Delaware's Jews are Politically Unserved

by HOWARD M. BERLIN

9/5/2003

In the age of claiming that this or that group is underrepresented, Delaware's Jewish population seems to be apathetic when it comes to political representation. On the national level, Jews typically comprise two percent of the population but 11 of the US senators (11%) and 26 of the 435 representatives (6%) are of Jewish heritage. Even Ari Fleischer, President Bush's recent press secretary is Jewish as are two of the nine Supreme Court justices (Breyer and Ginsburg).

When typically 90 percent of Jews are registered Democrats, there has not been even one elected to the state legislature since Wilmington's Abe Goldfeder was in the House from 1969 to 1970. Since then, both houses of the legislature have been 100 percent gentile. Wilmington, for obvious demographic reasons, hasn't had a Jewish elected official in what almost seems to be at least half a century.

There is nothing wrong or sinister with these statistics in of themselves and I am not suggesting any form of quotas. On the national level, Israel has long benefited from the overrepresentation of Jews in congress but what has the lack of representation accomplished here in Delaware?

One only has to revisit the fiasco last Fall when the state's primary elections fell on Rosh Hashanah, and on Shabbat to boot. If there was an elected Jewish legislator or two with some clout or chutzpah, a change in the setting the primary date should have been easy when it was first brought to the attention of the legislature in the early months of 2002. Instead, it took Rabbi Dresin of the Adas Kodesch Shel Emeth synagogue and others to publicly detail this insensitivity and prod the legislature to get off of square one—albeit very slowly.

Currently, there are only three Jewish elected officials that I am aware of—State Treasurer Jack Markell and New Castle Council members Karen Venezky and Robert Weiner. I don't know what pressure either these three individuals or Jewish organizations brought to bear when the issue first surfaced, but apparently it wasn't enough to convince a legislature composed entirely of gentiles who obviously see things through different lenses. Even now, only the state House has passed legislation (HB #47) to change the date of primary; the issue is currently stalled in the state Senate.

The legislation proposes to change the primary date from first Saturday next following the first Monday in September to the second Tuesday in September. This gets rid of the Shabbat problem, especially for observant Jews, but it still doesn't have any provision for future primaries if either Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Shavuot falls on primary day. Looking ahead at the Jewish calendar for the next 50 years or so, the first day of Rosh Hashanah (2048), second day of Rosh Hashanah (2018, 2056), and Kol Nidre (2032) are all problematic if the legislation passes.

Besides its political impotence in the settling of a rather low-level issue so far, do Delaware's Jews have enough political clout if the state legislature were to decide, for example to ban shechita (ritual slaughtering) or the importation of kosher meat slaughtered according to halacha? This prohibition is now the case in several European countries because of prodding by animal rights activists. What will be done then? Maybe a $34,100 base annual salary, a state pension, and a distinctive yellow license plate for a cushy part-time job is enough of an incentive for some to think about changing the status quo. According to the American Jewish Yearbook for 2002, Delaware has an estimated 13,500 Jews out of a state population of 786,000 (1.7%). With its overwhelming support for the Democratic Party that purports to champion diversity, it seems that Jews are excluded from the legislature's big tent.