Tom Cotton Image by Getty

By Nathan Guttman April 21, 2017

For Senator Tom Cotton, a leading voice in the conservative wing of the Republican Party, it took until college to meet his first Jewish friend. He grew up in rural Arkansas and only at Harvard did he encounter fellow students who were Jewish.

Cotton, in an interview with Mishpacha said it was there he learned about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, “I’d heard of them in a vague Biblical sense, but the idea that you wouldn’t have classes on them or that people might be going home for them was just not something that was within my realm of experience as a high school kid growing up in rural Arkansas,” Cotton said.

Later, following the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Cotton got drawn into the discussion over Israel conducted by Jewish classmates and began reading about the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

In the interview, Cotton spoke out forcefully against anti-Semitism, and sounded a skeptical voice about the chances of reaching a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. “it’s understandable why peace negotiations have been long stalled when you look at what the Palestinians have turned down, and also the fact that a terror organization controls one of the main pieces of what would be a Palestinian state,” Cotton said.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount