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Actually, I’d love for Chabad to ask me if I’m Jewish
I was waiting with my friend for a train in New Jersey when we were approached by a young missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Unaware of the fact that we were currently on our way back to New York from a Sukkot party, he asked if we’d like to attend church with him on Sunday. When we told him we were Jewish, he politely responded, “I respect that. G-d bless you.” Probably the nicest ending to a proselytizing interaction one could hope for.
Once the missionary left, my friend told me he was reminded of being incessantly approached by religious devotees from Chabad, asking him to shake the lulav and etrog. Although he talked about this barragement as an annoyance, I saw it as a privilege.
As a Black woman, I don’t exactly fit the model for the types of people Chabad profiles and have never been approached. It doesn’t happen to me in New York, where a Mitzvah Mobile is a common sighting. It didn’t happen to me on the main walkway of my college campus, where the local Chabad chapter would set up a table as a holiday would approach.
One Rosh Hashanah in college, I decided that if I wanted to be recognized as Jewish (and get the free apples and honey Chabad was handing out) I would have to take matters into my own hands. I approached the table and said “Chag Sameach.” They greeted me warmly, if with surprise, and invited me to their services. I approached them in the same way at Sukkot, and got invited into their sukkah to shake the lulav and etrog.
I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who envy my position — a Jew who gets to fly under the radar and not get stopped every few blocks. But I felt like I was being left out from something every other Jew got to experience (even if they experience it begrudgingly).
I don’t totally hold it against the members of Chabad that they target a certain subset of people. With limited resources, you can’t approach everyone. Statistically speaking, in America, the vast majority of Jews are white, with an estimated 12-15% being Jews of color. However, it does seem counterintuitive to not cast as wide a net as possible when hoping to talk to as many Jews as you can.
The assumptions don’t go both ways. Chabad opens with the question “Are you Jewish?”, acknowledging that religious diversity exists among white people. But they often overlook that the Jewish community itself is diverse enough to warrant asking people of color that question.
But haven’t I been guilty of profiling, too?
The year after the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, I became the Youth Representative on my hometown synagogue’s board. Every year, all members of the board are required to volunteer as ushers for High Holy Day services, but that year there was an extra requirement: attend a security training to learn what to do in an active shooter situation. In addition to being taught which stairwells to lead people down and how to barricade doors, we were instructed to identify individuals who looked out of place or who we didn’t recognize. What you should do, the former SWAT member leading the training told us, was go out of your way to welcome them as they entered the synagogue, ask them seemingly benign questions about what was bringing them there, see if you could sense whether they were friend or foe.
This instruction primarily led ushers to cautiously approach bald white men (potential skinheads) or particularly hairy white men (possible members of a white supremacist biker gang) and chat them up. Thankfully, all of these men ended up being either synagogue members or family visiting from out of town.
Looking back, it feels embarrassing. It’s definitely discriminatory. But at the time, it also felt necessary.
Profiling people for security purposes is obviously very different from doing it to decide who is eligible to light shabbat candles, but they both involve making assumptions about who belongs. My liberal impulse is to shun this behavior, but the dynamics of determining belonging have complexities beyond what our political ideals might be.
However, society never stays stagnant. As the number of Jews of color grows, perceptions of what being Jewish looks like will have to expand. And maybe one day we’ll be able to live in a world where trying to guess if a new face belongs to a white supremacist won’t feel like a requirement to pray in peace. Hopefully, it will also be a world where everyone has lulavs shoved in their faces too.
The post Actually, I’d love for Chabad to ask me if I’m Jewish appeared first on The Forward.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’
Rep Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on Sunday likened the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric to Nazi depictions of Jews.
“It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany,” Omar said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, commenting on a social media post by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, in which he suggested that “migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” Miller, who is Jewish, is the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Omar called Miller’s comments “white supremist rhetoric” and also drew parallels between his characterization of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. to how Jews were demonized and treated when they fled Nazi-era Germany. “As we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants,” she said.
Now serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is central to the White House’s plans for mass deportations and expanded barriers to asylum. During Trump’s first term, Miller led the implementation of the so-called Muslim travel ban in 2017, which barred entry to the U.S. for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and pushed to further reduce a longtime refugee program.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.” pic.twitter.com/GAjIMqFq26
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2025
Miller’s comments echoed similar rhetoric by Trump after an Afghan refugee was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last month, killing one.
Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting last week that Somali immigrants are “garbage” and that he wanted them to be sent “back to where they came from.” The president also singled out Omar, a Somali native who represents Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. “She should be thrown the hell out of our country,” Trump said.
In the Sunday interview, Omar called Trump’s remarks “completely disgusting” and accused him of having “an unhealthy obsession” with her and the Somali community. “This kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.
The post Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Nigeria Seeks French Help to Combat Insecurity, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
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Netanyahu Says He Will Not Quit Politics if He Receives a Pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country’s president in his years-long corruption trial.
Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: “no”.
Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu’s ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in response to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and his lawyers have said that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings, if concluded, would result in a complete acquittal.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog, before Netanyahu made his request, urging the Israeli president to consider granting the prime minister a pardon.
Some Israeli opposition politicians have argued that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026.