WASHINGTON _ As Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg vie for history as the first Jewish nominee of a major political party for president, Jewish leaders who might otherwise have celebrated the milestone are expressing concern it could aggravate an unprecedented spike in antisemitism nationwide.
The two leading candidates entering Super Tuesday have offered lengthy remarks on Judaism's influence on their lives and detailed plans to combat discrimination against Jewish Americans.
But Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont and the frontrunner for the nomination, and Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist and former mayor of New York City, represent polar opposite sides of the Democratic Party _ on kitchen table issues driving primary voters and on the U.S.-Israel relationship.
