Two South Carolina Republican officials have apologized for defending U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint by likening him to Jews who "take care of the pennies."Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer wrote the Orangeburg Times and Democrat to defend DeMint, also a Republican, after a Democratic politician said he didn't help direct enough funds to local projects.
"There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves," the chairmen write. "By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation's pennies and trying to preserve our country's wealth and our economy's viability to give all an opportunity to succeed."
These guys said something stupid and something which many will find hurtful, but is it hateful? Are they really guilty of anti-Semitism? And have they not tapped in to a myth in which many Jews take pride, at least privately?
Of course I don't mean the part about being cheap. But what about Jews ability to do well financially? Isn't that something about which many Jews speak with pride? Could it be that the real issue here is more akin to those who argue that it's okay for black people to use the N-word, but not for whites to do so?
I have no need or desire to spend time defending two small-time South Carolina GOP leaders, but I think that people who fail to distinguish between stupidity and hatred are making a very bad mistake themselves. Such mistakes undermine the ability to confront genuine anti-Semitism, and provide cover for those within the Jewish community whose understanding of Jewish pride actually feeds the very perceptions which discomfort them when articulated by those who are not Jewish.
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
The image of Jews being clever with money got a bit tarnished with so many Jews being taken in by Bernie Madoff.
When someone talks about penny pinching Jews one day, the next day they usually talk with pride about "Jewing someone down". I think we can't label all remarks as ignorance or stupidity. Scratch them and there is an anti-Semite. These are supposedly educated people.....
As Forest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does." Stupid and unthinking don't necessarily go hand in hand. But, as Anna Mae writes, one remark may be indicative of a an undercurrent polite society would not tolerate. Who knows what is said in the privacy of an office?
NoCrimeToPennyPinch brings to mind something my father once told me; "You may judge the stature of a man's character by the size of that which draws him to anger."
Finding insult in the simple wisdom of a saying about minding pennies is aking to viewing "a stitch in time saves nine" as a slight against seamstresses.
Well put, NoCrimeToPennyPinch.
Or, as my zeyde used to say, "You save a penny here, a nickle there - the next thing you know, you have yourself a dime." He was the most generous man I ever knew.
my cousin who is jewish married a gentile. she has a a wonderful life, big house, pool, a bunch of mink coats, and a condo in florida they own and a boat. they have been married 27 years. she owns her own in-house business. when she first said "all the jewish customers try to jew it down", it really, really hurt me. she enjoys the rich, "jewish lifestyle" how dare she? but i think my cousin agreed w/ her. he may not have said the words but she wears the pants in the family. that was the first time i ever heard anyone use that expression. i've heard it plenty of times since. i always say "everybody wants to save money!! "don't they?" some guy said it to me the other day already knowing that my religion was sensitive to me. i hung up on him!!
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