Josh Shapiro was sworn in as Pennsylvania’s forty-eighth governor with three Hebrew Bibles on Tuesday, at an inaugural ceremony outside the state Capitol.
The first Bible, army-issued, was carried by a soldier on D-Day in 1944, while the second was a family text. The third Torah is from the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a gunman massacred 11 worshippers in 2011.
On taking the oath over a Hebrew Bible that was rescued from the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, Mr Shaprio said it was evidence that “Pennsylvanians can indeed find life in the midst of darkness and drown out the voices of hate and bigotry.”
Chief Justice Debra Todd administered the oath in the presence of several thousand spectators, Mr Shapiro’s family, and US senators Bob Casey and newly elected John Fetterman.
I am grateful, humbled, and proud to be called @GovernorShapiro. pic.twitter.com/HIS1YARZRT
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) January 17, 2023
In a 24-minute speech that emphasised the rejection of extremism and hate, Mr Shapiro said: “I have made clear that my faith is what called me to service. It doesn’t define my policy positions or tell me where to be on a bill or not. What it does is it motivates me to serve.”
Before being sworn in, Mr Shapiro and his family spent the day before volunteering at Harrisburg’s Jewish community centre, the Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life, which hosted a celebratory Martin Luther King Day event.
In an interview earlier this week, Mr Shapiro said he would post mezuzahs in the governor’s mansion and have a kosher kitchen installed, which his wife Lori would oversee.
He also noted that he would continue his tradition of Friday night Shabbat dinner with family at the new residence.
Mr Shapiro, 49, won his seat in the November midterm elections, against a candidate mired in antisemitism allegations, to become governor of America’s fifth-most populous state and a critical swing state in national elections.
Mr Shaprio, now one of the most influential elected officials in the United States, has made a concerted effort to weave his Jewish identity into his politics.
He rounded out his victory speech in November with a quote from Pirkei Avot, the Jewish ethical teachings: “You’ve heard me quote my scripture before, that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it, meaning each of us has a responsibility to get off the sidelines, to get in the game and to do our part,”
Josh Shapiro rounds out his victory speech with a classic quote from Pirkei Avot, the Jewish book "Teachings of Our Fathers": You are not required to complete the task, neither are you free to desist from it.
— Gabby Deutch (@GSDeutch) November 9, 2022
He says it often in campaign addresses. pic.twitter.com/yLmdMKWaUF
In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the director of government affairs at the Jewish Federations of Greater Philadelphia, Robin Schatz, said: “He gets done what he needs to get done, what he wants to get done, and it is always in that framework of Jewish values.”
