Even far-left Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky should know she stepped in it when J Street-loving columnist Ron Kampeas calls her reference to Joel Pollak as an Orthodox Jew “icky.”

Speaking to a J Street audience at their annual conference Monday night, Schakowsky described her 2010 Democratic primary opponent Joel Pollak with a string of what can only be called epithets:

“In 2010, I had an election… an election within our community. That is, I ran against a Jewish-Orthodox, Tea Party Republican who made it very clear that actually Jan Schakowsky was anti-Israel because of the positions that she took,” the Congresswoman said of Pollak.

So let us do an experiment.  Would Schakowsky have mentioned Pollak’s Jewish denomination were he a member of a conservative shul, a reform congregation, a reconstructionist shul, or maybe even were he an unaffiliated Jew?  Obviously, the answer is no.  At J Street, where observant Jews are few and far between, the reference to a “Jewish-Orthodox Tea Party Republican” was unlikely to offend very many in attendance.  Most probably think the way she does – that Orthodox Jews are lesser Jews.  Imagine being committed to Torah, God, and Israel, rather than to social justice and the Palestinian Authority.

Schakowsky has many observant and Orthodox Jews in her district.  Maybe they can let her know that she is a bigot.  For that is what she is.