Jewish American Heritage Month should be a celebration of the contributions Jews have made to American life. From medicine, law, business, and philanthropy, to Hollywood, the civil rights and labor movements, and even America’s Christmas playlist, Jews have helped shape this country in outsized ways.
But there’s a paradox. Jews are facing levels of hostility not seen in generations. And for those driving that hostility, Jewish American achievement is not a cause for celebration but an opportunity to spread hatred and suspicion.
How can so few people have so much impact? Why are Jews overrepresented in so many professions and industries? What sinister, devious tactics must they have used?
That approach, turning Jewish contribution into conspiracy, is plain antisemitism. Jews aren’t overrepresented. We’re overcontributing.
Since October 7, hatred towards Jews has surged around the world, including here. Jews have been vilified, attacked, and even murdered, like in Bondi, Manchester, Colorado, and Washington, DC.
Around the world, Jews are having variations of this conversation: Are we safe here? Do we have a future here? Is it time to leave here? What is striking is not that we are the first Jews to have that conversation: it’s that until recently, and especially in the US, we were the first generations of Jewsnotto have them.
Every Jewish community is descended from people who had that conversation in one place, and built a new life and new communities in another. The old country’s loss was America’s gain. Or so we thought.
Unfortunately, for all the interest in Jews, our alleged power and influence, and the Jewish state, ignorance about Jews persists.
Indeed, many of those most obsessed about Jews often seem to know the least about them. Take the commentator who explained away the terrorist targeting of a Michigan synagogue because it was calledBeth Israeland was therefore expressing support for the State of Israel. Clearly, she wasn’t aware that Jews are calledthe People of Israelregardless of where they live.
Ignorance isn’t just an absence of knowledge but an empty vessel into which hostile actors inject hatred. And social media provides an unparalleled delivery system to pump poison into impressionable minds.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
