Kamala Harris is expected to name her vice-presidential pick at any time, and among the top contenders is Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania (by the time you read this we may already know if he’s the one!). Shapiro is the third Jewish person to serve as governor of Pennsylvania, following Milton Shapp (whose name at birth, coincidentally, was Milton Shapiro) and Ed Rendell. Shapiro had a religious upbringing, attending Forman Hebrew Day School and Akiba Hebrew Academy. During high school he volunteered on an Israeli Army base, and he later proposed to his wife (a fellow student at Akiba) while in Jerusalem. His family keeps kosher (he had the kitchen kashered at the governor’s mansion), he makes it a priority to celebrate Shabbat every Friday night with his wife and 4 children, and he addressed the crowd at his inauguration with the words “I stand before you, a proud American of Jewish faith.” He is a strong supporter of Israel but very critical of the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What is one example of social justice and political leadership that Shapiro showed when he was still young?    

‍ Josh Shapiro 2023 by The White House is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A. The 12th Maccabiah Games were held in Israel in 1985. Josh Shapiro was already scheduled to travel with his family to Israel to attend the games, and also to celebrate his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall. It was announced that former Maccabean and Olympic champion Mark Spitz would be carrying the torch for the opening ceremony, accompanied by children of Israeli Olympic athletes slain at the Munich Olympics. Josh organized a “Children for Olympians” campaign at his school, collecting donations for the families of the slain Israelis.

B. Josh took up the cause of Soviet Jewry when he was 6 years old, through his synagogue. He wrote letters to Avi Goldstein, a Russian boy his age whose parents were refuseniks, persecuted by Soviet authorities and refused the right to emigrate to Israel. Shapiro then began reaching out to others to write Avi, ultimately initiating a letter writing campaign called “Children for Avi,” generating letters to Avi from children across the United States, Canada, and England. Avi and his family were eventually allowed to leave Russia, and Avi attended Josh’s bar mitzvah in 1986.

C. In 1985, 11 people were killed and 250 left homeless when the Philadelphia police issued arrest warrants and went to clear a building occupied by members of MOVE, a Black liberation organization. The MOVE members refused to come out, and the police launched a major assault, with tear gas, gun fire by both sides, and the dropping of bombs on the building. This set off a huge fire that destroyed 61 homes in what was later determined to be excessive force and unreasonable search and seizure by the police. Shapiro, who lived in nearby Elkins Park, organized a fundraiser through his school for the displaced families, specifically to buy toys, diapers, and other products for the affected children. The campaign, called “Children for MOVE” raised over $100,000 for the victims of the tragedy.

D. In 1985, Josh learned that Israel was about to replace its old shekel coin with the New Israeli shekel. Josh organized a campaign asking members of his synagogue to go through their drawers looking for old shekels that they had brought home from trips to Israel, and to donate them to UJA. What began as a local “Children for Shekels” program got picked up in the Jewish media, and ultimately “Children for Shekels” campaigns took place in dozens of communities across America, raising the equivalent of more than $120,000 for UJA.

E. When Josh was 15 years old, for the first time he paid attention to presidential politics. He followed the news as Republican nominee George H. W. Bush selected Indiana Senator Dan Quayle to be his running mate. Josh heard some of the quotes which Quayle offered during his campaign and during his vice-presidency, including “The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century,” as well as “Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.” But the quote that had the biggest impact on Shapiro was when Quayle said, “One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.” Shapiro realized that he too was inspired by that one word, so he began raising funds from his school friends for his own run for vice president, which he hopes will finally come to fruition this year. Shapiro called his efforts “Children for Me” and raised $1.23, which has now grown with interest to $7.16, which Shapiro will hopefully use to launch his official campaign as Kamala Harris’s running mate.

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