Image by Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders opened up about his Jewish heritage at a University of Chicago town hall on Thursday.

A Jewish student asked Sanders to speak about his faith during the event broadcast by MSNBC, noting that Sanders had been reticent about discussing his Judaism.

“Obviously, being Jewish is very, very important to me,” Sanders said. “I am very proud of my heritage. And what comes to my mind so strongly as a kid growing up in Brooklyn and seeing people with numbers on their wrists — you probably have not seen that — but those were the people who came out of the concentration camps. And knowing that, my — a good part of my father’s family was killed by the Nazis. And that lesson that I learned as a very young person is politics is a serious business. And when you have a lunatic like Hitler gaining power — 50 million people died in World War 2.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“So I am very, very proud to be Jewish and I’m proud of my heritage,” he added.

Sanders, who is not observant, has pointedly avoided discussing his Jewish background.

He has regularly mentioned his father’s ‘Polish’ immigrant roots, without mentioning that he was Jewish.

When countering Hillary Clinton’s history-making claim to be the first female president, Sanders trumpeted that his candidacy too would be groundbreaking because of his “background,” without specifying what exactly he meant.

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.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount