Bernie Sanders spoke in depth about his Judaism for the first time during the campaign Sunday night, following some critique that he’s kept his Jewish identity in the shadows.
Asked during the Democratic debate about whether he has intentionally kept his religion “in the background,” Sanders insisted that being Jewish is an intrinsic part of who he is.
“I’m very proud of being Jewish and being Jewish is very much a part of what I am,” the Vermont senator said.
The son of a Polish immigrant, Sanders was raised Jewish but is not actively religious today. When asked about his religion on the campaign trail, he’s kept his answers to the golden rule and on increasing kindness in America, despite being the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary contest in the United States. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, often speaks of her Methodist upbringing and her reliance on prayer.
Sanders explained that his religion is less focused on daily practice and more on how he sees Judaism as something that has shaped his worldview.
“Look, my father’s family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical and extremist politics mean. I learned that lesson as a tiny, tiny child when my mother would take me shopping and we would see people working in stores who had numbers on their arms because they were in Hitler’s concentration camp,” Sanders said.
“I’m very proud of being Jewish and that’s an essential part of who I am as a human being,” he said.
