Aly Raisman

---
name: "Aly Raisman"
relatedPeople:
  - "kris-humphries"
  - "mckayla-maroney"
  - "bethany-hamilton"
  - "kevin-durant"
date: "2013-02-20"
sources:
  - sourceTitle: "Jewish Gymnast Aly Raisman and the Future of Jewish Identity."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/15/jewish-gymnast-aly-raisman-and-the-future-of-jewish-identity/"
  - sourceTitle: "Aly Raisman: Our Golden Jewish Gymnast."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.kveller.com/blog/parenting/aly-raisman-our-golden-jewish-gymnast/"
  - sourceTitle: "Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman dances 'Hava Nagila' to Olympic glory."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/routine-emergencies/jewish-gymnast-aly-raisman-dances-hava-nagila-to-olympic-glory-1.454685"
  - sourceTitle: "Jerusalem of Gold: Raisman accepts invite to Israel."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=280808"
  - sourceTitle: "A Letter to Aly Raisman From an IDF Soldier."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/23/a-letter-to-aly-raisman-from-an-idf-soldier/"
  - sourceTitle: "Aly_Raisman: On my way to DC to meet the …"
    sourceUrl: "https://twitter.com/Aly_Raisman/status/269038099097591809"
  - sourceTitle: "America's Jewish Vote."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/opinion/americas-jewish-vote.html?_r=0"
summaries:
  religion: "Aly Raisman is a dedicated Jew, and the darling of the global Jewish community."
  politicalViews: "She is non-political."
---

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

Raisman is Jewish and goes to a Reform temple with her family.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.algemeiner.com%2F2012%2F08%2F15%2Fjewish-gymnast-aly-raisman-and-the-future-of-jewish-identity%2F" title="Jewish Gymnast Aly Raisman and the Future of Jewish Identity.">[1]</a> 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.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kveller.com%2Fblog%2Fparenting%2Faly-raisman-our-golden-jewish-gymnast%2F" title="Aly Raisman: Our Golden Jewish Gymnast.">[2]</a>

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,<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fblogs%2Froutine-emergencies%2Fjewish-gymnast-aly-raisman-dances-hava-nagila-to-olympic-glory-1.454685" title="Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman dances &apos;Hava Nagila&apos; to Olympic glory.">[3]</a> she accepted a personal invitation to visit Israel from a state official of that country,<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2FJewishWorld%2FJewishNews%2FArticle.aspx%3Fid%3D280808" title="Jerusalem of Gold: Raisman accepts invite to Israel.">[4]</a> and she is praised and saluted by members of the Israel Defense Forces.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.algemeiner.com%2F2012%2F08%2F23%2Fa-letter-to-aly-raisman-from-an-idf-soldier%2F" title="A Letter to Aly Raisman From an IDF Soldier.">[5]</a>

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](https://twitter.com/Aly_Raisman) without a mention, although she did tweet that she thought it was "so cool" to meet the president a few days later.<a class="source-citation" href="#https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FAly_Raisman%2Fstatus%2F269038099097591809" title="Aly_Raisman: On my way to DC to meet the …">[6]</a>

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.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2012%2F11%2F13%2Fopinion%2Famericas-jewish-vote.html%3F_r%3D0" title="America&apos;s Jewish Vote.">[7]</a>

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.

Fact about the Gun Control views of Aly Raisman

Contributed by