Is It Good For The Jews?
Is Jewish success good or bad for the Jews in America?
Is It Good For The Jews?
Many of you know that I may be the most Jew centric person in the world. I became a Rabbi when I realized in college that nothing grabbed my attention more than something having to do with Jews. It was like I had radar for Jewishness that would go off the moment there was something Jewish in the air. What you may not know is that there is a subset of that interest.
There are many joys of having grandchildren, but one aspect of grandchildren is a double-edged sword. They love you greatly but will tell you directly or indirectly what foibles you have and often that becomes a source of generational bonding.
My siblings and I did it with our grandparents and I am sure it has been thus for millennia. In my case it was a high-tech reveal. My grandson and granddaughter produced a video of a new gameshow that was dedicated to me. It was a quiz show asking if celebrities were Jewish, or Canadian, or both. The idea was that for Zaydie, who was always pointing out what celebrity was Jewish and what celebrity was Canadian, it was the “Zaydie Holy Grail” to point out when a celebrity was both Jewish and Canadian.
Leonard Nimoy was Jewish and that was great, but William Shatner was Jewish and Canadian, that was outstanding. On Bonanza, Little Joe, played by Michael Landon was a Jew from New York and that was delicious, but Ben Cartwright played by Lorne Green was a Jew from Ottawa Canada, that was monumental. Jerry Seinfeld is a highly successful Jewish comedian, but Howie Mandel’s parent’s locker at the club was next to my dad’s in Toronto. Gangster rapper Nissim Black may be a black Orthodox rapper, but he is nothing compared to the Canadian Jewish Drake.
With this understanding of my personal predilections, you may understand why I focus on Jewish success in the United States.
Did you know that at least 10 of the 32 teams in the NFL are owned by Jews? Almost a third of the teams are Jewish owned in a country where Jews are around 2% of the population.
Almost half the teams in the NBA are owned by Jews, and half the commissioners of the 4 major sports leagues are Jewish. (It used to be three quarters). The United States Senate now has a minyan so 10 % of the Senate is Jewish. The new CEO to be, of Amazon is Andy Jassy, a Jew, and Google, Facebook, and Oracle were all founded by Jews. Even the attorney who is defending Donald Trump in his impeachment is not only Jewish but so religious that he asked that the trial not be conducted after sunset on Friday until dark on Saturday night. His request was granted by the Jewish Majority Leader.
Currently the greatest example of Jewish presence in positions of power can be seen in the many appointments by President Biden. In a January 20th article of the JTA entitled,” All the Jews Joe Biden has tapped for top roles in the administration”, the article lists the following: Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State; David Cohen, CIA Deputy Director; Merrick Garland, Attorney General; Avril Haines, Director Of National Intelligence; Ronald Klain, Chief Of Staff; Eric Lander, Office Of Science and Technology Policy Director; Rachel Levine, Deputy Health Secretary; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security; Anne Neuberger, National Security Agency Cybersecurity Director (shomer shabbat); Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State; Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary”.
After that article came out Rochelle Wallensky was appointed head of the CDC, and Jared Bernstein was made a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. This list is by no means exhaustive, but the point is, given what I have told you about my Jewish chauvinism I should be over the moon in joy and yet I am not.
One major question looms large,“is it good for the Jews?”.
This is not a new question, it in fact goes back to the beginning of the second exile in the year 70 C.E. How did Jews who were strangers in new lands often ruled by religious rulers who were inimical to Jews, survive in these countries? Like little children Jews should be seen but not heard.
In response to this problem Jews in Europe developed a system called Stadlanut, in which someone of power (often because of wealth) became the court Jew, someone who could intercede on behalf of the Jewish population. More could be achieved by secret diplomacy than rebellion or resistance. After centuries of such experience Jews developed an aversion to being in the spotlight. Decisions that had to be made were always debated in the context of, “ Is it good for the Jews?”.
When Henry Kissinger was appointed to be Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State I remember great discussions in the Jewish community about whether this was good for the Jews? First, we feared that there would be accusations of dual loyalty. If people feared that JFK would yield to the Pope, what would they say about any decision Kissinger would make about Israel?
Secondly, could we count on Kissinger to be even handed towards issues that affected Jews at home or abroad, or would he go out of his way to not take the Jewish position lest he be accused of favoring the Jews? Better, some argued, that we do not have a Jewish Secretary of State but rely on the old ways when you sent some very powerful and connected Jew to go argue the case in private. Some think it was the intercession of Truman’s old haberdashery partner who was Jewish that convinced Truman to recognize Israel in 1948 when the State Department advised against it because the US needed the Arab oil more than they needed a Jewish State.
Indeed, in the Yom Kippur war when Nixon was prepared to send a major air lift of weapons to help Israel, it was Kissinger who slowed it down so Israel would suffer more and be more compliant to US demands in the future.
Some would argue that today it is a different US from Truman’s time and even Nixon’s. Jews are not outsiders. They are very much a part of the establishment. They are more educated, more successful, and wealthier than the majority of the country, and should have no concerns that they have entered the world of the cultural, business and political elite, and maybe they are correct. Maybe we should revel in our success and acceptance, but again I ask, “Is it good for the Jews?”.
In Charlottesville, the white supremacists marched towards a statue of Robert E. Lee, chanting, “Jews will not replace us!”. Notwithstanding the fact that many southern Jews fought for the confederacy and Judah Benjamin was the confederate Attorney General, it was the “foreign Jews” not the real Americans, whose very success threatened their white hold on power and economics, that led to the chant.
We have a QAnon advocate in the House of Representative who can’t even be chastised by her own colleagues, let alone the Minority Leader. She believes that a Jewish laser owned by a Rothchild,( the pre-eminent symbol of Jewish wealth and power) started the California fires for their own financial gain. Next, they will accuse us of killing Christian babies for their blood to be used in our Jewish rituals. Oops we are part of the cabal of cannibal pedophiles who abuse and kill Christian children.
Facts are Fake News and fake news are now believable facts!
Fig Tree Lit sent Shira Feder’s article (Jewish life in 2021: Predictions about the future of politics, culture and anti-Semitism) to a group of people and asked what their predictions were about what life would be like for Americans in general and American Jews specifically in 2021.
One reader wrote, “ Jews will continue to be harassed, excluded, and marginalized from panels, marches, and other civil and human rights events due to their ‘whiteness’ and ‘privilege’, which will continue the trend towards de-humanizing Jews, a frightful echo of what went on in Germany in the 1930s.”
Jews are not white by the right-wing racists and are too white and privileged by the left-wing extremists. In a cancel culture era where both extremes cancel, the only thing they have in common is cancelling the Jews.
So, what is the correct direction for Jews? To be very public with their success and rise to leadership in government, culture, and business, or to be low key in their success?
When I was young it was a no brainer. This is America, a meritocracy, where hard work is appreciated and rewarded and where bigotry and hatred was banished by most Americans. We no longer needed to hide our accomplishments or change our names or modify our noses. We could have it all and be appreciated for what we had achieved.
Now I am not so sure.
Well over 70 million people voted for a liar who was good for the Jews but opened the doors for racism and bigotry that immediately added Jews to their target list. Trump may be out of office, but his followers attacked our Capitol. When they want their country back, whose country do you think they are calling for and who do they want it back from?
I have the question, but I do not have a clear answer.
Is it good for the Jews?