Reasons why Barack Obama is a better Jew than I...

It's the second day of passover, do you know where your Matzos is?

Certainly not me. I've always described myself as Jew-ish: I may not pray to Yaweh, but I do worship Mel Brooks.

Passover in particular has always been a stretch for me to celebrate as a holiday. Of course I'm glad the Jews got out of bondage several millennia ago, but as a secular humanist and armchair critic it's hard for me to connect with a story that involves so many miracles and deux ex machina moments.

However Obama knows it's passover, and he's trying to make the high holy days hip again.
This is only one reason why Obama is a better Jew than I.

One of the things that makes tonight different than all other nights, is the fact that the president will hold a "first Seder." But Don't be expecting some goyim blunder by Obama to end up in the news tomorrow, this is not Obama's first Seder. Apparently last year in Pennsylvania during the primaries, Obama campaign staffers were unable to get home for Passover and held an impromptu Seder using room service from the Harrisburg Sheraton (who knew the H-burg Sheraton had manischewitz in their wine cellar?). Obama took part in the Sheraton Seder which ended with the traditional refrain of the meal, "Next Year In Jerusalem," punctuated by an impromptu "Next Year in the White House." Things have come full circle.

Leading this historic occasion will be a 24 year old campaign baggage handler named Eric Lesser. No pressure, kid. According to the AP the "The White House says the Seder meal will be traditional, including matzo, bitter herbs, a roasted egg and greens in the family dining room in the executive mansion." I noticed gefilte fish and horseradish are not on the menu.

This the first time a sitting President has attended a Seder in the White House. Seders were held in the White House during the Clinton administration but Bill never attended. And as for Bush, well, does everyone remember the White House Hanukkah card from last year:












Obama has attended Seders on two consecutive Passovers. I have not attended one in at least seven this is one of the reasons Barack Obama is a better Jew than I.

Of course Obama celebrating Passover isn't the only reason Barack Obama is a better Jew than I am.

Barack Obama is a better Jew than I because Obama's visited Israel, (and I haven't). Until I find a gay kibbutz I don't anticipate this state of affairs changing in the near future.

Barack Obama is a better Jew than I because he's related to a Rabbi (I'm not).
What's that, you say? Obama's related to a Rabbi? Indeed he is (by marriage). The New York Times Magazine last week profiled Capers Funnye, "the chief rabbi of the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, one of the largest black synagogues in America. " Funnye (pictured below) and Michelle Obama are first cousins once removed, "his mother, Verdelle, was the sister of Fraser Robinson Jr. — Michelle Obama’s grandfather."

Now you may be wondering--as I was-- where the hell was this Rabbi Funnye when all those "Obama's an anti-semite" talking points were circulating during the campaign. Well behold the answer :

At the start of the 2008 presidential primary season, Funnye contributed a few hundred dollars to the Obama campaign but didn’t publicly endorse Obama, and he avoided mentioning the family connection. “I was afraid it might do him harm in the Orthodox community,” he told me. “I believe they were the ones putting out stories about Barack being a secret Muslim and so on. They could have made me out to be a friend of Farrakhan’s or a cult leader or who knows what.