victims abroad than American Jewry. Our neighbors know that American Jews are an easy touch for every good cause. We will continue to share our substance with Jews anywhere who need help and with all non-Jews who are in want.”

It turns out that Korn, whose son Bertram (Benyamin) “Buddy” Korn, served as executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, which is owned by Mid-Atlantic Media, the same company that owns and publishes the Washington Jewish Week, from 1994 to 1997, was spot-on in his prediction.

In August 2000, 24 years after Korn’s prediction, Vice President Al Gore chose U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate for the 2000 presidential election. Lieberman, who passed away in March 2024, was an Orthodox Jew who was proud of his faith and spoke about it openly and often. His selection as Gore’s vice presidential running mate made him the first Jewish member of a major presidential ticket.

Although the Gore-Lieberman ticket ended up falling short after a prolonged legal battle focusing on Florida’s 25 electoral votes, the historic choice of Lieberman as a vice presidential candidate galvanized the American Jewish community. As it happens, it also proved Korn’s bold declaration in 1976 to be prophetic.

Gov. Josh Shapiro: Proud of His Faith and ‘Getting Stuff Done’

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the April 9, 2025, edition of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent:

Gov. Josh Shapiro
(Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Governing is not easy. Yet for Josh Shapiro, the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania who proudly wears his faith on his sleeve, public service is a calling and he seemingly loves the challenge of helping people and delivering for others.

Josh Shapiro’s Judaism and faith is at the core of his being and he takes it seriously and talks about it openly.

“I stand before you, a proud American of Jewish faith who just took the oath of office to be the 48th governor of this great commonwealth on a bible from the Tree of Life synagogue, the scene just four years ago of the deadliest act of antisemitism in our nation’s history,” he declared during his inaugural address in January 2023.

Judaism played a major role in Shapiro’s upbringing.

“I grew up raised in an observant Jewish home. … I went to day school at Forman [Hebrew Day School in Elkins Park] and then Akiba [Hebrew Academy in Merion Station], now Barrack [Hebrew Academy],” Shapiro said in an interview with the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “Akiba is actually where I met my wife in the ninth grade. So, we were both raised in similar environments. Every Friday night was reserved for Shabbat dinner, and typically, Saturday morning was spent in shul — we belonged to Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park. 

“We grew up with faith guiding a lot of our daily lives, and it really shaped me in a way that I knew I had to do something in service to others,” added Shapiro. “Now in no way did I think I’d be governor of Pennsylvania, nor did I really think that I’d go into a career in politics, but I knew that because of how I was raised, it would be a life of service.”

For Josh Shapiro and his wife Lori, transmitting the tenets of Judaism to the next generation — their four children — has been paramount.

“We’ve raised our children in many ways the same way that we were raised — an observant Jewish home, a kosher home, and by the way, kosher at our family home and at the governor’s residence. Our kids all went through the same day schools we did and are living observant lives, and we’re very proud,” Shapiro said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and First Lady Lori Shapiro host a Passover Seder in April 2024.
(Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro pointed to Shabbat as one of the Jewish traditions that has been most impactful in his life.

“Shabbat — just knowing that every Friday night we would be together around the table for special family time — that, to me, was always sort of a special moment that I looked forward to. And it’s something Lori and I have tried to give to our kids, and I think they look forward to it as well every week.”

Shapiro’s faith has been his guiding light and moral compass throughout his life and career and it helped shape the person he is today.

“My faith is very important to me. I’m very proud of my faith. I live my life as a proud American Jew,” he said. “Faith has not guided individual decisions I’ve made on policy or what have you, but it has guided the very central question I’ve had to answer in my life, which is, what do you want to be when you grow up? And what do you want to do with your life? I often recite — the vast majority of the time not in front of Jewish audiences — the passage from Talmud that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it. I think about that multiple times every day. I have a picture of that in the governor’s office, and it really has driven me to want to serve others and to help do my part. I think we all have a responsibility to do tikkun olam and to do our part, and that’s what my faith has taught me.

