Randi Weingarten of AFT is not merely an anti-Semite. She is a hypocrite, too

By Lev Tsitrin

Oh ah! Can you believe it? “American Jews are now part of the ownership class who want to take that ladder of opportunity away from those who do not have it!”

Thus spake — not Zaratustra channeled by Friedrich Nietzsche, though it would be tempting to attribute such a snappy quote to such exalted source — but Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers union, “in response to a question from the JTA, a liberal Jewish media outlet, about the power of teachers’ unions,”

The Frontpage article titled  “‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris‘ is an Anti-Israel Group”  in which I read Ms. Weingarten’s gem of social wisdom proceed to list some more prominent members of the “Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris” and examine their views on Israel — to find them to be invariably and grotesquely antagonistic towards the Jewish State. I, on the other hand, did not particularly care for that part, but took Ms Weingarten at her word and, assuming that she’s Jewish (her “partner” after all is not merely Jewish, but is no less than a retired “senior rabbi at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York City’s pioneering LGBTQ-oriented synagogue Sharon Kleinbaum”) checked whether she keeps her wallet where her mouth is, using it as a “ladder of opportunity for those who do not have it.”

Judge for yourself: — according to Google’s “AI overview,” the answer to my question of “what is the average teacher salary?” is: per “the National Education Association (NEA), the average teacher salary in the United States for the 2023–2024 school year was $71,699, a 3.1% increase from the previous year. The average starting salary for teachers in 2024 was $44,530. However, teacher salaries can vary by state, with some states paying teachers significantly more than others. For example, in 2024, the average teacher salary in New York was $92,696, while in West Virginia it was $52,870.”

Now compare it to Google’s answer to “what is Randi Weingarten’s salary?” — “She was paid a $434,854 salary last year and received $53,099 in other official disbursements and allowances that brought total compensation to $487,953, according to union figures provided to the U.S. Labor Department.”

Huh? Randi Weingarten pockets the pay of 10 starting teachers. Which begs the question (does her partner-“rabbi” who, ex officio, has an oversize social conscience, constantly nag her with this question, I wonder?) — why is the salary of just one starting teacher not enough for you, Randi? Use salaries of the remaining nine as “ladder of opportunity for those who do not have it” — give it to 9 new teachers to bring up their salary to the average level. Isn’t that a nice thing to do? Won’t they be grateful for the “ladder” you gave them, while being modestly content with little? Have some heart, Randi! Be moral! Put your money where your mouth is!

Call me a cynic, but I doubt that this though occurred to either to the “rabbi” or to Randi. Call me an anti-Semite for talking loosely of Jews and money, but I do suspect that Randi Weingarten — as well as her “rabbi”-partner Sharon Kleinbaum — both enjoy getting big paychecks, and do not mind one bit being “part of the ownership class” — in fact, I think they love it (as, naturally, does every American — we all wish we were wealthy; this is what the American Dream is all about!).

Bottom line, Randi Weingarten’s concern for the underdog does not extend to opening up her wallet, and sharing her wealth. Like all demagogues, she is a hypocrite — when it comes to teachers about whom she supposedly cares, for that matter, and not just when she trash-talks Israel and Jews for whom she has nothing but animosity and disdain.