similar to Bentz in that she’s not a Republican
but she prefers the R on the ballot in this
election. Rosamilia described herself as “not
Republican or a Democrat.”
“I’m basically in the middle,” she added. “I
guess I could be independent. I don’t know.”
According to the Bethlehem resident, “we do
need to fi x the country” because Democrats have
failed over the past couple of years. Rosamilia
believes that “everything has gone so far to the
left that the country is a mess right now.” She
thinks that a lot of her “Democrat friends” feel
the same way.

“Who’s going to fi x the economy and crime?”
Rosamilia asked. “And the energy costs have
gone up and the food is out of control.”
Th e Bethlehem resident further explained
that President Joe Biden is not looking to fi x
those problems. She said his administration is
just spending more; therefore, it’s time to give
the Republicans a chance.

Rosamilia said that when Republican
President Donald J. Trump was in offi ce, “the
The PPL Center in downtown Allentown in the heart of the
economy was excellent.” Infl ation was “2.some-
Lehigh Valley
thing; now it’s like 8.something,” she added.

Gas prices, too, have come down in recent
months but are still more expensive than they were should be unconditional and contended that Wild votes
under Trump. Rosamilia also used to go to Philadelphia for Israeli aid conditioned upon the Jewish state con-
and New York City once a month, but now she doesn’t tinuing two-state negotiations.

To combat hate crimes, Scheller called for additional
because of crime.

investments in law enforcement. Wild touted actions
“I think people want change,” she concluded. “And I
taken by
Congress, including the appointment of an
think in the midterms, maybe a lot of people are going
antisemitism ambassador
and a resolution to provide
to vote for change to see if that will fi x this country
additional funding
to houses
of worship.

because it’s really in a bad way.”
During the
Exponent’s travels
around the Lehigh
Some Lehigh Valley residents, though, do not want to
Valley two
weeks before
Election Day, most people
see change in PA-7.

preferred not
to talk
about the
race at
all, let alone about
Ajaz Quazi, an Allentown resident, is a Democrat who
Jewish issues.

But among
those who
did, fi ve people said
doesn’t love the job that Biden has done since taking
they would
vote for
Scheller against
four who preferred
offi ce. He expects Biden not to run in the 2024 presiden-
Wild. tial election and thinks that a new group of Democratic
John Briggs of Hellertown in Northampton County
leaders will emerge in the next couple of years. Quazi also
called politics “a theater act” and said he no longer
said that he likes Vice President Kamala Harris.

wanted to participate. Th e 36-year-old voted for George
But for Congress this year, he’s sticking with Wild
W. Bush
in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. But he
because she’s a Democrat.

described Obama as a great candidate who turned out
“I think Wild is a good candidate,” he said. “And plus,
to be
“a terrible
president.” He also said he appreciated
I’m a Democrat.”
“some things”
Trump did but that he was also “playing
Th at latest Muhlenberg/Morning Call poll that
the heel,”
a reference
to the loud and outrageous bad
showed Wild with a one-point lead also showed another
guys in
pro wrestling
matches. number that was less prominent but perhaps more
“Th ese people are maniacs. I just don’t want to be a
interesting. Only 4% of voters called themselves unde-
part of it anymore,” Briggs added. “What would be the
cided. But within that group, 31% said they leaned
best thing
is if nobody voted, and we all just took care of
toward Scheller, while 0% claimed to prefer Wild. (69%
each other.

Th at’s kind of where I’m at.”
doubled down on being undecided.)
Briggs plans
on voting for Republican Doug Mastriano
While Jewish issues aren’t a major theme in the
over Democrat
Josh Shapiro in the Pennsylvania gov-
campaign, the two candidates did discuss antisemitic
ernor’s race.

