Bernie Sanders’ Exit Is A Painful Necessity For Jews

Like millions of young people across the country, my understanding of what it meant to be an American changed when that 70-something year old socialist announced his candidacy for president that brisk April day in Vermont.

I proudly carried the moniker of “The Bernie Kid,” sporting Bernie 2016 sweaters and t-shirts, attending every Bernie rally within a 200 -mile radius of Phoenix, Arizona. 

I wept upon his concession to Hillary Clinton the following July. I wept for the Bernie movement; the first community in which I felt instrumental. I wept for the man who had undoubtedly captured the hearts of those who had not yet been engaged in the political process. 

So why, why, in March 2019, did I take the controversial plunge to publicly oppose Mr. Sanders and his candidacy? Why did I insist on Elizabeth Warren, and place Mr. Sanders at the absolute bottom of my list of favorable Democratic candidates? My reluctance to rejoin the Bernie movement lies squarely in my exposure to anti-Semitism. 

Progressive, liberal Jews like myself have been betrayed at American universities. Even if a Jewish student is a far-left socialist, if she cannot jettison the compulsion to defend the state of Israel and Jewish people-hood, she is targeted, talked over, smeared and ex-communicated from the burgeoning hyper-leftist culture at liberal arts college campuses. Any Jewish college student can assure you of the close association between a “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” chant and a Bernie Sanders 2020 laptop sticker. The unifying banner that the exploding population of “anti-Zionists” seemed to unite under was that of the Democratic Socialists of America’s candidate. 

At first, the “leftist anti-Semitism” debate was a mere culture war that covered no ground beyond the quad. It had little to do with the race for president and everything to do with student government resolutions and Middle Eastern Studies professors. That was until Bernie seemed to embrace these harassers with open arms into his campaign. 

The orthodoxy of Bernie-ism no longer mandated a strict allegiance to Medicare For All and a Green New Deal, but also a sharp disdain for Jewish people-hood.

The ground shifted in 2019, to where the orthodoxy of Bernie-ism no longer mandated a strict allegiance to Medicare For All and a Green New Deal, but also a sharp disdain for Jewish people-hood. This hostility was encouraged by a growing list of Sanders surrogates and supporters. Indeed, the Bernie mob on Twitter has become a hotbed of calling Israelis Nazis, calling Jews colonizers and referring to Zionists as baby-killers. The excuse you could expect to hear for their incessant bullying? They staunchly supported the Jewish candidate. 

The nail in the coffin for my vote against Bernie Sanders was Jeremy Corbyn. As the Labour-Jewish nightmare erupted in the United Kingdom, the parallels between Sanders and Corbyn refusing to condemn anti-Semitism in their own situation rooms became irresponsible to ignore.

Leftist populism around the world is hurtling toward a future in which Jews are either uncomfortable or conservative.

Bernie Sanders is not an anti-Semite nor trafficked in anti-Semitism as Mr. Corbyn is, but his agonizing refusal to acknowledge the virus in his campaign struck many Jewish Americans as a blatant warning. Leftist populism around the world is hurtling toward a future in which Jews are either uncomfortable or conservative. Jews acted upon this warning. Biden is winning the majority of Jewish voters across the map in the primary.

When Sanders felt compelled to address these rising concerns, he would always resort to his “proud to be Jewish” sermon, in which he pensively told the story of his immigrant father and the horrors his family endured under the Nazis. This answer, while powerful, highlighted why so many 2016 Jewish Bernie supporters were abandoning ship. 

One cannot view Jewish culture and people-hood through the lens of only our trauma, only defining oneself as a Jew to counteract the hate inflicted upon us by oppressors.

Bernie seldom, if ever, talked about Jewish culture as it lives and breathes now in Israel and across the world, and the religious, ethnic and spiritual meaning of Judaism as a celebration of life. One cannot view Jewish culture and people-hood through the lens of only our trauma, only defining oneself as a Jew to counteract the hate inflicted upon us by oppressors. This is irresponsible, especially as hostility to Jewish people flourishes in your backyard. Bernie Sanders wasn’t capable of seeing either. 

I still love Bernie. I am a Democrat, a liberal, a progressive and politically engaged because Bernie Sanders forced me to be. He demanded I ask the question of my country: why are things so unfair? Can we be better? Should we be better? I believe no less in the fight for universal healthcare, in powerful unions and criminal and environmental justice, and in campaign finance reform than I did in 2016. 

What led me astray from Sanders was my identity as a Jew.

What led me astray from Sanders was my identity as a Jew. If it takes a Bernie Sanders loss to remind the Democratic Party that one of their most reliable voting blocs will not be intimidated, so be it.