Kamala Harris wants Jews to donate to her campaign — in multiples of 18

Donating to charity of giving gifts in multiples of $18 is a longstanding Jewish tradition rooted in the numerical value of the Hebrew word chai

Vice President Kamala Harris attends a reception for Israel’s Independence Day, hosted by the Embassy of Israel, in Washington, D.C., on June 7, 2023. Photo by Getty Images

By Lauren Markoe August 26, 2024

Kamala Harris wants Jews to donate to her campaign — Jewishly.

That’s the unspoken message one Forward reader got in a fundraising email from Harris-Walz headquarters this week. Would she like to give $18, $36, $72 or maybe a generous $108?

Such denominations are typical in asks from Jewish nonprofits like the Anti-Defamation League or the local Jewish federation (and, yes, your humble servants here at the Forward.)

Donating to charity of giving gifts in multiples of $18 is a longstanding Jewish tradition rooted in the numerical value of the Hebrew word chai, which means “life,” and is made up of the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet (chet) and its 10th (yud). When you get a $180 check for your bar mitzvah, the giver is also wishing you a long, healthy life.

When an arsonist set fire to a Florida mosque in 2017, a man who set up a crowdfunding page online to raise money for repairs noticed that many donations were in what seemed like “weird” amounts. Turns out they were all multiples of 18, given by donors with Jewish names. A similar thing happened this January, when the Forward’s editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, wrote about a Palestinian couple desperate to escape Gaza: within 24 hours, 200 people had donated to their GoFundMe page, most in multiples of chai.

The Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to any of my questions about its chai strategy. How many people did they send the $`18-$36-$54-$72 solicitation to, and how did they know those people were Jewish? Was it the brainchild of Harris’ Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff? Do Jewish recipients like this subtle “I see you” messaging — or find it a bit creepy?

And, most importantly, how much did it bring in?

I also reached out to the Trump campaign to see if they’re also asking Jews for multiples of chai. No immediate answer from them either.

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said her organization always asks for donations in multiples of chai, but that this is the first time she’s heard of a political campaign doing so.

“We know it has significance for Jewish voters,” she noted, “so I have to assume that the Harris-Walz campaign recognizes that.”

Lauren Markoe is news editor of the Forward. A Bronx native, she reported for The Patriot Ledger, several McClatchy newspapers in the South, and Religion News Service, where she was also managing editor. She also produced live radio shows at WAMU in Washington, D.C., where she lives.

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