(JTA) – Jon Ossoff, the first Jew ever elected to the Senate from Georgia, was sworn into office on a book of Hebrew scripture once owned by the rabbi who decades ago forged the alliance between Black and Jewish Georgians that helped propel Ossoff to a stunning electoral win. The book was once owned by Rabbi Jacob Rothschild whose leadership of the Temple – where, as it happens, Ossoff celebrated his bar mitzvah. Ossoff was sworn in Wednesday, Jan. 20, hours after Joe Biden was inaugurated as president. “Rabbi Rothschild was an outspoken civil rights activist and ally of Dr. [Martin Luther] King,” Ossoff’s campaign said, noting that Rothschild’s family had loaned Ossoff the bible.

In a rare political moment, both of Georgia’s Senate seats were up for grabs last year and went to a runoff election on Jan. 5. That led Ossoff to run a joint campaign with fellow Democrat, Raphael Warnock, the pastor at King’s church, Ebenezer Baptist. Together, they repeatedly invoked the Black-Jewish alliance. Warnock also won, and the twin victories will hand Democrats control of the Senate, and all levers of government.

Main Photo: Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff places his hand on his heart as he thanks voters at Dunbar Neighborhood Center in Atlanta, Georgia on on Jan. 05, 2021.