Although this is a fine essay, I would make a couple of qualiying arguments:
1) You suggested that until the recent explosion of pro-Palestinian, anti-Jewish activity on campuses, America was free of intense anti-Jewish sentiment.
I disagree. This county is in large measure just like any other European, Chrisitian country. In the 1930's and 1940's, American Nazis were quite popular with a large sector of the American people, Father Coughlin incessantly screeched anti-Jewish venom, and many Americans welcomed Hitler's invasion of Russia as many people on the far right held that Bolshevism was an outgrowth of Judaism.
Right-wing Americans, opposed to granting Jewish victims of Hitler sanctuary in the United States, called Jewish refugees "REFUJEWS." When a Jewish congressman from Brooklkyn, New York, Emmanuel Celler, pleaded to allow a Jewish couple (whose sons were serving in the United States Army) sanctuary in the US, other Congressman, speaking out of turn, shouted, "Tell that New York Jew to shut up."
In the late sixties, the poisen came from the other end of the spectrum. In the 1968 teachers' strike in New York City, WBAI radio station aired a poem consisting of these words: "Hey you Jew boy, with that Yamaka on your head, oh how I wish you would drop dead."
B) It is important to remember that Germany, prior to the Holocaust, was deemed less anti Jewish than most European states. Russian Jews used to be exceptionally envious of German Jews. While Russian Jews were, prior to 1917, excluded from civil society, German Jews soared through the professions and were sometimes rather successful in finance. While a pogrom in Kishinev slaughtered scores of Jews in 1903, Germany seemed a paragon of discernment, discretion and sober analysis as it had a gay rights movement dating back to the late 19th century, a social sec system that was also formed in the days of Bismarck, and in Vienna, the most audacious and advanced ideas were propogated and advanced by Freud.
Indeed, the MOST SEEMINGLY ENLIGHTENED AND ADVANCED STATES HAVE A PREDELICTION TO REGRESS INTO MEDIEVAL BARBARISM AGAINST THE JEWS:
a) Intellectually Stunning Wilhelmine Germany regressed into Fascism
b) Spanish Civilization, prior to the inquistion, was culturally pluralistic and welcoming to the Jews. With the coming of the inquisition, the Bishop of Barcelona said one third of the Jews should be ejected from the nation, one-third must convert and one-third must die
c) Although many early Communists were Jews, and although Lenin furiously denounced Anti-Semitism, the Soviet Union, which once seemed to be a brave bastion of progressive thought in harmony with Judaism, soured and soon shouted its scorn and sadism against us.
Were there legal proceedings fighting back against antisemitism in other times and places? (How did they work, or not work?)
This kid is fearless. He gives me hope for the next generation of Jewish leaders.
Although this is a fine essay, I would make a couple of qualiying arguments:
1) You suggested that until the recent explosion of pro-Palestinian, anti-Jewish activity on campuses, America was free of intense anti-Jewish sentiment.
I disagree. This county is in large measure just like any other European, Chrisitian country. In the 1930's and 1940's, American Nazis were quite popular with a large sector of the American people, Father Coughlin incessantly screeched anti-Jewish venom, and many Americans welcomed Hitler's invasion of Russia as many people on the far right held that Bolshevism was an outgrowth of Judaism.
Right-wing Americans, opposed to granting Jewish victims of Hitler sanctuary in the United States, called Jewish refugees "REFUJEWS." When a Jewish congressman from Brooklkyn, New York, Emmanuel Celler, pleaded to allow a Jewish couple (whose sons were serving in the United States Army) sanctuary in the US, other Congressman, speaking out of turn, shouted, "Tell that New York Jew to shut up."
In the late sixties, the poisen came from the other end of the spectrum. In the 1968 teachers' strike in New York City, WBAI radio station aired a poem consisting of these words: "Hey you Jew boy, with that Yamaka on your head, oh how I wish you would drop dead."
B) It is important to remember that Germany, prior to the Holocaust, was deemed less anti Jewish than most European states. Russian Jews used to be exceptionally envious of German Jews. While Russian Jews were, prior to 1917, excluded from civil society, German Jews soared through the professions and were sometimes rather successful in finance. While a pogrom in Kishinev slaughtered scores of Jews in 1903, Germany seemed a paragon of discernment, discretion and sober analysis as it had a gay rights movement dating back to the late 19th century, a social sec system that was also formed in the days of Bismarck, and in Vienna, the most audacious and advanced ideas were propogated and advanced by Freud.
Indeed, the MOST SEEMINGLY ENLIGHTENED AND ADVANCED STATES HAVE A PREDELICTION TO REGRESS INTO MEDIEVAL BARBARISM AGAINST THE JEWS:
a) Intellectually Stunning Wilhelmine Germany regressed into Fascism
b) Spanish Civilization, prior to the inquistion, was culturally pluralistic and welcoming to the Jews. With the coming of the inquisition, the Bishop of Barcelona said one third of the Jews should be ejected from the nation, one-third must convert and one-third must die
c) Although many early Communists were Jews, and although Lenin furiously denounced Anti-Semitism, the Soviet Union, which once seemed to be a brave bastion of progressive thought in harmony with Judaism, soured and soon shouted its scorn and sadism against us.
It can happen in America too.