Issues

Issues

The Scourge of Antisemitism Has Returned to America

The Jewish community is in crisis. For decades, we viewed the specter of antisemitism as a ghost of the past, a hatred from another time and another place. We still saw it in the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe, even in occasional glimpses from our Western allies. But when antisemitism appeared here in the U.S., it used to be on the margins, on the fringe—a speck of dust on the otherwise clear vision of Jewish life in America.

We had become comfortable here in America over the last three quarters of a century. Gone were the restricted neighborhoods and their country clubs of yesteryear. America’s centers of higher education abandoned their quotas and fully opened their doors to us.

We took the reprieve that this acceptance granted us and used our energy in the pursuit of noble goals. We fought antisemitism abroad. We picketed Soviet consulates, smuggled in prayer books, and rallied in Washington.

We brought relief to areas struck by natural disaster, saved refugees fleeing war and persecution, and fought for the civil rights of all Americans. For decades, we focused our energies here in the United States on defending Israel and Israel’s right to exist. We accomplished these activities secure in the knowledge that the “American Experience” was a cure to the disease of antisemitism.

Read more: Newsweek