He said he likes “some of the things”
hate crimes and Middle East instability at an Oct. 13
Mastriano says
and fi nds Shapiro to be “derelict in his
forum hosted by the Lehigh Valley Jewish Federation.

duties” as
the commonwealth’s
attorney general. But he
Both reaffi rmed their support for Israel and condemned
fi nds
the race
for Pennsylvania’s
senate seat between TV
the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, Th e
doctor Republican
Mehmet Oz
and sweatshirt-wearing
Morning Call reported.

Democrat John
Fetterman to
be “ridiculous.”
At the forum, Wild called for a two-state solution to
As for Wild-Scheller, Briggs plans on writing
the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict. Scheller said aid to Israel
20 NOVEMBER 3, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
in a candidate.

“I’m not Republican. I’m independent,” he
said. Among the fi ve people who told the Exponent
they were voting for Scheller, two were Bentz
and Rosamilia, a Democrat and an indepen-
dent, respectively, while the other three were
conservatives. Out of the four who pledged sup-
port for Wild, one was a campaign volunteer.

Th e others were Democrats.

“I’m nervous. I think I hear it’s kind of close,”
said Chris Fowler, a Bethlehem resident and
Wild supporter. “I feel like the economic situa-
tion we’re in is not a product of just the last two
years.” Wild, a lawyer and former solicitor of
Allentown, fi rst won this House seat in 2018 by
10% of the vote against Marty Nothstein. But in
2020 against Scheller, that margin fell to about
3%. Now in 2022, the Democrat must contend
with high crime and infl ation rates under a
Democratic president, Republican momentum
and more conservative voters in her district.

As Th e Morning Call has reported and dis-
cussed, red Carbon County was not part of PA-7
two years ago. But it is in 2022, along with its
population of more than 64,000 people.

Th e Wild campaign did not respond to several
requests for comment. But the congresswoman is run-
ning like an incumbent in a very close race.

Wild’s negative TV ads portray Scheller as a CEO
more concerned with creating jobs in China than
America; her positive ad credits her for the CHIPS and
Science Act, which invests in making semiconductors
in America. Over the past week, Wild made sure to be
seen visiting small business owners in Bethlehem and
Easton and touring a construction site at the Lehigh
Valley International Airport.

Th en on Oct. 30, a Sunday morning, she brought in
House Majority WHIP Jim Clyburn to attend a ser-
vice with her at the Greater Shiloh Church in Easton.

Clyburn, a Black congressman from South Carolina
whose endorsement of Biden helped swing the 2020
Democratic primary, appeared with Wild at a church
that the congresswoman’s campaign labeled “the oldest
and largest minority congregation in the Lehigh Valley.”
It remains to be seen if all of this will be enough.

Scheller does not think that it will be. Th e Republican
called her opponent “a rubber stamp for the Biden
agenda” who supported “the reckless spending and tax
increases that have helped to give us the worst infl ation
in 40 years.”
Scheller, by contrast, promises to help “unleash
American energy, especially right here in Pennsylvania.”
She said “there are enough energy resources in PA to
power America for 200 years,” and that “it’s time we use
those to bring relief to working people.”
“I can do a better job representing the Lehigh Valley
and fi ghting for the needs of our communities,” Scheller
said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Photo by Jarrad Saff ren
feature story



arts & culture
Hyatt Centric Exhibit
Features Israeli-born Artist
B Courtesy of Punch Media
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
edecked in a gold chain, a
Sharpie-tattooed heart on his
face, a rainbow pin draped from
his torso and an evil eye — harkening
to a Jewish superstition — around his
neck, the statue of George Washington
is still recognizable as the American
forefather in John Y. Wind’s sculpture.

But instead of merely representing
America’s fi rst president, the sculpture
shows all that America can be in terms
of political and personal identities, rep-
resented in knickknacks strewn on top
of and around the leader’s body.

Washington is one of several American
Revolution heroes to whom Wind gives
the assemblage treatment. In “Whiskey
Rebellion,” Jewish, Israel-born artist Wind
challenges the masculinity and heroics of
the country’s early leaders, giving them
expansive American identities that address
the country’s racism, antisemitism and
homophobia in the process. Th e exhibit
is on display through Nov. 27 at the Hyatt
Centric in Center City.

