Earlier today, Donald Trump once again attacked Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN). The president has been smearing her on and off for weeks now, trying to paint her as an avowed antisemite even as he himself engages in outrageous antisemitic rhetoric.
Just this past weekend, at a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition — during which he offensively referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “your prime minister” to the American Jews in attendance — he attacked Omar for the umpteenth time. The most sinister part of this particular barrage was the fact that Trump delivered it just hours after one of his supporters was arrested for threatening to kill Omar.
Omar, for her part, is clearly not intimidated by Trump or his hateful administration. Yesterday, she went after Trump’s vile Senior Advisor Stephen Miller and correctly identified him as a white nationalist. His hateful xenophobic, racist agenda leaves no doubt about it, and it’s a shame that more members of Congress aren’t willing to step forward and condemn him as such.
Trump responded by sharing a bad faith Fox News segment that attacked Omar for going after Stephen Miller because he’s Jewish, even though Omar never mentioned his heritage. She focused exclusively on his destructive agenda, which has proven time and again to be in perfect sync with white nationalist goals.
Now, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, one of the United States’ leading Jewish religious figures, has weighed in on the topic. She tweeted out a blunt statement: “Stephen Miller is a white nationalist.”
Ruttenberg followed up the tweet with a long series of tweets breaking down exactly how Miller can be both Jewish and a white nationalist, bringing all her expertise to bear on the nuanced topic. The entire thread is worth reading and by the end of it, one will have little doubt not only that Miller can be a white nationalist, but that he definitely is a white nationalist.
Hi, rabbi here.
Stephen Miller is a white nationalist.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) April 9, 2019
Hey so if you’d like historical context for how a Jew (Stephen Miller or others) could possibly wind up aligned with white supremacy, this thread might be useful: https://t.co/87PDurf9Ji
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) April 9, 2019
Dear @MsPackyetti –a few thoughts on this, ending w/ of course decrying the racism you've (& others've) faced but will try to be descriptive of the historical context, which if I understand correctly is the ask. Thanks for taking a moment to read. 1/x https://t.co/R9r81me0VV
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Jews for most of the last 2000 years have been by and large unsafe and/or insecure. Times of being "tolerated" by the countries in which they found themselves interspersed with expulsions, Inquisitions, pogroms. https://t.co/SZ3goPQtnm
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
It was worse in Christian countries than Muslim countries but everywhere Jews were at the mercy of whoever was in charge there. Capped off notably for this thread by Jews in Germany who thought they were pretty secure, and then the Holocaust happened.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Major Jewish immigration wave happened in the late 19th-early 20th c, lots (not only, but lots) of folks running from persecution in Eastern Europe–pogroms and etc. US changed immigration laws in the 20s so eg most of those trying to escape the Nazis couldn't get in.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Jews in the early 20th c. faced a lot of discrimination, both institutional and not. (Not of course worse than what Black folks were facing, but if I'm trying to build up to explain the mindset of the folks you're describing, this is relevant).https://t.co/XmHmVPxpaX
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
And then, particularly in post-WWII years the category of whiteness expanded in such a way that Jews were able to pass as less of a racialized other, collect privilege. This book is a good start, though it's old, I bet other folks have other suggestions. https://t.co/3gzdFQ5LVI
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
I think this was only possible bc whiteness in the US was constructed against Black folk. AKA whiteness in the US could expand to include Jews of European descent in a way that it never would have in Europe bc Black folk were even more "other" in the US.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
And a lot of Jews–w/centuries of inherited trauma & insecurity, facing discrimination in the US, reeling from 6 million Jews gassed and burned and shot in that same generation across the ocean–ran for that whiteness (& implied safety) w/both hands.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Note that I don't think that this mostly happened consciously at all. But it happened, & it happened at the expense of African-Americans. And I suspect that that explains a lot of the racism that has come out of some quadrants of the Jewish community, esp in past generations.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
And our greatest 20th c. Jewish American theologian (Abraham Joshua Heschel) was right in front with Dr. King in Selma etc etc etc. But it's also true that mainstream Jewish institutions in that time did not take a stand, much as I wish they had.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
As today–some amazing Jewish orgs doing amazing work on racial justice, and other orgs still in "we have to focus on our own" mentality. Which–the Holocaust still touches everything. So much trauma and fear driving decisions, even today. It wasn't so long ago.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Also not all Jews are white by a long shot–both Jews w/roots from all over the world (Ethiopia, Yemen, Iraq, Uganda, India, Morocco etc etc etc) & interfaith families, conversions, adoptions, blended families, etc. Some estimate 20% of the community is Jews of color now.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
So "Jews" and "race" is complicated, esp in a world where white supremecists consider us not-white and those of us of European descent collect white privilege every day in America. I self-ID as white bc of privilege, I don't let Nazis define me. But it's not straightforward.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Gonna end with a piece by @dove_kent (former ED of @JFREJNYC) that I love. And to say thank you for all your inspiring work, and that I'd love to be of service in any way you might find useful. ❤️https://t.co/pLfQ1SP8N4
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 8, 2018
Also this thread presumes all the context of how antisemitism has been tangled up in Jewish class privilege (mostly imagined, occasionally real) since the Middle Ages. I break that down here: https://t.co/0uLZvETuvW
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) March 4, 2018
