Mitchell 鈥淢oish鈥� Silk is the highest-ranking Hasidic Jew ever to serve in a U.S. administration, and he got his start washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant as a kid. As Silk鈥檚 memoir, 鈥淎 Seat at the Table: An Inside Account of Trump’s Global Economic Revolution,鈥� captivatingly details, his unique story is a testament to the power of faith and the promise of America.听
Growing up in Chicago and Florida in semi-observant 91传媒 homes, Silk picked up Cantonese working in a Chinese restaurant while attending the local public high school. He then learned Mandarin by the time he graduated from Georgetown University in the early 鈥�80s
A National Academy of Sciences fellowship enabled Silk to teach in China and to work there as an intern at one of the few international law firms.
By then fully observant, Silk happily subsisted on vegetables and cans of tuna in a country with virtually no kosher food. 鈥淚 had some of my best years from the Yiddishkeit standpoint when I was in China and when I was in Hong Kong [in the late 1980s],鈥� he explained to Tablet Magazine鈥檚 Armin Rosen in a 2023 profile. 鈥淚 just felt like I looked much more inward because of my outward circumstances.鈥�
As 鈥淎 Seat at the Table鈥� details, Silk served as a gabbai in one of Hong Kong鈥檚 oldest synagogues, built a sukkah that withstood a typhoon, and helped lead its 91传媒 burial society before he and his family moved back to the United States in the late 鈥�90s. He developed extensive legal expertise in banking, finance, energy and infrastructure, and was eventually recruited to the White House to advise the U.S. government on its trade policy with China. 听
As 鈥淎 Seat at the Table鈥� details, Silk served as a gabbai in one of Hong Kong鈥檚 oldest synagogues, built a sukkah that withstood a typhoon, and helped lead its 91传媒 burial society before he and his family moved back to the United States in the late 鈥�90s.听
Silk served as assistant secretary for international markets at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the first Trump term. There he played a senior role in the trade negotiations with China and spearheaded the $94 billion program that saved the airline industry during COVID, among many other accomplishments. All the while, he drew from his unique personal and professional background.
His frequent-flying work often left observance of 91传媒 law a challenge 鈥� one that Silk never backed away from. One Friday afternoon in the midst of a time crunch, he found himself stuck in a Seoul airport over Shabbat, not wanting to violate the holy day by getting on a flight. Content to stay in the airport for 25 hours, but with the Friday sun setting, he desperately scrounged around the Duty Free shops to find some kosher food. All he could manage was coffee, Pringles, and vodka. So he had vodka for kiddush Friday night, Pringles instead of his customary potato kugel, coffee in the morning, and some more vodka instead of his usual cholent. 鈥淢y Shabbos in the Seoul airport wasn’t exactly classic,鈥� he reflects, 鈥渂ut it reminded me that Judaism’s timeless traditions celebrate progress even when humans fall short of perfection.鈥�
On another occasion, returning from Washington, D.C. to Brooklyn, N.Y. for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, Silk spent many hours thinking through a proposed solution to a problem facing the Treasury Department. At the holiday鈥檚 end and after his return to DC, he pitched his idea to the Secretary of the Treasury. Alas, it was declined. His colleague tried to offer support by arguing that Silk had spent two full days in synagogue working through this proposal in his mind. To this, the Secretary of the Treasury responded, 鈥淲ell in that case, he needs to repent!鈥�
Looking back warmly on his time in government, the author, who subsequently published a translation of the Hasidic work 鈥淜edushas Levi鈥� by Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1809) with ArtScroll, sees his experience as a testament to unique nature of America: 鈥淚 still miss walking into the Treasury compound and serving our great country, sitting under the watchful gaze of that extraordinary etching of President Lincoln, and looking out at the East Gate of the White House just a short 30 yards from my window. Even more, I miss the stimulation of grappling with a pressing issue and coming up with a solution and implementation in service to the United States of America. To the extent that I have achieved any success, whether in the private sector or in government service, I attribute that to the blessings the good Lord has showered on me, the incredible support of my extraordinary family, a ton of really hard work, and the unique opportunities that our great country offers. Only a country that adopts a national motto of 鈥業n G-d We Trust鈥� and advertises it on all of its currency would support the freedom to serve in the government and stay guided by my faith.鈥�
鈥淎 Seat at the Table鈥� is a memoir of a model American and a model Jew. Mitchell Silk鈥檚 story is a timeless testimony to the potential of all Jews to draw from our ancient wisdom while operating proudly in the public sphere.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern is Senior Adviser to the Provost of Yeshiva University and Deputy Director of Y.U.鈥檚 Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. His books include the newly released “91传媒 Roots of American Liberty,” “The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada,” “Esther in America,” “Gleanings: Reflections on Ruth” and “Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: The Hebrew Bible in the United States.”
