Hail to the Chief (of Staff)
DITHYRAMB FOR RAHM: Our Stanley Siegelman hails Obama’s future chief of staff in bilingual verse.
NEWS ITEM: President-elect Obama named Rahm Emanuel, a Jewish congressman, White House chief of staff.
DITHYRAMB FOR RAHM: Our Stanley Siegelman hails Obama's future chief of staff in bilingual verse.
A hard-nosed guy who takes no gaff
As presidential chief-of-staff!
In Jewish circles, people kvell
About him: Rahm Emanuel.
They see in him a rising buoy,
This congressman from Illinois.
They think he’s on the up-and-up —
Moreover, with a Yiddish kup.
With confidence he’ll take command,
As Moses did, with staff in hand.
From GOP come sobs and wails,
He’s known to be as tough-as-nails.
It’s obvious he has few fans
Among hard-core Republicans.
The nickname “Rahmbo” he has won
Among the pols in Washington,
For every one of them concurs
He strikes and takes no prisoners.
He’ll work, we know, around the clock,
And do his darndest for Barack.
Let’s hope you serve him well, oh Rahm!
We hail you in this dithyramb!
A khevre-man vos iz a “gvar”,
In Vaysn Hoyz a rising star!
Mir Yidn fun im kveln shnel,
Zayn nomen: Rahm Emanuel!
Fun gantsn shtab der balabos,
Er gleybt in Barack’s noble cause.
A Yidish kop er take hot,
Dos iz gants klor, s’iz nit kayn sod.
Republikaner shrayen “oy”:
“Far vos hot B’rack geton azoy?”
Nor Demokratn (goyim, Yidn)
Aplodirn, zeyer tsufridn.
Faroyszog iz: der GOP
Un Rahm avade disagree.
M’ruft im “Rahmbo,” krigerish,
Zayn moto: “tokhes oyfn tish.”
Zayn aynshtel iz: “folg mikh a gang,”
Dos meynt er geyt durkh shturem, drang.
Loybverdik iz dayn trayshaft, Rahm,
Du take host a Yidishn tam!
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion Trump’s Israel tariffs are a BDS dream come true — can Netanyahu make him rethink them?
- 3
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 4
Film & TV How Marlene Dietrich saved me — or maybe my twin sister — and helped inspire me to become a lifelong activist
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Next year in Gracie Mansion’: Where Jewish NYC mayoral candidates will do Seder
-
Fast Forward How Coke’s Passover recipe sparked an antisemitic conspiracy theory
-
Opinion Pro-Palestinian protests enriched Jewish life on my campus. Trump’s actions will do the opposite.
-
Fast Forward Fake rabbi sentenced to 135 years for sexually abusing adoptive sons
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.