Losing Your Jewish Soul For A Few Votes: An Open Letter to Lena Epstein

Lena,

Although we’re more acquaintances than friends, we know a lot of the same people and those mutual friends always spoke highly of you. Which is why I was willing to sit down with you back in December about your desire to leverage my three years in the Obama administration to help you figure out how to join the Trump Administration.

So, despite our political differences, when I saw you were running for Senate, I wanted to hear what you had to say, even if I would not be supporting your campaign. Public service is public service, and voices from the full spectrum of political views, especially in the next generation of our community, are important.

But when I heard you using phrases like “America First,” knowing full well of their history tied to an anti-Semitic and pro-German movement of the 1930s, it disturbed me. One of the reasons why I supported Hillary Clinton was because I was afraid of the anti-Semitic undertones of many of Trump’s advisors.

Now, after what I saw this week from you, I’m no longer disturbed — I’m angry.

When the political and media world noticed your account had been liking the tweets of some disgusting figures in the neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic world: Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and the man known as “Baked Alaska,” a notorious White Supremacist, I looked for myself. I was horrified to see that those likes surrounded a like of the tweet of the birth of my daughter.

You denied it, and said your account had been “hacked.” You appeared on radio and TV shows to denounce the “dirty tricks” that Democrats had done to you by merely pointing out what anyone could see. You demanded an apology. But it’s you, Lena, who should be apologizing to our community.

That’s because eight hours after your claim of hacking, you posted the audio of another anti-Semite, Ted Nugent, praising you — and smiling pictures of you and Nugent were plastered all over social media.

This is the same Ted Nugent who, in February 2016, posted disturbing anti-Semitic propaganda on his own Facebook page saying Michael Bloomberg was a “9/11 Israeli Agent” and the “Mayor of Jew York City” and Sen. Frank Lautenberg was giving “Russian Jew Immigrants your tax dollars.”

The issue here is not about liking people’s tweets. It’s part of a bigger pattern. You enrobe yourself in anti-Semitic propaganda and embrace the support of anti-Semites to try and win the Republican primary — all at the expense of our community and your family’s good name. It is a Shanda — a shame — and proof to all of us that your judgment is unworthy of holding elected office.

No elected office is worth the loss of your Jewish soul.

Jordan