A Uniquely American Union
At this year’s State of the Union Address, Stacey Abrams issued the Democratic rebuttal. She gave a moving account of how her father would walk home from his job at a local shipyard every day. One night, during a rainstorm, her father was running very late, so her mother piled the family into their car to go searching for him. When they found Abrams’ father he was walking along the side of the road with no rain coat. Abrams explained that he had gifted his raincoat to a homeless man: “When we asked why he’d given away his only jacket, my dad turned to us and said, ‘I knew when I left that man, he’d still be alone, but I could give him my coat, because I knew you were coming for me.’”
For both Republicans and Democrats, this story was a poignant reminder of community values and a unifying American ideal that has seemingly been lost. Abrams and President Trump both used this opportunity to propose their plans of how to get back to this sense of community and rekindle a collective American purpose. However, the night was a microcosm of the political division in our country. Abrams and Trump’s arguments and values, in some cases, were diametrically opposed. In typical State of the Union fashion, red-ties, blue-ties and white dresses listened to both speakers carefully, deciding whether to applaud or remain silent, and both parties walked away convinced of their ideological victory.
Yet, one uncharacteristic moment of unity emerged from the night’s proceedings: the birthday celebration of 81-year-old Jewish-Hungarian immigrant named Judah Samet.
Samet was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1938 to a Jewish family with four children. When he was six years old, his family was arrested by Nazi police and sent on a train to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Due to Slovak resistance en route to Auschwitz, the Nazi cattle cars were redirected and Samet’s family eventually landed in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Samets family stayed at Bergen-Belsen for months, working 12 to 14 hour days, and endured malnourishment in slave-like conditions. An estimated 50,000 prisoners died in Bergen-Belsen, including the young Anne Frank. In 1945, as the Allied Forces closed in, Samet’s family was transferred to Theresienstadt concentration camp. Along the way the train that Samet was on was liberated by U.S. soldiers. “Americans!” cheered Samet’s father at the sight of the western liberators.
More than 70 years later, Samet, an American citizen, faced death once more, this time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On October 27, 2018, then 80-year-old Judah Samet arrived at the Tree of Life Synagogue four minutes late for Sabbath. A police officer banged on his window and told him that an active shooting was taking place inside the synagogue. As Samet backed out of his handicap parking spot, the shooter erupted through the front doors of the Synagogue and a firefight between the white supremacist and Pittsburgh police ensued. Although directly in the line of fire, Samet fled unharmed. For the second time in his life, Samet escaped the violent scourge of anti-semitism.
President Trump invited Samet to the 2019 State of the Union. “Tonight, we are also joined by Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet. He arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began. But—not only did Judah narrowly escape death last fall—more than seven decades ago, he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps,” Trump said. The event happened to fall on Samet’s 81st birthday. After Samet was introduced, the Chamber broke into song, wishing Samet a happy birthday. It was one of the only moments throughout the ceremony that received unfettered and uncalculated applause from both sides of the isle. The 81-year-old choked back tears as he waved to the crowd of politicians, “Thank you, thank you!” he called out, over and over again.
It was a rare and moving display of community amongst American political parties, a bull-in-the-bush for Americans who seek a government of statesmanship and pragmatism rather than partisan ideology in the future. It stood also as a symbol of the American ideal that Abrams spoke of in her rebuttal.
Judah’s story, for all of its beauty and ugliness, is uniquely American. As such, it represents the possibilities, good and evil, that our democratic republic holds.