--- title: Bernie Sanders: 'I'm Very Proud to Be Jewish' description: Vermont Sent. Bernie Sanders responded to a question about his faith at the Democratic Debate on Sunday canonical: https://time.com/4249209/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-jewish-faith/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-07T03:50:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:39:57.907Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch Bernie Sanders Explain Why He’s Proud to Be Jewish og:description: Vermont Sent. Bernie Sanders responded to a question about his faith at the Democratic Debate on Sunday og:url: https://time.com/4249209/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-jewish-faith/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f435ecb1f339fb/698880733c16393adf45c50e/bernie-sanders-democratic-debate-flint-michigan-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders heads to his podium at the start the Democratic U.S. presidential candidates' debate in Flint og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Bernie Sanders Explain Why He’s Proud to Be Jewish twitter:description: Vermont Sent. Bernie Sanders responded to a question about his faith at the Democratic Debate on Sunday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f435ecb1f339fb/698880733c16393adf45c50e/bernie-sanders-democratic-debate-flint-michigan-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Bernie Sanders Explain Why He’s Proud to Be Jewish by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 7, 2016 3:50 AM UTC  Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders heads to his podium at the start the Democratic U.S. presidential candidates' debate in Flint, Mich. on March 6, 2016. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders heads to his podium at the start the Democratic U.S. presidential candidates' debate in Flint, Mich. on March 6, 2016.Carlos Barria—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 7, 2016 3:50 AM UTC Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke at length about his faith at the [Democratic debate](http://time.com/4248784/clinton-sanders-flint-debate/) on Sunday, balking at [suggestions that he’s not proud of being Jewish](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/us/politics/bernie-sanders-jewish.html). When asked about his religious beliefs by an audience member at [Sunday’s debate in Flint, Mich](http://time.com/4249183/democratic-debate-flint-full-text-transcript-seventh/)., the Vermont Senator was candid about his heritage and faith. “I’m very proud to be Jewish,” Sanders said. “Being Jewish is so much of what I am.” He opened up about his father’s relatives, who he said was “wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust,” adding that he learned very early in life the implications of “crazy and radical extremist” politics—an apparent dig at leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Sanders often [avoids direct mention of his Jewish heritage](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/us/politics/bernie-sanders-jewish.html); at previous debates and during speeches, he answers questions about his religious beliefs with general remarks about how spirituality influences his progressivism. When he mentions his father, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, he has often referred to him as simply a “Polish immigrant.” Sanders’ remarks gained traction among among viewers following the debate on social media; Twitter said it was the third most-talked-about moment on the site. Clinton was also asked about her faith, and she replied by describing what she prays for, including humility and the wellbeing of people in authority. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4249209/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-jewish-faith/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4249209/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-jewish-faith/"},"headline":"Watch Bernie Sanders Explain Why He’s Proud to Be Jewish","datePublished":"2016-03-07T03:50:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:39:57.907Z","description":"\"I'm very proud to be Jewish\"","url":"https://time.com/4249209/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-jewish-faith/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Clinton","Bernie Sanders","Flint","Democratic debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f435ecb1f339fb/698880733c16393adf45c50e/bernie-sanders-democratic-debate-flint-michigan-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f435ecb1f339fb/698880733c16393adf45c50e/bernie-sanders-democratic-debate-flint-michigan-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders heads to his podium at the start the Democratic U.S. presidential candidates' debate in Flint","caption":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders heads to his podium at the start the Democratic U.S. presidential candidates' debate in Flint, Mich. on March 6, 2016.","creditText":"Carlos Barria—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4249209/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-jewish-faith/","name":"Watch Bernie Sanders Explain Why He’s Proud to Be Jewish"}}]}] ```