Call him the conservative movement’s whiz kid. At age 17 he was the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. Today, 13 years later, he is a popular talk radio host, the author of six books – including a New York Times bestseller – and the editor-at-large of Breitbart.com, a major conservative news outlet.
Ben Shapiro is also an Orthodox Jew. “My parents became Orthodox when I was about 11 and, as you know, the Orthodox community tends to be disproportionately more conservative politically than the non-Orthodox community,” Shapiro told The Jewish Press.
Shapiro is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has appeared numerous times on television defending Israel and conservative principles. Last year, he started his own media watchdog group – TruthRevolt.org – in an effort to “unmask leftists in the media…destroy their credibility with the American public, and devastate their funding bases.”
Shapiro’s latest book, published earlier this year, is The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama Administration (Threshold).
The Jewish Press: Some people are struggling to write their first book at age 60. You’re 30 and have already written six. How do you do it?
Shapiro: Writing always came naturally to me, thank God. From the time I was very young I was reading incessantly, and because I was reading incessantly I began writing incessantly. I remember trying to start my first novel on my mom’s typewriter when I was maybe 7. Truth be told, if I go through a long period of time without being creative, I start to get depressed.
When you’re in conservative circles, how do people react when they see your yarmulke and realize you’re an Orthodox Jew? Are they fascinated? Intrigued? Shocked?
There’s always a bit of fascination. People are so used to hearing that Jews are leftists that they’re not used to the idea of Jews being right wing. And that’s the fault of the Orthodox community, which has not taken a leadership role in defining Judaism to the public mind. The Orthodox community is more likely to shy away from political debate than leftist Jews who have no compunction about speaking out – and speaking out qua Jews – even though they really have nothing to do with Judaism and Torah….
I’ve never experienced anti-Semitism with folks on the right. They’re always very warm and interested. I remember I was once speaking in Iowa [for a Christian group] and before I spoke, I was davening in my room. They called and asked, “How is it going?” I said, “Just give me three minutes, I have to finish davening.” And they said, “Oh, do you have phylacteries? Can we come up and see them?” I said, “Sure.” So here I was in the middle of Iowa showing evangelical Christians how to wrap tefillin.
You’re friends with Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and many other conservative icons. Who among this crowd impresses you most?
I don’t like the word impress with regard to my peers because it makes it sound like I’m patting them on the head, which is ridiculous since most of them are my seniors and most of them helped me when I was getting started.
But I appreciate people on the right side of the aisle for a variety of reasons. I appreciate Ann for her wit; I appreciate Sean for his stalwartness in the face of enormous personal attacks and his willingness to continue to maintain a certain sunny optimism despite the state of the country; I admire Mark Levin because he’s a very smart guy; and I admire Rush Limbaugh for continuing to weather the storms and continuing to maintain his principles.
