After public bristles, Ted Cruz says a rabbi likes his beard

Though he may have failed to win the endorsement to be the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s newly grown beard has picked up a ringing endorsement from a friend’s rabbi.

Cruz on Wednesday brushed away criticism for his facial hair, which attracted scorn and bits of falling food when it debuted on Capitol Hill in November.

Rather, he said some even think the thing growing on his face could help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Pretty cool: A good friend is studying in Yeshiva in Israel. His rabbi told him he liked my beard, elaborating ‘It gives Cruz a Talmudic & Rabbinic look & presence that will put the fear of the Lord into Israel’s enemies & promote Middle East peace,'” Cruz wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

Though flattered by the high praise for his beard, Cruz said the adulation was “perhaps a bit much.”

Pretty cool: A good friend is studying in Yeshiva in Israel. His rabbi told him he liked my beard, elaborating “It gives Cruz a Talmudic & Rabbinic look & presence that will put the fear of the Lord into Israel’s enemies & promote Middle East peace.” Wow. Perhaps a bit much….

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 9, 2019

Cruz is currently the only member of the Senate to have a beard, though Angus King of Maine and John Hoeven of North Dakota both sport mustaches.