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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. A notorious white nationalist was working for the Trump campaign; the candidates’ closing statements on Israel and Gaza; and a particularly good Jewish election pun.

We’re liveblogging our way through Election Day; for the latest Jewish news from the polls, follow here.

ELECTION 2024

Voters at a polling station in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Concerned about what the election’s aftermath might mean for Jews? Still deciding how to cast your vote? We open today with a set of opinion essays to help you make sense of the final day of this grueling campaign.

Opinion | The surefire way for Jews to lose this election. “The ability for American Jews, or any minority, to grow and thrive doesn’t depend on the success of any single party,” writes our senior columnist, Rob Eshman. “It depends on the health of democracy itself, which protects individual and minority rights and safeguards religious freedom and free expression.” What that means, as votes begin to get counted: Committing to fighting back against election deniers, no matter which side they might be on. Read his essay ►

Opinion | Trump says mass deportations will ease the housing crisis. We’ve seen that before — under the Nazis in France. Nina Bernstein, a former immigration reporter for The New York Times, offers an under-covered bit of history to keep in mind as you vote: “During the Nazi occupation, the archives show, successive round-ups by the French police were treated as a solution to a major housing crisis,” Bernstein writes. “In today’s campaign for president, Donald Trump promises mass round-ups and deportation camps as the answer to a shortage of affordable housing.” Read her essay ►

Former President Donald Trump campaigns in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Oct. 29. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Opinion | I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch. “I have spoken with dozens of lifelong liberal Jews” who are voting for Trump, writes Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard Divinity School graduate who has campaigned with the former president. “We are making this switch because we are experiencing the worst rise of antisemitism in modern American history; many of us have been personally touched by this spike in hatred.” Read his essay ►

And: Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, explained why the Forward, as a nonprofit, no longer endorses political candidates.

Plus:

Opinion | This is a make or break election issue for young Jews

Opinion | I’m a Pennsylvania Jewish voter. My tiny demographic group could decide the election

Opinion | This election, I finally understand the undecided Jewish voter

Volunteers with Democrats Abroad Israel canvassing for votes recently in Jerusalem’s heavily Anglo Baka neighborhood. (Democrats Abroad Israel)

And, we have two stories examining American electoral quirks that might prove particularly consequential this year:

Could U.S. voters living in Israel swing the election? In what is shaking up to be one of the closest elections ever, expats might well contribute to an election week surprise. Israel has the fourth-highest number of eligible voters, and activists are expecting record turnout. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Marc Zell, a lawyer active in Republican Overseas Israel for the past 40 years. Read the story ►

The Electoral College is a fundamentally un-Jewish institution. This “byzantine system that doesn’t always award the presidency to the candidate who actually got the most votes,” notes our Mira Fox, “was designed by America’s own version of Talmudic sages, also known as the Founding Fathers.” Except, well, those American sages seem not to have really studied their Talmud. In one of its famous parables, ‘The Oven of Akhnai,” Mira points out, “the rule of the majority is considered such a high value that even God could not override it.” Read the story ►

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, each seen speaking at campaign rallies Monday. (Scott Olson/Getty Images/Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

More from the election…

Trump and Harris made their closing statements on Israel and Gaza. Harris, speaking at a rally in Michigan, promised to “do everything in my power to end the war,” while Trump, writing on X, baselessly claimed that a Harris administration “will invade the Middle East.” (Times of Israel, JTA)

A Trump field director in the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania was revealed to be a vocal white nationalist. The state party fired him after being contacted by a reporter. (Forward)

Trump directed harsh words at California Rep. Adam Schiff, now running for the United States Senate, at his final campaign rally in Pennsylvania Monday, calling him “evil” and “scum.” (The Hill)

Earlier on Monday, speaking in North Carolina, Trump blamed Harris for the recent shooting of a Jewish man on his way to Shabbat services in Chicago. The man arrested in the case entered the country as an undocumented immigrant. (Forward)

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

A man with white nationalist ties was arrested over his alleged plot for an attack in Nashville. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

In the U.S…

Federal officials arrested a man with ties to white nationalist groups suspected of planning an attack on a Nashville energy facility. The violently antisemitic National Alliance is one of the groups. (Associated Press)

Three people were indicted on hate crime charges in connection to the vandalism, last spring, of the homes of Brooklyn Museum leaders amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests. (Associated Press)

In Israel…

U.S. officials said that Hamas rejected a proposed 12-day ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of four hostages. (Times of Israel)

A State Department spokesperson gave Israel a failing grade when it comes to improving aid deliveries to Gaza, as U.S. officials demanded Israel do last month. (Associated Press)

Annual memorial ceremonies in the Knesset for former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and former tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi — the former assassinated by a Jewish extremist, the latter by Palestinian terrorists — were canceled in light of the ongoing war. Monday marked the 29th anniversary of Rabin’s death. (Times of Israel)

Elsewhere…

An Israeli researcher claims an ancient document seen as containing the first-ever descriptions of Passover observances has been misinterpreted. It actually outlines Zoroastrian-inspired rituals practiced by Jews in the Persian Empire, the researcher says. (Haaretz)

A historian is pushing to restore the grave of a British soccer star who resisted demands that his team perform the Nazi salute required by Hitler’s officials during a 1934 tour of Germany. (BBC)

What else we’re reading ➤ “Amid wave of antisemitism, Norway's Jews feel vulnerable and betrayed” … “My hope for Palestine” … “My coworker said something overtly antisemitic. Why am I so nervous to report it?”

TWEET OF THE DAY

Take comedian Alex Edelman’s word for it: No one could deliver a punchline — sometimes without intending to — like the late, great music producer Quincy Jones, who died Sunday at 91.

Take comedian Alex Edelman’s word for it: No one could deliver a punchline — sometimes without intending to — like the late, great music producer Quincy Jones, who died Sunday at 91.

And, the runner up:

Thanks to Benyamin Cohen for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Jodi Rudoren for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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