As Democrat Jon Ossoff was sworn in as Georgia’s first Jewish senator on Wednesday, he tucked a reminder of his family’s immigrant roots into his jacket pocket. pic.twitter.com/cjTNMMfYwP — Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) January 21, 2021Ossoff, whose father is of Russian and Lithuanian descent, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz last year that he had family members who were Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants who fled pogroms in the early 20th century. Ossoff told Moment Magazine that Jews share a story of “hardship, persecution, [and] perseverance.”“Most Jews, no matter where they live in the world, share an immigrant story. Both Warnock, Georgia’s first Black senator, and Ossoff leaned on the ties between Georgia’s Jewish and Black communities to mobilize support that powered their wins in Jan. 5 runoff elections. Georgia is in the building pic.twitter.com/PV7rlpy7QW — Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) January 21, 2021Ossoff told Moment Magazine that he considers his Jewish heritage a “defining” part of his identity.

Source: Huffington Post January 22, 2021 23:26 UTC