Jimmy Carter respected Jews and Judaism

Assessments of the life of Jimmy Carter by Jews focus on his impact on the Middle East. Cheers for  his critical role in sealing the deal on the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in 1979 – harsher judgments for his pro-Palestinian writings and comments in later years.  This perspective ignores another and important part of the 39th President’s legacy. Carter’s support for Jewish religious observance during his term as the 39th President of the United States requires recognition.. 

I saw this up close.  When Menachem Begin and his delegation visited Washington, DC in March 1978, I served as gabbai of Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown.  On Friday evening,  Yehuda Avner approached me.  An adviser in  the Prime Minister’s Office, Avner attended  services with UN Ambassador Yehuda Blum, Begin’s confidant Yehiel Avishai, and Foreign Ministry Legal Adviser Elyakim Rubinstein. Avner requested aliyot in the morning for his group to recite Hagomel, the traveler’s blessing for safe arrival from overseas. Then he asked me a strange question. “Is Shabbat over by 8 o’clock?”  I assured him that Shabbat ended at 7pm.  

Noticing my quizzical expression, Avner explained. President Carter’s staff, as had his predecessors’ in these circumstances, requested a meeting for Friday night.  Unlike his predecessors, Prime Minister Begin refused.  He informed the White House that Shabbat prohibited such a gathering. (Though Begin himself did not observe Shabbat at home, laudably, he insisted on keeping the halacha when representing Israel abroad.)  Instead, could the meeting occur Saturday night at 8 o’clock?  Done. 

Of course, we salute Prime Minister Begin for his courageous stand.  However, we  must acknowledge that President Carter, who could have insisted that the vital peace negotiations go on on the schedule he wished, agreed to the delay.  He respected Jewish law. Better, he did not question Begin’s beliefs by pointing out that other Israeli prime ministers had met presidents on Shabbat.  . 

In 2018,  I interviewed Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s Chief Domestic Policy Adviser, in connection with my  review of President Carter: The White House Years in the Forward. I  discovered that Carter’s gracious sensitivity reflected his normal conduct.  Eizenstat told me that Carter never called him on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. In addition, the president left his adviser alone on Friday night Shabbat Dinner hours and during Shabbat morning services.  (Stuart Eizenstat belongs to the  Conservative branch of Judaism.)

Of longer-lasting impact, Carter dignified kashrut observance at White House functions.   He started offering comparable kosher menu options. 

Previously, the White House kitchen provided fruit plates to kosher-observant dinner guests.  In his memoir, The Prime Ministers: an intimate narrative of Israeli leadership, Yehuda Avner describes his experience in pre-Carter years as an adherent of kashrut.  Noting Avner’s fruit plate and the fact that the Israeli prime minister – the guest of honor –  ate the usual (unkosher) White House fare, a high US government official asked, why the fruit?  Awkwardly, Avner replied, “I am on a diet.” (Literally true, but not to lose weight.)  

To celebrate the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, Carter threw a dinner in a tent on the White House lawn, engaged a kosher caterer  (to avoid cleansing  the White House kitchen and dishes) and offered kosher meals. The New York Times  reported that quite a few guests, including Prime Minister Begin, took advantage.  To this day, on the proper occasion, the White House offers kosher food, even in the mansion itself.  No longer does anyone have to explain a religious-based dietary choice.

Finally, Carter made Jews comfortable during Christian holiday season in December.  Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court had just ruled that displays of fir trees, elves and nativity scenes on government property during holiday season did not violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution’s First Amendment (assuring separation of church and state). Indeed, since 1923, US presidents have conducted a ceremony to light the National Christmas Tree on or near White House grounds.  Concerned about the pervasion of Christianity in December, Chabad came up with the idea of a Hanukkah Menorah lighting ceremony across from the White House.

President Carter agreed and lit the first Hanukkah Menorah in 1979. The ceremony has evolved in ways that raise halachic issues.  These days, a Jew lights the menorah with all the blessings.  The ceremony occurs on the Ellipse, a public park behind the White House, not exactly the proper venue (a Jewish home or courtyard). Should a Jew recite wasteful  blessings?  

One could question the modern Menorah religious ceremony with all the trimmings as violating the Establishment Clause. Nevertheless, Carter, a Southern Baptist, lit the Menorah to counter the Tree ceremony that made Jews feel like outsiders.  The president did the right thing.

His gestures of inclusion deserve our admiration.