Part of the hotel’s monthly “Maker
Series,” the exhibit is an avenue to draw
attention to Philadelphia artists from vis-
itors, as well as to draw locals to the hotel.

Th e series began earlier this year, and
Wind’s works, perched on the hotel’s
lobby bookshelves, will be the series’
fi rst sculptural installment.

“Not only is that just creating a truly
diff erent vibe in our lobby, but he’s
also showcasing the history of not just
Philadelphia, but America in general, in
a totally diff erent light,” said Elizabeth
Fricke, Hyatt Centric Center City direc-
tor of sales and marketing.

With a background in jewelry and
found object sculptures, Wind became
fascinated with a collection of American
hero-themed whiskey decanters he
found in his fi ance’s grandmother’s
basement shortly aft er her death.

Th e fi gures — representatives of all 50
states — sat in Wind’s South Philadelphia
studio for months, until he was asked to
participate in the Maker’s Series.

“I knew it would include some kind of
transformation; I knew it would include
poking fun at their heroic presentation;
I knew it would include the language of
John Y. Wind is an Israel-born
Jewish sculptor and Jeweler
based in South Philadelphia.

jewelry,” Wind said of the exhibit.

Th e name of the exhibit “Whiskey
Rebellion” is a reference to the 1794
uprising of farmers and distillers aft er
the freshly formed U.S. government
under Washington enforced a whiskey
tax. Wind wanted to similarly challenge
Washington’s authority.

As a gay, Jewish man, Wind, 61,
intended to comment on the growing
polarization of American politics, draw-
ing on humor and irreverence to trans-
form stoic, upright American heroes
into symbols of pluralism and mul-
tifaceted identities, confronting their
legacies as red-blooded men and rugged
champions of democracy.

In addition to Washington and
Th omas Jeff erson, Wind gives assem-
blage makeovers to the foreign-born
Th addeus Kosciuszko and Napoleon
Bonaparte in the exhibit.

“I’m really interested in portraiture,
and how objects in our lives represent
diff erent aspects of who we are,” he said.

“Th at’s digging into the individual. But
then, because these objects are familiar
and relatable [to] others, it takes it from
the specifi c to the general.”
Wind refers to most of his sculptural
pieces as “portraits,” in the sense that
they represent a singular person or idea.

In other projects, he’s drawn on personal
stories as inspirations for his pieces.

In “Portrait of Zoltan,” a 2021 piece,
Wind sculpts a portrait of his grandfa-
ther Zoltan Windt in the form of a suit-
case fi lled with tchotchkes, heirlooms
and photographs.

In 1932, Windt emigrated from
Hungary to Haifa, British Mandate
Palestine, the precursor to the state of
Israel. He originally came as a tourist and
fell in love with Wind’s grandmother,
whose parents owned the penzion, or
hostel, where Windt stayed. Th e couple
owned a men’s clothing store for 40 years.

Aft er Windt died in the 1990s, Wind
began collecting his grandfather’s left -
over belongings, including his Israeli
passport, which features in the piece.

“I’ve always been the family archivist
and the one who keeps the stuff ,” Wind
said. Like his immigrant grandfather,
Wind has also reckoned with his iden-
tity. Born Yaron Windt, Wind changed
his name to Jaron, and later John, upon
moving to the United States at age 3,
hoping his name would be easier to
pronounce. Th e push and pull of his
identities is something featured in his
work explicitly and implicitly.

“George Washington” in John
Y. Wind’s “Whiskey Rebellion,”
covered in found objects and
mounted on books
As he refl ects on depicting American
heroes in “Whiskey Rebellion,” he feels
the tension of both revering American
history but also feeling alienated from it.

“As an immigrant, and as a gay man,
I’ve also always been aware of having
an outsider status,” he said. “And that
shapes the way that I approach these
fi gures.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
21