One way to fight Jew hatred is to identify, condemn and punish the haters. We do plenty of that already, which makes sense and should continue. But fighting only for our side carries its own risks. For one thing, it can make us look reactive, weak and insular. This goes against that classic image of the popular and confident American Jews who helped build America.
What happened to those assertive Jews with that special swagger, one might ask?
They’re all still very much with us, of course, but in the current climate of Jew hatred that has spread like a virus, that Jewish archetype has been submerged. Especially in the wake of Oct. 7, most Jews today are busy fighting for their side. I get it. I’m like that, too.
But as important as that fight is, it’s not sufficient. It overlooks a bigger opportunity, a bigger calling.
The fact is, America today is broken, and the more it is broken, the worse it is for the Jews.
“Success” has been replaced by “white privilege.” Skin color now determines moral status. Meritocracy has given way to misplaced discrimination, education to indoctrination. Social progress is ignored to promote a version of America that is irredeemably flawed. Extreme partisanship has replaced difficult problem-solving, commitment to narrative has replaced a search for truth, and loyalty to party has replaced loyalty to country.
America is no longer that place where everyone is encouraged to work for their dreams. For too many, permanent victimhood is the new aspiration.
The good intentions behind this new America—fairness, justice, inclusion, diversity, etc.—were so misused and distorted they ended up eroding the very values on which this country was founded.
Those values, let’s remember, have a lot to do with the Jews. As Bret Stephens writes in Sapir, “It’s hard to overstate the extent to which the United States is founded on ideals that are philosemitic by conviction, design, and effect.”
Stephens touches on a notion that has gotten lost in our post-Oct. 7 battles: the friendship between the Jews and America. “Like all great friendships,” he writes, “the one between America and the Jews rests on a foundation of shared values and aspirations.”
We need to revive those shared values and aspirations, because they are as Jewish as they are American. The American Dream and the Jewish Dream are joined at the hip.
“America’s Jews rose because we are blessed with a culture that values education, initiative, rectitude, hard work, personal responsibility, and full participation in the society of which we are a part,” Stephens writes. “We rose, too, because, for the most part, the broader American society respected and even revered Jewish heritage instead of reviling it, and admired Jewish success instead of envying it.”
Given that American and Jewish values are so intertwined, Jews are the ideal people to help revive them in a fair and decent way. That’s why we can’t allow our immediate fight against antisemitism to make us forget our long tradition of fighting to make America better.
“America looked to the Jewish story as an indication of divine blessing, and therefore as a source of inspiration for the sort of country America was called to be,” Rabbi Meir Soloveichik writes in his recent essay, “What Jews Mean to America.”
At a time when both America and the Jews are hurting, Jews must renew their mission of being an inspiration for the sort of country America was called to be. The Jewish fight is the American fight. Recent polls show that Jews still have major support throughout much of the country, regardless of the propaganda spread by the haters. We can build on that support.
We can’t allow our immediate fight against antisemitism make us forget our long tradition of fighting to make America better.
While we continue our fight against the haters and in defense of Israel, let’s incorporate the theme of “Jews for America” in our activism. America must be reminded how much we care about this nation, and Jews must be reminded that reviving the American Dream is also good for the Jews.
