One evening last April, an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, not long after Governor Josh Shapiro and his family finished their seder celebrating the first night of Passover. The seder is one of the most common ways American Jews express their Jewishness, its central theme of freedom resonating with both our American and our Jewish values, and its emphasis on gathering with friends and family to eat a delicious meal satisfying our need for connection. And so, I suspect I was not alone when I reacted to news of the fire with horror at this latest instance of violent antisemitism and also a little bit of pleasure and pride at how this horrible event was also drawing attention to a defining ritual of American Jewish life. 

“Governor Shapiro,” I thought, “he’s just like me, and his family is just like mine.” 

Shapiro’s new memoir, Where We Keep the Light, was recently published, and the media attention it’s receiving is focused on two interrelated questions: is the book part of a larger plan to run for president of the United States in 2028, and what does his Jewishness mean to him? In the interviews I’ve heard, the first question is one the potential candidate avoids answering directly, but the way he answers the second question makes me believe that, yes, Shapiro has an eye on the White House. 

Why? Because when Shapiro talks about being Jewish, he talks about his “Jewish faith.”  

There’s a long and continuing debate on the nature of Jewishness, with no one category being........

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