Special Report
AFTERMATH
"I felt very committed
to Judaism. Religion
means different things to
different people. It provides
me with grounding, a
better understanding of
who I came from."
- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
'So Heimishe'
Judaism and openness central to Rep. Giffords
now struggling for her life.
Ron Kampeas
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Washington
T
he event was typical Gabrielle
Giffords: no barriers, all corners
—Democrats, Republicans and
independents welcome to talk about what
was on their minds and in their hearts.
While she was deep in a conversation
with an older couple about health care
— the issue for which she was willing to
risk her career — a gunman strode up to
the Arizona congresswoman and shot her
point blank in the head.
The critical wounding Jan. 8 of Giffords,
40, and the slaughter of six people stand-
ing near her — including a federal judge,
her chief of community outreach and a
9-year-old girl interested in politics —
brought to a screeching halt the easy, open
ambience that typified Giffords' politics,
friends and associates said.
"She's a warm person:' Stuart Mellan,
the president of the Jewish Federation of
Southern Arizona, said as he walked away
from a prayer service Saturday night at
Temple Emanuel in Tucson, one of the
southeastern Arizona cities that Giffords
represents in Congress. "Everyone called
her Gabby; and she would give a hug and
remember your name."
Political Rise
Giffords was the president of the tire
company founded by her grandfather
when she was propelled into state politics
in part because of her concerns about the
availability of health care. She switched
her registration from Republican to
Democrat; and in 2001, at 30, she was
elected to the Arizona Legislature.
She gained prominence quickly in that
body; and in 2006, at 36, she became the
first Jewish woman elected to Congress
from her state.
At the same time, her Judaism was
becoming more central to her identity.
The turning point came in 2001 following
a tour of Israel with the American Jewish
Committee, she told the Arizona Star in
2007.
"It just cemented the fact that I wanted
to spend more time with my own per-
sonal, spiritual growth. I felt very com-
mitted to Judaism," she said. "Religion
means different things to different people.
It provides me with grounding, a better
understanding of who I came from."
Her wedding to Cmdr. Mark Kelly, an
astronaut, was written up in the New York
Times. The item noted that a mariachi
band played Jewish music and there were
two canopies — a chuppah and one of
swords held up by Kelly's Navy buddies.
"That was Gabby',' Jonathan Rothschild,
a longtime friend who served on her
campaign's executive committee, recalled
to JTA."The real irony of this thing is her
Judaism is central to her, but she is the kind
of person who reaches out to everybody."
Jewish Ties
Giffords' father is Jewish and her mother
is a Christian Scientist, and she was
raised in both faiths. Her grandfather,
Akiba Hornstein, changed his name to
Giffords after moving from New York to
Arizona, in part because he did not want
his Jewishness to be an issue in unfamiliar
territory.
The women on her father's side of the
family seemed to guide her toward identi-
fying with Judaism.
"If you want something done, your best
bet is to ask a Jewish woman to do it,"
Giffords, a former state senator, said fol-
lowing her 2006 election, a Democratic
sweep. "Jewish women — by our tradition
and by the way we were raised — have an
ability to cut through all the reasons why
something should, shouldn't or can't be
done, and pull people together to be suc-
cessful."
Giffords, who last week took the oath of
office for her third term in Congress, has
pushed Jewish and pro-Israel issues to the
forefront at the state and federal levels.
She initiated an Arizona law facilitating
Holocaust-era insurance claims for survi-
vors; and in Congress she led an effort to
keep Iran from obtaining parts for combat
aircraft.
She didn't stint in seeking Jewish and
pro-Israel funding. Rep. Shelley Berkley,
D-Nev., the premier pro-Israel lawmaker
in Congress, fundraised for her, as did
Steve Rabinowitz, the Washington public
'So Heimishe' on page 14
Fevered Rhetoric
Heightened
Political Tensions
Tucson/JTA
he 8th District in southern
Arizona represented by U.S.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords com-
prises liberal Tucson and its rural
hinterlands, which means modera-
tion is a must. But it also means
that spirits and tensions run high.
Giffords' office in Tucson was
ransacked in March following her
vote for health care reform – a vote
the Democrat told reporters that
she would cast even if it meant her
career. She refused to be cowed,
but she also took aim at the hyped
rhetoric. She cast the back-and-
forth as part of the democratic
process.
"We've had hundreds and hun-
dreds of protesters over the course
of the last several months," Giffords
told MSNBC after the middle-of-
the-night attack, which left a win-
dow shattered. "Our democracy is
a light – really a beacon – around
the world because we effect change
at the ballot box and not because
of these
outbursts of
violence and
the yelling."
She called
on all lead-
ers – of both
parties and
in the com-
munity – to
consider
how they
Giffords speak-
cast their
ing to a Chicago
arguments.
Jewish group in
Giffords, who
Washington
last week
took the oath
of office for her third term, noted
how her 2010 re-election bid was
being treated by 2008 GOP vice
presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
"The way she has it depicted is
that she has the crosshairs of a gun
sight over our district," Giffords
said. "When people do that, they've
got to realize there's consequences
to that action." Palin removed the
chart from her Facebook page after
news of the Jan. 8 shootings.
"You have a vice-presidential can-
didate for a major party who runs
Fevered Rhetoric on page 14
T
January 13 2011
13