“I think it is a universal teaching,” Shapiro added. “I’m not someone who ever preaches my faith to others that you have to believe what I believe, but I am someone who’s proud of it, and I speak openly about it, and I find that I’m able to draw connections with people who aren’t Jewish because of the central underpinnings of our faith that teach us to do service for others.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro hands out Chanukah gelt as he joins the Harrisburg Jewish community to light the menorah at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in December 2024. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro’s relationship with the state of Israel dates back to his first trip to the country, which he took as a high school student.

“Everybody remembers their first trip, and for me, that was in 1989, when I went as an 11th grader at Akiba Hebrew Academy. … I studied there for about six months or so, and that was so impactful for me. … I traveled the country, met the people, ate the food, really dove into the history in a more direct and meaningful way. And that trip had a big impact on my life,” he said.

Shapiro recalled another meaningful trip to Israel — one that ended up changing his life.

“In 1996, I went back. I went back to visit my brother, who was on that same trip as an 11th grader. And I brought my girlfriend with me to visit my brother, and I proposed to her underneath the [Montefiore] Windmill at Yemin Moshe. … That obviously was a pivotal moment because it set in motion the most important decision I’ve ever made in my entire life, which was to marry Lori.”

Shapiro has been extremely outspoken in the face of antisemitism and never hesitates to call out Jew-hatred when it rears its ugly head. As far as he’s concerned, elected officials and community leaders have an obligation to tackle bigotry head-on.

“I think leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity,” he said. “Every leader, no matter what position you occupy, in government or outside of government, has a responsibility to call out hatred and bigotry in all forms and condemn it.

“Simply looking the other way and thinking that you’ve done something because you didn’t contribute to the hatred and bigotry is wrong. I think everybody has a responsibility to speak out against it. I’ve tried to do that as governor. I’ve tried to do that in every position I’ve held. I try and call it out, whether I see it on the political right or the political left, no matter what community is engaging in it, or what individual is pushing it. There should be no place for hate in our communities.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro attends the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Annual Holocaust Commemoration in April 2023. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro garnered national attention when he was reportedly one of the finalists to be Kamala Harris’ running mate during the 2024 presidential race. While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ended up being the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Shapiro felt good about how the process ultimately played out.

“Kamala Harris had a deeply personal decision to make about who she wanted to run with and maybe govern with,” he said. “And in the end, I had a deeply personal decision to make too as to whether or not that was the right thing for me to do. I love serving as governor. I love being in a position where I can chart my own course and do the things that I think are important in service to others. And while I’m not pleased with how the election turned out, obviously, I’m pleased to be where I am.”

The 2024 presidential election was unquestionably a tough one for Democrats, and there’s been a lot of soul-searching in the Democratic Party as to what went wrong and how to rebound from such a stinging defeat. As they search for answers, many Democrats have pointed to Shapiro as one of the leaders of their party and as someone who could be a future presidential candidate. Yet despite the attention and accolades, Shapiro does his best to tune it out and remain focused on his current job as governor.

“I honestly try and ignore all of that, not because the people who are worried about the future of our country aren’t right to be concerned, but because I’ve got a job to do as governor of Pennsylvania, to deliver for 13 million people every day, to try and manage the most critical swing state — a state that swings back and forth in elections, a state with vast rural, urban, suburban populations,” he said. “I’ve got a responsibility to try and bring people together and get stuff done. It is my belief that as I do that work successfully, that can be a model for our party and others to center around common sense, results-oriented leadership that lifts people up and doesn’t tear communities apart, and tries to be a moderate, sensible voice in the community.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro launches the new state tourism brand “Pennsylvania: The Great American Getaway” in May 2024. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro’s reference to Pennsylvania as a quintessential swing state is well-founded. It’s an inherently complex political state, yet Shapiro has managed to successfully govern in a fractured and partisan political climate. With the need to address a divergence of opinions on a range of topics, Shapiro has focused on bipartisanship as a way of achieving results.

“I think I’ve earned a reputation for being bipartisan, for bringing people together,” he said. “It is quite literally a fact that I can’t sign a bill into law unless it’s passed the House led by Democrats and the Senate led by Republicans, which means I need votes from both parties in order to advance any legislation or budgets. And we’ve done that really successfully.

