Elissa Slotkin sworn into U.S. Senate on Reform women’s Torah commentary
When it came time to choose the text on which she would be sworn into the US Senate, Elissa Slotkin turned to a relatively recent book that reflects her identity as a Jewish woman.
Slotkin, a former Democratic congresswoman who narrowly won Michigan’s Senate election in November, took the oath of office Friday on a copy of “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary,” published by the Reform movement in 2008.
Women of Reform Judaism, the movement’s women’s organization, celebrated Slotkin’s choice on social media, noting that the book was the first full Torah commentary to feature contributions only from women.
“We are so excited that this book is being used for such a joyous and momentous occasion,” the group said on Facebook, where it posted a picture of Slotkin holding up the text.
Slotkin has longstanding ties to the Reform movement. When a man was charged with “ethnic intimidation” after harassing families outside a Reform synagogue in suburban Detroit in 2022, she said that her grandparents had helped construct the building and that she had celebrated her bat mitzvah inside.
She is one of 34 Jewish members of the 119th Congress. The other newly elected Jewish senator, Democrat Adam Schiff, was sworn in temporarily last month on a 1490 edition of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah before being sworn in for a full six-year term on Friday.
Three Jews were newly elected to the House of Representatives: Democrat Laura Friedman of California, who is filling the seat Schiff vacated; Republican Craig Goldman of Texas; and Democrat Eugene Vindman of Virginia.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein was sworn in last week on an 1891 edition of the Hebrew Bible.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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