Adam Schiff chose Mishneh Torah for swearing in to the US Senate

Adam Schiff, the Jewish Democrat who came to national prominence as the lead prosecutor in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, was sworn in as a U.S. senator on Monday after his election in November. He succeeded Laphonza Butler, who was appointed to the Senate following the death of longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein last year.

Schiff, 64, took the oath of office holding a Maimonides Mishneh Torah (Second Torah) printed in Italy in 1490. The selection of this text – a 14-volume code of Jewish law and practice written by Moses Maimonides, also known as the Rambam – sparked debate over its halachic permissibility for swearing an oath, as it is not the official Hebrew Bible.

Why Schiff chose the Mishneh Torah
Schiff, in a statement ahead of his swearing in on Monday, said the edition, published in the duchy of Milan, now in northern Italy, was “a monumental legal code and one of the most organized, comprehensive, and influential works of Jewish law.”

A spokesperson for Schiff, until this week a U.S. Representative and a former federal prosecutor, said he chose the volume, held by the Library of Congress, in part because of his concerns about the state of the rule of law as President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.

The spokesperson said that Schiff was also attracted to the volume because of his intellectual curiosity. “It’s simply his nerdy interest in how old this volume is and how comprehensive it is,” she said.

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