{"id":19580,"date":"2014-11-10T07:08:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T13:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=19580"},"modified":"2014-11-10T07:08:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T13:08:30","slug":"u-s-supreme-court-justices-talk-jewish-at-g-a-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/u-s-supreme-court-justices-talk-jewish-at-g-a-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Supreme Court justices talk Jewish at G.A. opening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OXON HILL, MD. (JTA) \u2013 U.S. Supreme Court justices Stephen Breyer and Elana Kagan talked about their Jewish identities at the opening plenary of the 2014 General Assembly conference of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19581\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Supreme Court Justices Breyer and Kagan\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19581\" class=\"wp-image-19581 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2204\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19581\" class=\"wp-image-19581 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2204\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2204-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-19581\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Elana Kagan at the opening session of the JFNA&#8217;s GA on Nov. 9, 2014. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Speaking before a crowd of more than 2,000 at the conference center just outside Washington, Breyer said the most remarkable thing about there being three Jews among the nine Supreme Court justices is how unremarkable it is in America today.<\/p>\n<p>Kagan, the other justice on the panel discussion moderated by NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, said that her Jewish identity was the one thing that didn\u2019t come up during her confirmation process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe one thing nobody ever said, the one thing I never heard was, \u2018We don\u2019t need a third Jewish justice,\u2019 or \u2018There\u2019s a problem with that,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s a wonderful thing. My grandmother would have said \u2018Only in America.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kagan also talked about her bat mitzvah, crediting Rabbi Shlomo Riskin \u2013 then of the Lincoln Square Synagogue on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side (and now rabbi in Efrat, West Bank), with enabling the ceremony even though that sort of thing was not done in Orthodox synagogues back when Kagan was a kid.<\/p>\n<p>The bat mitzvah wasn\u2019t exactly identical to her brother\u2019s, Kagan said \u2013 it was called a bat Torah, took place on Friday night rather than Saturday and had her chanting the haftarah portion rather than the Torah portion \u2013 but it was meaningful and groundbreaking nonetheless.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19583\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Supreme Court Justice Kagan\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19583\" class=\"wp-image-19583 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2215\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19583\" class=\"wp-image-19583 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2215\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2215-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-19583\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U. S. Supreme Court Justice Kagan at the JFNA General Assembly on November 9, 2014. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe reached a kind of deal: It wasn\u2019t a full bar mitzvah, but it was something,\u201d she said. \u201cRabbi Riskin was very gracious, and I think it was good for the synagogue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breyer said that when he thinks about what it means to be Jewish in the court, he thinks about the Jewish tradition of tzedakah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not quite charity,\u201d he said, \u201cand it\u2019s not quite rule of law either, but it\u2019s part of trying to create a better world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breyer said the great divisions of the world today are between those who believe in the rule of law and those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that is a battle, and we\u2019re on the right side of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The theme of this year\u2019s General Assembly is \u201cThe world is our backyard,\u201d and speakers will include Vice President Joe Biden and, via satellite, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year\u2019s G.A. will remind us of why federation is relevant and critical,\u201d G.A. co-chair Howard Friedman said.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"U.S.%20Supreme%20Court%20justices%20talk%20Jewish%20at%20G.A.%20opening\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6321,1099,8790,8795,1195,8788,6322,196],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19585,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19580\/revisions\/19585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}