The Religion and Political Views of Aly Raisman

Alexandra "Aly" Raisman was born and raised in Needham, Massachusetts.

Raisman is Jewish and goes to a Reform temple with her family.[1] She became a darling of the global Jewish community after performing her gold medal-winning floor routine to the Jewish folk tune "Hava Nagila" at the 2012 London Olympics, and then announcing her support for a moment of silence in memory of the Israeli athletes killed by a Palestinian terrorist organization at the 1972 Olympics.[2]

As far as I can tell, Jews talk about Raisman a lot more than Raisman talks about being a Jew. It's clearly very important to her, and a central part of her identity, but I couldn't find any quotes of her getting deep into what spirituality means to her.

Regardless, she's surrounded by all things Jew. Her gymnastics coach was a former coach of the Israeli gymnastics team, she's received awards from Jewish organizations for her athletic prowess,[3] she accepted a personal invitation to visit Israel from a state official of that country,[4] and she is praised and saluted by members of the Israel Defense Forces.[5]

It's as if this young woman is carrying the hope of the future of Judaism on her shoulders. I guess that would make anyone a proud Jew.

Politics Are So Cool

Raisman doesn't appear to be very interested in politics. . . yet. The 2012 presidential election passed through her Twitter feed without a mention, although she did tweet that she thought it was "so cool" to meet the president a few days later.[6]

Considering her strong ties to Jewish culture, it would be easy to assume that she has an equally strong opinion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict–and it's also likely that she joins the 82% of Jews in her country that support a two-state solution. She also probably joins the 70% of American Jews who supported Barack Obama, and therefore the Democrats, in the 2012 election–if she voted at all, of course.[7]

But that's all we know. If you have any clues into Raisman's politics views, or lack thereof, drop us a line in the comments. Thanks readers.