What Jews and Bill Clinton talk about when they talk about ‘class’
“I want to thank Biden for his courage, class, service, and sacrifice,” former President Bill Clinton said in one of the most moving moments in last night’s Democratic National Convention speeches. It’s rare to hear a politician described as classy, and it was a linguistic departure from the other speakers. At the DNC, “class” usually refers to economic level. As if on cue, a few minutes later, poet Amanda Gorman spoke of Americans “regardless of religion, class, or color.” Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz, who spent years in the classroom, constantly mentioned the “middle class” in his speech, as if it were a mantra. “If you are a middle-class family, or a family trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes,” Walz said . That’s two mentions of “class” in one sentence. All these versions of “class” make their way into the Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions , but in the Jewish community, assumptions about class can be misleading. And i...
