Earlier this week, I saw an article about an Iranian woman, Tali Farhadian-Weinstein, who is running for the office of Manhattan District Attorney. In surfing her twitter, I noticed that she went out of her way to talk about how Jewish she was. Every other tweet was about being Jewish, or being connected to a Jewish group. I think I know what this is about. One way for Iranian-Americans to escape anti-Iranian prejudice, is to constantly advertise that they are Jewish Iranians, and not Muslim Iranians.
I've even known Muslim Iranians (with non-religious names) who did this. One even wore a yarmulke and pretended to be strictly orthodox, even though I knew he wasn't Jewish and he wasn't religious at all. He was one of the more amoral people I knew. He actually got a lot of Jewish clients by doing that. Of course, I have never done that. I always used my Muslim Iranian name, regardless of any anti-Muslim comments and discrimination I heard and felt as a child and adult. When I was blacklisted from the legal profession for protesting my boss's anti-Muslim acts and his public criticism of the Geneva Convention, and later called a "mosquito" by O'Melveny's General Counsel Martin Checov after I asked for help -- I simply changed professions. Principle is worth more than a few legal bucks.
This brings me to the subject of this post: a letter Brad Butwin co-authored with other law firm chairs protesting anti-semitism.
Of course the attacks we've seen against Jews after the May 2021 Gaza war are abhorrent and illegal, and I imagine the attackers will be prosecuted. I was physically attacked a number of times as a child, for things Iran did as a country. Once I was held hostage by students in elementary school, even though my family had to flee Iran due to an uncle's political connections to the shah. I didn't take it personally; I knew they were just playing around. But for those who take it more personally, I agree that no one should be attacked because of something that happens across the world.
But I do wonder about Mr. Butwin's claims of anti-semitism, and would consider the counter-hypothesis that Jews actually receive quite a lot of privilege in the legal profession. Of course, it's just a hypothesis, not something I've tried to prove, or will try to prove . . . this is just a quick post. But anecdotally I've seen things. For example, right in the letter, you can see that the law firm chairs who signed it appear to be about 50% Jewish, based on their last names.1 A demographic that is only a tiny percentage of the U.S. population, is roughly half of the law firm chairs. Unless you think Jewish people are genetically and culturally superior in legal ability, and thus deserve these positions, it appears to be evidence that simply being Jewish will help you advance in the profession.
So like I facetiously applaud those Iranians who pretend to be Jewish for the benefits, I'd like to applaud Mr. Butwin for his Jewishness. It may have taken you further in the law, than you would have gone if you were named Mohammed.
_________________________________________
1 I guess I should show my work here. Note I am not an expert on Jewish names. Some people are but not me. Once, when I was working retail in college, I mentioned to a customer that my favorite math teacher shared his last name. He asked how it was spelled, and then explained that the teacher's spelling signified a Jewish version of the last name, as opposed to the Scottish version that he possessed. Some people are really good at this, but not me. Any way, I think the following signers are Jewish: Neil Barr (Davis Polk & Wardwell), Bradley J. Butwin (O’Melveny & Myers), Scott Edelman (Milbank), Eric Friedman (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom), Michael A. Gerstenzang (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton), David J. Greenwald (Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson), Brad S. Karp (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison), Daniel A. Neff (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz), Joseph C. Shenker (Sullivan & Cromwell) and Barry M. Wolf (Weil, Gotshal & Manges). These signers I suspect are not: Barbara L. Becker (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher), Michael W. Blair (Debevoise & Plimpton), William R. Dougherty (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett), Julie Jones (Ropes & Gray), Kim Koopersmith (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld), Jami McKeon (Morgan Lewis & Bockius) and Faiza Saeed (Cravath Swaine & Moore). Whatever the exact numbers, I don't think it would disrupt my conclusion that about 50% are Jewish.
[Addendum: A few weeks after I wrote this post, Los Angeles Magazine did a story on the influencer Yashar Ali. The article says he was born to an Iranian Muslim family, but tells everyone he is a devout Catholic who attends mass three times a week. The article goes on to describe instances when he was accused of being a con artist and a grifter, acts that seem antithetical to the values of a religious person. Of course, I don't know if the stories are true, but they made me wonder if this was a public example of what I described above.]
[Second Addendum: Ms. Farhadian-Weinstein lost to Alvin Bragg, after spending a jaw-dropping $13 million on her campaign (including $8 million of her own family's money.) I say jaw-dropping because according to that story, the other seven candidates spent an average of about $1 million each.]
[Third Addendum: In late 2023, law firm chairs wrote law schools, reportedly threatening that the "schools and their students will face real consequences" if they did not stop on-campus anti-semitism. The effort was reportedly spearheaded by former Sullivan & Cromwell Chair Joseph Shenker.
Later, Sullivan & Cromwell said it would hire background check companies to investigate applicants for anti-semitism. They would reportedly "review social media, news reports, and protest footage for explicit examples of antisemitism and 'triggering' statements, such as 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.' Even students merely involved with protests where others used these questionable slogans would be scrutinized by the firm."
