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Former Virginia Governor Says Discovering his Jewish Heritage Has Been a Blessing

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Former Senator and Governor George Allen, seen here campaigning at the July 4, 2011 parade in Crozet, Va.

Says the revelation of his Jewish roots has changed him and broadened his perspective.

In a very touching interview, one of America’s leading political figures, George Allen—a former Governor and Senator from the state of Virginia currently seeking re-election to the Senate—describes the impact learning late in life that he is Jewish has had on him and his family.
In an exclusive meeting with Shalom TV President Mark S. Golub on the channel’s L’Chayim program, Allen, who was raised as a Presbyterian, describes an emotional moment at breakfast one morning when he asked his mother about rumors suggesting he was Jewish.
“She told me that my grandfather Felix (my middle name honors him) Lumbroso was Jewish and I looked up from the table and she was shaking, she was in tears. And before she told me she said, ‘Do you swear on Pop-Pops head (that’s what we called my grandfather) that you don’t tell anyone—and that’s the pledge of secrecy in the Allen family. And I said, ‘Sure Mom, sure.’”
Allen recalls how emotional his mother became and how she asked him whether he still loved her. Allen assured his mother of his love and asked why she had never told her children they were of Jewish descent.
“She said she lived in fear,” Allen explains. “During World War II the Nazis rousted my grandfather out of bed and incarcerated him in the dark of night. My mother lived all these years in fear – the scars still hurt the person who gave me birth—and she thought the best way to protect her babies was to conceal this Jewish heritage.”
For Allen, the son of legendary football coach of the Washington Redskins, George Herbert Allen, learning of his own Jewish ancestry has had a profound effect upon him.
“It’s been a great revelation—its one of the best blessings we’ve had as a family.” Allen also describes how his brother, who is a very religious Christian, now feels he is “closer to G-d.” Allen also credits finding out about his Jewishness with making him more sympathetic to others who have faced racism or anti-Semitism.
“I had Thomas Jefferson’s seat in the House of Delegates and the concept of religious freedom is one that I always thought was an enlightened philosophy—it became much more than that to me.” Allen adds, “Having known what my mother went through, what the Jewish people went through, there is a sympathy and understanding—almost a commiserating.” 
Asked whether he now feels a link to the Jewish people, Allen recalls the feeling of blowing the shofar at a Lubavitch event. When he went to sleep that night he said, “I had the best dreams—I felt I was in another realm; I don’t know if it was a transformation but it was a feeling I had shared with others.” Adding, “Everyone has dreams but there was almost an exaltation to it.” 
Allen, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the upcoming election for his former U.S. Senate seat, calls for strong and solid sanctions against Iran and affirms the “obvious” goal of a “free, safe, independent Jewish state of Israel.”
“When you see these Ayatollahs saying they want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, generally speaking they mean it and I don’t think you ought to think they’re joking or bluffing. So I think our goal must be that Iran cannot possess Nuclear weapons. Look how disruptive, hate filled and terror supporting Iran is presently with Hamas and Hezbollah – can you imagine how they would behave if they had nuclear weapons?” 
Allen believes the military option must be kept on the table, though it is not his first choice. Allen would rather see “regime change.”
“We’re on the side of the people who want freedom and justice,” Allen observed.
Mark Golub’s “L’Chayim” meeting with George Allen can be seen on Shalom TV throughout the month on cable systems throughout America as Free Video on Demand. 
Shalom TV is America’s national Jewish television network featuring PBS-style programming of information, education, and entertainment. The free Shalom TV channel–featuring daily news from Israel and Shalom TV’s daily news updates, children’s programming every morning and afternoon, and timely interviews–is currently available on Hotwire Communications in New York City, Miami, Palm Beach, and parts of New Jersey; on Roku and online at www.shalomtv.com. Shalom TV’s free VOD programming is available in more than 40 million homes on cable systems throughout the US and in Canada.

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