--- title: Rabbi Wolpe: Ivanka Trump's Jewish Identity Shouldn't Matter description: Ivanka Trump is every bit as Jewish as I am, and that means nothing for Jews who wish to judge her father’s Presidency. canonical: https://time.com/4596810/ivanka-trump-jewish-identity/ author: Rabbi David Wolpe article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-09T21:52:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:14:20.920Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Rabbi Wolpe: Ivanka Trump's Jewish Identity Shouldn't Matter og:description: Actions matter more than family ties og:url: https://time.com/4596810/ivanka-trump-jewish-identity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt309a1ae820d1eb8a/6988b27886f68e3cc26e2e84/ivanka.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 18, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rabbi Wolpe: Ivanka Trump's Jewish Identity Shouldn't Matter twitter:description: Actions matter more than family ties twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt309a1ae820d1eb8a/6988b27886f68e3cc26e2e84/ivanka.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rabbi David Wolpe: Ivanka Trump's Jewish Identity Shouldn't Matter > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Rabbi David Wolpe](https://time.com/author/rabbi-david-wolpe/) ## Rabbi David Wolpe Dec 9, 2016 9:52 PM UTC  Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 18, 2016. Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 18, 2016. Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Rabbi David Wolpe](https://time.com/author/rabbi-david-wolpe/) ## Rabbi David Wolpe Dec 9, 2016 9:52 PM UTC Recently there was a ridiculous kerfluffle about the legitimacy of Ivanka Trump’s conversion to [Judaism](http://www.ibtimes.com/ivanka-trumps-jewish-faith-11-things-know-about-donald-trumps-daughter-judaism-2393299). The family’s Rabbi is Haskel Lookstein, one of the best known and most respected Rabbis in the U.S. Yet his supervision was [delegitimated](http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-rabbinical-court-nixes-conversions-by-ivanka-trumps-rabbi/) by Israel’s Supreme rabbinical court. Now Israel’s Sephardic chief Rabbi has joined the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi in [legitimating](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/is-ivanka-trump-jewish-232365) the conversion. The specter of Israel’s rabbinate convulsing itself reminds us of the great wisdom of the American forefathers in separating church and state. The moment you have clergy who are also official governmental representatives, who see an entanglement that is to the detriment of both religion and state. Inter-Jewish relations in America are mostly healthy and respectful because that no one has a monopoly—not on state funding, or on “official” validity. But religion does matter here—it matters a great deal. Inevitably discussion of faith enters politics, and much has been made of the President-elect having a Jewish family. Inside the Jewish community, this game is played both ways: those who defended President Obama’s policies pointed to Jack Lew, his Jewish Chief of Staff, and his Jewish predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, along with many many others, to prove his sympathy with Jews and Israel. Those who support President-elect Trump’s presumed policies point to his family. But judging policy by identity is what philosophers call a category mistake, like calling justice orange. For most Jews, what matters—and what should matter—is not the President’s entourage or family, but his actions and policy. There is no such thing as “Jewish policy.” With the exception of support of Israel and the centrality of goodness—both fairly broad phrases—Judaism is a tradition that can balance a wide range of possible approaches to public policy. All the values we treasure that sometimes compete—compassion, strength, security, charity, achievement, humility and a thousand others—find resonance in the wide berth of the Jewish tradition. Generally, whatever policy one favors is declared to be Jewish. The fact that Jews disagree is often discreetly ignored or elided. Ivanka Trump is every bit as Jewish as I am, and that means nothing for Jews who wish to judge her father’s Presidency. Along with other citizens, I will continue to argue for the things I believe most important to the country and to the world. As a Jew, I will continue to advocate for what I believe the Jewish tradition at its best represents. And while all of us will watch what unfolds, we would be better advised to care less for identity and more for character, understanding and accomplishment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4596810/ivanka-trump-jewish-identity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4596810/ivanka-trump-jewish-identity/"},"headline":"Rabbi David Wolpe: Ivanka Trump's Jewish Identity Shouldn't Matter","datePublished":"2016-12-09T21:52:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:14:20.920Z","description":"Actions matter more than family ties","url":"https://time.com/4596810/ivanka-trump-jewish-identity/","keywords":["politics","Religion"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt309a1ae820d1eb8a/6988b27886f68e3cc26e2e84/ivanka.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rabbi David Wolpe","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rabbi-david-wolpe/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt309a1ae820d1eb8a/6988b27886f68e3cc26e2e84/ivanka.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 18, 2016.","caption":"Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 18, 2016.","creditText":"Bloomberg via Getty Images","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/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4596810/ivanka-trump-jewish-identity/","name":"Rabbi David Wolpe: Ivanka Trump's Jewish Identity Shouldn't Matter"}}]}] ```