Shibboleth (The West Wing)

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“Shibboleth”
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 30
Guest stars	F. William Parker Annie Corley Deborah Hedwall Kathryn Joosten NiCole Robinson Sam Anderson Henry O
Written by	Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Patrick H. Caddell (story)
Directed by	Laura Innes
Production no.	226208
Original airdate
Season 2 episodes
In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II The Midterms In This White House And It's Surely To Their Credit The Lame Duck Congress The Portland Trip Shibboleth Galileo Noël The Leadership Breakfast The Drop-In Bartlet's Third State of the Union The War at Home Ellie Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail The Stackhouse Filibuster 17 People Bad Moon Rising The Fall's Gonna Kill You 18th and Potomac Two Cathedrals
List of The West Wing episodes

"Shibboleth" is the 30th episode of The West Wing.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

The episode begins with a scene on the California coast, where a group of Chinese Christians have been aprehended by US agents. It turns out that they are seeking asylum in the United States because of what they call "religious persecution," a claim that causes a stir amongst the religious community. Josh and Sam are dispatched to apease the religious leaders, who come to meet with them at the White House.

Meanwhile, C.J. is given the responsibility of pardoning the national Thanksgiving day turkey, which she has considerable difficulty doing. Ultimately she chooses a turkey, but begs the President to pardon a second turkey when she discovers that the unpardoned turkey will be slaughtered and eaten for dinner. This leads to a funny scene in the Oval Office where President Bartlett comes out, announces that he has pardoned the turkey, and then lanches into a tirade about how he cannot actually pardon a turkey and how the young man who thinks that he can should ask his teachers for a better education.

Meanwhile, President Bartlet has sent Charlie on a never-ending hunt for a carving knife. Unbeknownst to Charlie, President Bartlet is replacing his own personal knife, which he gifts to Charlie. A touching scene in the oval office occurs when Charlie receives the knife and asks the President about the markings from the manufacturer - a P.R. - and is told that the knife was made for the Bartlet family by a silversmith named Paul Revere.

The episode concludes with the President meeting with a dignitary of the Chinese refugees who convinces him of their need for asylum by answering considerable Bible trivia and then admonishing President Bartlet that "faith is the true Shibboleth." President Bartlet notifies the Red Cross and asks the Governor of California to have the National Guard stand down, and the Chinese government is told that the refugees "overpowered and escaped" from the United States military.

[edit] Title

The title, Shibboleth, is a word commonly used to mean any language usage indicative of one's social or regional origin. It originates from the Book of Judges in the Bible, where the pronunciation of the word was used to test those claiming to be from Gilead.