Joe Biden announced last week that Senator Kamala Harris of California would be his running mate. Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, is married to attorney Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish. His two children from a previous marriage call Kamala “Momele.” Harris has a long history of support for Israel, favoring a two-state solution and opposing BDS. She has also spoken out strongly against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate crimes, saying at an AIPAC meeting, “As someone who’s personally prosecuted hate crime, I also believe that we cannot stand by while anti-Semitism, hate crime and bigotry are on the rise, whether that’s a swastika on a Jewish Family and Children’s Services bus in San Francisco or the burning of a mosque in Tampa. No one should have to be afraid to put a menorah in their front window or on their front lawn.” What Jewish activity did Kamala Harris participate in when she was growing up?

Kamala Harris by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A. Harris attended Westmount High School in Westmount, Quebec, where she played the role of Hodel in the school’s production of Fiddler on the Roof.

B. Kamala’s best friend was a member of Young Judaea. Kamala used to go door to door with her friend selling World’s Finest chocolate bars as a fundraiser for the organization.

C. When Kamala was 12, she moved to Montreal, where her mother took a job as a researcher at Jewish General Hospital. Every year Kamala would attend the Chanukkah party sponsored by the hospital, and she would help distribute presents to the Jewish children who were being treated at the facility.

D. Harris used to collect donations in the JNF Blue Boxes for planting trees in Israel.

E. Harris ran for president of her senior class, and during her campaign she targeted Jewish students. She spoke of her support for a two-state solution at a local B’nai B’rith Youth Organization meeting. She appeared at a bagel store and posed eating lox on an onion bagel. She went to the Jewish Community Center’s Purim carnival where she kissed a bunch of Jewish babies. She gave a speech to the student body where she used ten Yiddish words including chutzpah, kvell, meshuggeneh, and tushie. She appeared at the county fair where she was seen eating a fried knish on a stick. And she sold campaign T-shirts that read “Vote Kamala, Bubele.”

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