New Yorker Critic Wins Twitter With Jason Chaffetz/Passover Pun

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the formerly-Jewish college football star who now chairs the House Oversight Committee, declared Wednesday that he would not be running for any office in 2018, surprising his Republican allies and delighting many on Twitter. The New Yorker’s television critic, Emily Nussbaum, may have had the best reaction:
During Passover, it is traditional to remove all the Chaffetz from the House.
— emily nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) April 20, 2017
Chametz is the Hebrew word for leavened bread products that are forbidden on Passover. Many Jews make a ritual of sweeping their homes free of every leavened crumb.
Chaffetz’s Twitter handle, @Jasoninthehouse, will presumably have to be changed after he leaves office. That day may come sooner than expected: He reportedly texted a Utah news radio station host on Wednesday evening to say that he “may depart early” from Washington before his term expires in January 2019.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