“I think showing up in communities, whether they vote for you or not, listening to their concerns, understanding their worries, and then delivering for them is critically important and something I focus on every single day,” he added. “I find that by showing up and listening, you end up tearing down the sort of barriers that get erected through our modern-day political divisiveness. And I’m going to keep doing that work.”

The Shapiro family attends a Philadelphia
Phillies game in October 2023.
(Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro’s public service career in Pennsylvania started long before he became governor in 2023. He served as attorney general from 2017 to 2023, chair of the board of commissioners in Montgomery County from 2011 to 2017 and a state representative from 2005 to 2011. However, entering the public service arena was not always Shapiro’s plan.

“It was not really planned early on,” he said. “My faith has taught me the importance of serving others and helping others, and I had two great examples in my life: my dad, who is the local pediatrician, and my mom, who was a schoolteacher. … I saw them both as examples of serving others in different ways. And I thought I wanted to be a doctor like my dad. I thought that was really a neat way to help others. But in my freshman year of college, studying pre-med and playing on the basketball team, three things happened that day. One, I flunked out of pre-med. And I was a good student, I studied, I tried. … Two, I got cut from the men’s basketball team, so I thought my life goal of being in the NBA as a doctor was not going to happen. And then someone knocked on my dorm room door that night and asked if I would run for student government. I’d never thought about that before, but I said, ‘yes.’ I did it and really fell in love with service to my community through government and politics.

“That led to me changing my major — I didn’t really have a choice, because I flunked out of pre-med — doing an internship on Capitol Hill, working on Capitol Hill, rising up to be a chief of staff, going to law school at night at Georgetown and then returning to the community I grew up in to run for state representative. … That was a really pivotal moment for me. But it all goes back to the central teaching in my life about service to others. It just helped crystallize for me what the best way for me to serve was,” Shapiro added.

As he climbed the political ladder and ascended to the governor’s office, Shapiro picked up pointers from various individuals that he encountered on his journey.

“I’ve never tried to emulate one person,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of people along the way that I’ve learned a lot from and who taught me different things that have helped me along the way. I’m really drawn to people with character and integrity, people who have to make tough choices, and make good, tough choices … with integrity and with service in mind. Those are the people I’m kind of drawn to and interested in learning from.”

Despite a busy schedule and juggling multiple responsibilities as governor, Shapiro brings a tremendous amount of energy to his job, and he typically exudes a sense of warmth and excitement when entering a room. For Shapiro, it comes down to his passion for public service.

“I believe in what I’m doing, and I feel really passionate about it,” he said. “I asked 13 million people to give me the chance to be their leader in Pennsylvania, and they blessed me with this opportunity. And I feel like it is my job to work hard for them every single day, as hard as I can, and deliver for them. And so, I think that’s probably what you see. You see a guy who’s energized about service and energized about the job I’ve been trusted with. I don’t know how long I’ll do this, but it’s not forever, and so I feel like you want to make every moment count, and you want to deliver the most you can for people every day.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro visits Emmaus High School in Lehigh County in September 2024 to celebrate the historic investments in education secured in the 2024-25 budget. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Since becoming governor, Shapiro, who talks a lot about “getting stuff done,” has quickly made his mark throughout the commonwealth and across the country by focusing on key issues that he believes impact people’s lives in a significant way.

“I think schools, safety and economic opportunity, they’re the three foundational pillars of everything I do,” he said.

“I think education is the foundation of everything, making sure we strengthen our public education system. … I work hard every day to make sure Pennsylvanians are safe. That is one of my most fundamental responsibilities, to keep people safe. So, we’re going to continue to make investments in that area. … Creating jobs and economic opportunity [is important], particularly in communities that have been forgotten and left behind, or for people who have oftentimes been shut out,” he elaborated.

Shapiro added that he’s also focused on “protecting people’s fundamental rights and freedoms.”

“I know a lot of people are worried, especially right now, about forces that want to roll back the progress that’s been made, forces that want to take away their rights and freedoms, and so I’m doing everything in my power to protect them,” he said.

With a deep and abiding faith and pride in his Judaism, a propensity for bipartisanship and an enduring desire to help others, Josh Shapiro is certainly not refraining from the task at hand and is wholly focused on his mission of “getting stuff done.”