'We cannot become divided': Doug Emhoff meets interfaith leaders at White House

NEW YORK – There’s no better way to fight against the crisis of hate than by bringing people of different faiths and backgrounds together, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff said at a roundtable of religious leaders on Thursday morning.

The roundtable itself was closed to the press, but Emhoff delivered remarks beforehand.

“There are forces out there trying to divide us; they’re trying to divide us and pull us apart – in fact, pit some of us against each other,” he said. “That is not the way to go. We cannot allow that to happen.”

The roundtable included the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Hindu Foundation of America, the Black Muslim Leadership Council, the National Council of Churches, and the Sikh Coalition, among others.

Emhoff, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey, reflected on his childhood.

“As a typical Jewish suburban kid, I always [rode] my bike to sports practice or to my Reform temple,” he said. “My friends were of all different faiths.”

Emhoff shared how everyone in his community got along, noting how “we all accepted each other, including the parents.”

He said his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, grew up singing in her church choir in California, where she learned about the strong connection between faith and justice, as well as the fight for justice.

When he and Harris married, they formed an interfaith household, he said.

“And so you might see images of me with her in church, and you’ve seen images of her with me at temple or celebrating Passover at the residence,” he said. “This is how we roll. We do it together.”

Not only do he and Harris love each other, he added, but they respect each other’s faiths and what that means to each of them individually, as well as how it affects and impacts them as a couple.

Fighting Jew hatred

Emhoff said he was honored to be the first Jewish person to serve as a White House principal and to be part of the Biden administration, noting how the president has stood up against antisemitism and Islamophobia and fostered connections and community.

“This is something that I’ve been talking about before October 7, that horrific day, and since October 7, when we’ve seen a crisis of hate,” Emhoff stated. “It’s more important now than ever to make sure that we are fostering that community and coalition because, as a lot of us know, this hate is interconnected.”

Emhoff described such hate as a “real threat to our very democracy.”

“We all need to come together to fight against it – whoever we are, wherever we are,” he declared.