WASHINGTON (JTA) – In the middle of her first speech as Joe Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris disclosed her favorite nickname.
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“My family means everything to me. And I’ve had a lot of titles over my career, and certainly, vice president will be great, but ‘momala’ will always be the one that means the most,” she said Thursday in Wilmington, Delaware.
Harris’ two step-children deserve the credit for that mashup of “mom” and “Kamala,” CNN reported last year.
Despite the fact that their father — Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff — is Jewish, it’s unclear if they realized their nickname for their stepmom is the exact pronunciation of an endearing Yiddish word: “mamele.”
Mamele, which uses the affectionate Yiddish diminutive -le, literally means “little mama” and is a term of endearment for moms.
Regardless of the intent behind it, the nickname symbolizes how close Harris is with her husband and stepkids. If Harris is elected vice president, Emhoff would become the country’s first Jewish presidential or vice presidential spouse.
Their courtship story began in 2013, when Harris’ friend Chrisette Hudlin set them up on a blind date. Harris, now 55, was then California’s attorney general. Hudlin was a public relations consultant, and Emhoff was (as he still is) an entertainment lawyer. He was also divorced with two kids from a previous marriage.
In Harris’ memoir, “The Truth We Hold,” she said Emhoff sent this awkward text before they met up: “Hey! It’s Doug. Just saying hi! I’m at the Lakers game.”
“Then I punctuated it with my own bit of awkwardness — ‘Go Lakers!’— even though I’m really a Warriors fan,” Harris wrote.
Then, the morning after their first date, Emhoff got candid.
“I’m too old to play games or hide the ball,” he said in an email to Harris. “I really like you, and I want to see if we can make this work.”
The two were married by 2014. The wedding incorporated Jewish and Indian traditions (Harris’ father is Jamaican and her mother was Indian) — Emhoff broke a glass, and Harris gave him a traditional Indian garland to wear.
Since then, both Harris and Emhoff have gotten sappy about each other on social media.
Emhoff has been known to gush about Harris’ cooking.
But the best quotes that Harris has given about their relationship involve Emhoff’s parents, who lived in Brooklyn and New Jersey before moving to California.
In a January 2019 talk at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Harris describes meeting her in-laws for the first time. When her interviewer asks if Emhoff’s parents still live in New Jersey, Harris says “They are in California now, but New Jersey is very much in them.”
In which @KamalaHarris talks about @douglasemhoff‘s parents, and their reaction the first time they saw her!
#KHive #DougHive pic.twitter.com/FK0o3NXLak
— Sudaraka (@SudarakaA) July 21, 2019
As Harris recalls, Emhoff’s mother Barbara put Harris’ face in her hands and said: “Oh, look at you! You’re prettier than you are on television!”
Barbara then called for her husband: “Mike, look at her!”
In Hebrew, her name backwards is Amalek
You’ve put up this exact article before. Was I supposed to forget?
Oh yes that’s right let’s make her Jewish now. Maybe she will create a Bais medrash, and be the Rosh yeshiva. But I wonder what she will do on Purim, since her name is Kamala which is the same gematria as Amalek.
This just makes it worse!
Unfortunately we have more tzuros for “jewish” politicians than gentiles
Nebach her husband is a lost Neshoma who has no place in yoddishkiet once he married a shiksa. Once you inter marry you are lost . And goysha kids to call her momola . So sad .
She is also such a faker and so dangerous . Let’s hope Biden stays the boss and lives a healthy 4 years. She is a grave danger
The entire Obama gang is being brought back. Nightmare !
Nothing to be proud of a terrorist supporting hyena because she marries a Jew
Why celebrate a Jews intermarriage! so many would sit shiva for such a sad situation. From her policies she is clearly no friend of the Jewish people or our sacred values
Hashem is our Father who watches over us, our trust is in Him and not Ms Harris. Her support for those who seek to kill and eradicate Jews gives her a better nickname, She is an AntiSemite whose marriage to a Jewish man means nothing in Shamayim so why should it mean anything to me.
Nothing personal, but this headline means nothing. Her Jewish family is nebbach so far from Jewish…. so is her husband, so what’s the point?
The radical terrorist kurva is a heart beat away.
Elections have consequences , and they’ll come in spades.
her husband is obviously a self hating jew. She already said she will open the plo office again. Abbas already reached out to her. She is a disgrace to the Jewish people. Amalek has risen
Clown Harris is president, old Joe is just there to get his hairy legs rubbed by the children
You voted.
Lowlife is what you wanted. Sewage is what you craved.
Immorality and shallowness is what you selected.
All because Donald Trump was a threat to your small , depressed, miserable selves.
You dragged us down _ but G-D sees all.r
You hour is coming !
and being she once ate bagels, lox and cream cheese she must be really close to the jewish nation
That’s funny. I would call her shiksala.
the letters of her name are either malkelah or amalek ,….. only time will tell which of these she truly is .
I see my comment criticizing VIN for putting up treif news like this was not published. So much for freedom of speech…..
Her actual name, Kamala Devi, means “lotus goddess” in Sanskrit and in some modern Indian languages.
Mamale.
I guess that’s the a shiksa pronounces “machsheifah”.
I think it will be great to have a president who is willing to nominate a Jew to the Supreme Court.