Bec­ca Kan­tor: To start off, I’d love to have you define ​“chutz­pah” in your own words.

Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden: Chutz­pah is the indis­pens­able instru­ment for mak­ing change in your world. It includes grit, deter­mi­na­tion, and the belief that you can beat the odds.

BK: How has this con­cept impact­ed your career? 

RW: It took a shy, dif­fi­dent eleven-year-old and made him some­what of a celebri­ty by the end of his high school bas­ket­ball career; it took a twen­ty-some­thing seniors activist and made him an unlike­ly mem­ber of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, and ulti­mate­ly one of the most senior sen­a­tors in this coun­try. I was nev­er the best jumper or the strongest, nev­er the best speak­er or inside play­er — but I always had chutzpah.

BK: Could you give an exam­ple of how you’ve used chutz­pah to enact pos­i­tive change?

RW: As I dis­cuss in the book, when Jim Wright was going to be mak­ing selec­tions for the most pow­er­ful com­mit­tee in the House I used the fact that I wasn’t behold­en to any of the com­mit­tee inter­est groups to con­vince Wright I was exact­ly who he should choose to serve between more tra­di­tion­al mem­bers. I didn’t wait in line or try to con­vince him I was some­one I wasn’t, but I brassed it out and made clear I was who he needed.

BK: ​“Chutz­pah” is a loan word from Yid­dish. Do you think it also has par­tic­u­lar res­o­nance with Amer­i­can val­ues or culture?

RW: Most of the high-mind­ed his­to­ries of America’s found­ing leave out the fact that most of the founders, and indeed most of the mon­ey that paid the con­ti­nen­tal army, came from smug­gling and oth­er vio­la­tions of the king’s law. These founders had the chutz­pah to say, I’m not going to wait for the King’s men to come and take what I’ve earned, I will put my name and trea­sure behind these angry young men and their rev­o­lu­tion­ary ideas. Amer­i­ca was found­ed with chutz­pah and it is a vital part of our nation­al character. 

BK: Please name a Jew­ish book that gave you inspi­ra­tion — or chutz­pah — at a turn­ing point in your life. 

RW: There is one remark­able book in par­tic­u­lar, Under­ground in Berlin: A Young Woman’s Extra­or­di­nary Tale of Sur­vival in the Heart of Nazi Ger­many by Marie Jalow­icz Simon, that I would rec­om­mend to all of your members.