Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

The Bidens tell Jewish supporters the new year will be happier with Trump out

(JTA) — Jill and Joe Biden greeted Jewish supporters for the Jewish New Year and cast the holy day’s message as an imperative to drive President Donald Trump from office.

It was the second New Year’s greetings-turned-pitch for votes of the season. Trump made his own appeal Wednesday during a White House call to Jewish supporters.

“These are the Days of Awe that give us a chance to restart, to speak up,” the Democratic presidential nominee said Thursday in a webcast organized by Jewish Americans for Biden, an arm of his campaign. “What kind of country do we wish to be? Both of our faiths, yours and mine, instruct us not to ignore what’s around us.”

Biden, a Roman Catholic, noted the persistence of the coronavirus pandemic, the social unrest over racism and the economy. “A common thread between them is a president who makes things worse, who appeals to the dark side of us,” Biden said.

Biden launched his campaign for the presidency last year he said because he was appalled at what he said were Trump’s equivocations in condemning deadly racist and anti-Semitic violence.

Biden’s wife, Jill, an educator, quoted the 19th-century rabbi, Yisrael Salanter, who founded the Jewish ethical movement, Musar. “As Rabbi Yisrael Salanter taught, ‘as long as the candle is still burning, it is still possible to accomplish and to mend’,” she said. “I hope these days of awe renew your spirit for these days ahead.”

Joe Biden, who has pushed back at progressives within his party who want to step up criticism of Israel, said, “we can pursue peace in the world including by remaining a steadfast ally of Israel.”

He concluded, “Shana Tova everyone, we can do this, it’s got to be a better year than last year.”

The post The Bidens tell Jewish supporters the new Jewish year will be happier with Trump out appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.