The problem it's not clear what statements would result in an applicant getting blacklisted and which would not. On a related note, I had gone down a rabbit hole the past few months, as written up below. After reading the firms' letters and related articles, I couldn't for the life of me figure out if it's anti-semitic under their rules. So I wrote the law firm chairs and asked them to clarify, and in general to write a rule that more clearly delineates what is and isn't allowed, and why.
As I watched news reports about the 2023 Israel-Gaza conflict, I saw that Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu had cited an "Amalek" passage as a precedent or model for what should be done in Gaza. In reading up on this topic, I saw a list of Jewish scriptures that (a) identify children as a category and (b) either rationalize their murder, or explicitly tell followers to murder them. Surprised, I checked each citation, and indeed the list was accurate.Note I didn't say scripture rationalizing or ordering the murder of adults. There are too many of those to list. These specifically identify children as a category of people, and as the target. One of them is the story of Judaism's most important holiday, Passover, about how the Jews were freed from slavery via the mass-murder of children that night. In another one, "boys" were "mauled" because they called a man "baldy." (As I read this ridiculous passage, my mind wandered to Larry David, the famous bald Jewish comedian, wondering if he could do an episode on it.)And I use the word murder, or unjustifiable killing, intentionally. Children are too young to understand right and wrong, to understand morality, or be "evil" or "guilty" or whatever — so there can't be a defensible or lawful reason to target them. I've researched this further and can't find a worthwhile explanation for why these passages exist.Regardless, I find it hard to believe that something wise enough to create a universe that contains hundreds of billions of galaxies, with one such galaxy being our Milky Way, which itself contains countless solar systems, one of which is our solar system with the Sun and Earth ... I find it hard to believe that the thing that either created all of that or designed its blueprint to be set in motion by the Big Bang — I find it hard to believe that this creator actually said these things. I also wonder if this is why Judaism has largely failed as a religion, with only about 15 million or so adherents, compared to billions in others. Who wants to hear such ideas?I'm guessing that these scriptures were written in a time when, perhaps, child murder was more common, or perhaps written by a group that fetishized that act. I don't know. This is not to say that Jews have an inclination to murder children obviously. That's absurd and can easily and undeniably be refuted with data. But I do wonder if these passages, and Mr. Netanyahu's statement, might lead Israeli Defense Force soldiers to be more careless with the lives of children, than they would be if these passages did not exist.Anyway, the passages are below, with citations to their source.
Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. 1 Samuel 15:3.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. Psalm 137:9.
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 2 Kings 2:23-24.
At that time Menahem, starting out from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in the city and its vicinity, because they refused to open their gates. He sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women. 2 Kings 15:16.
A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: . . . Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated. Isaiah 13:16.
At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. Exodus 12:29-30.
They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. Joshua 6:21.
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. Numbers 31:17.
However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Deuteronomy 20:16.
And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. Exodus 21:17.
[A]nd when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Deuteronomy 7:2.
The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open. Hosea 13:16.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. Exodus 20:5.
[A]s Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children. Hosea 10:14.
[Y]ou will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. Deuteronomy 28:53.
And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. Leviticus 26:29.
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. Jeremiah 19:9.
Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you. Ezekiel 5:10.
This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him. 2 Kings 6:28.
With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed. Lamentations 4:10.]
[Fourth Addendum: Some have justified the child killing in Gaza by arguing that children are being used as "human shields." For example, Senator Ted Cruz said as much in October of 2023: "Hamas uses human shields as standard practice. Israel does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties." So did Senator Marco Rubio: "If civilians are in those strongholds, it's because Hamas has placed themselves there—unfortunately, sadly, tragically, but nonetheless, what choice does Israel have?"
To be fair, if someone is shooting at you and holding up a child as a shield, you are legally protected if you inadvertently harm the child while trying to stop the shooter. However, that requires evidence. You can’t just go around killing children and claim they were being used as shields.
To get to the bottom of this, we would need four things for every IDF attack on a child: (a) what evidence did they have that a legal military target was present, (b) what ordnance was used to target it, (c) how many children did they estimate would also be killed by the ordnance, and (d) how many children were actually killed?
Any organization worth its salt would collect or estimate this data for every strike. We could then go through each attack and determine which were situations where a child was killed because it was being used as a human shield and which were cases where a child itself was targeted, perhaps pursuant to the passages above. I suspect, however, that we will never get this information from the IDF.]
[Fifth Addendum: On March 27, 2025, Judge David Mintz of Israel's highest court cited the Amalek passage in an opinion. In this case, the petitioners had asked the court to compel the government to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, but the court refused to intervene in the matter, and so effectively said they can starve the Gazan population. So forget the IDF rank and file, apparently even some at the highest, most learned levels of Israeli society accept the passages. The relevant parts are on pages 57-64 of the original Hebrew opinion, with the key excerpt below.
]