I want to add this note here: While Western Jews excelled in languages and advanced degrees and amassed wealth, their Eastern European brother “had created a way of life that was second to none in its ethical and moral standards. During the last century, it created modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature. It essentially contributed to the upbuilding of the American Jewish community and virtually alone built up the present-day Jewish community of Palestine. Within two generations, it gave the world at large many brilliant representatives of literature, art, and scholarship. It actively participated in the struggle for liberty in all countries of Eastern Europe. All this was achieved under conditions of poverty, which even the covetous Nazi writers were compelled to acknowledge. … The experience of the war years again showed the unusual vitality of the group and thus, in a sense, confirmed the reason for the hatred by the Nazis: under the inhuman conditions of the German occupation, in the city ghettos and in the slave-labor camps, large-scale cultural activities were carried on and, finally, Eastern Jewry produced the fighters in the memorable battles of the ghettos” (Weinreich 92-93).
See Abraham Joshua Heschel, “The Eastern European Period in Jewish History.
This is what needs to be taught. And more than that. Going back to the debates between Nachmanides (Ramban, 1194–1270), the medieval Spanish rabbi, biblical commentator, and physician, is most famously associated with the Disputation of Barcelona (1263) and Pablo Christiani (also Paulus Christiani), a Jewish convert to Christianity and Dominican friar. And more, much more.
Good take on Stephens, an' I near-fully agree with ya BUT mah quibble "pernt" is that perhaps a new Org. that's NOT the ADL needs ta do the same detective werk but without the "rabid ugly" & inconsistency I've seen.... I do believe once upon a time they were a purdy decent organization.... likely NOT in the 21st C tho'...
a. they have advocated fer aggressive (ham fisted lol) campus censorship &, too, censorship of writers (includin' on substack) an' in other arenas... all usin' AI (Palantir, etc) as a "weapon" vs a more noo-anced approach with far greater restraint. Honestly, readin' the reactions to the ADL, this modus operandis brings on MORE haters sayin' "ve joos are whores fer Israel an' wanna censor their honest free speech, genuine beefs, etc." an' that we ain't American cuz if we were we wouldn't be advocatin' fer the destruction of free speech -- UGH!
ADL lacks all nuance... Of course a plan IS needed ta manage this new diggy-tail terrytory--but the ugly "ve vill censor anti-semitism in your speech" kinda rhetoric (an' advocatin' fer students ta be booted from campus) wins far more enemies than friends... I'm recallin' Tablet covered this a couple years ago....
b. ADL makes strange uber-lefty bedfellows an' gits behind causes whar they need ta just clam up.... I'm recallin' them statin' that they were "SURE" that Musk's Nazi sale-loot wuzn't one. C'mon--the dude's daddy-o got kicked outta two countries fer bein' a Nazi an' the "Roman Salute" IS the Nazi salute... Did they even have ta opine at all? Bigger fish ta fry....
Honestly Greenblatt gits on mah "noives"... he duz us no favors. Mebbe Dennis Prager ain't "hip" but he's a respected voice of reason--I'd ruther see a "wiseman" like him sensitively navigatin' the terry-tory...not that he needs this ('specially now with him recoverin') but the temper-mint is far more appealin'--we need friends not enemies now
I am not a big fan of ADL either, but mostly because I do not see it particularly effective beyond their collection of stats. However, I do not know who should replace them, and having no information that they collect might also be hardly advisable.
My point is that our knowledge about Judaism and Jewish people should start far before the constant focus on the Holocaust. It is very annoying to me when people invoke the Holocaust in the same breath as arguing that antizionism is not the same as antisemitism.
got'cha.... to replace 'em? As a leader I'd say sum'buddy the likes of Melanie Phillips if ya ask me--she's brilliant, thoughtful, "cool as a cucumber" even when angry--has all the facts at hand.... commands much respect, no derision. (Clearly a Brit cain't do it tho'...) In the US? honestly I think we have so many thoughtful writers & speakers that it'd be possible ta find the right person.... might even be sumbuddy off our radar--that's okay too. An' of course the info must be collected an' tallied but in a way that's far more transparent ta avoid these accusations of covert "spyin'"....A voice fierce yet reasoned. (I feel the ADL kinda talks outta two sides of its mouth....I'm SO done with 'em....)
Yer totally right about mistakenly startin' "our story" with the Holocaust--which causes too many to insist that Israel "only" eggzists b/c of the Holocaust--an' puts us all on the defensive. Sadly are even jews that say this!--they dunno our his'try. How kin this be?
Yes, startin' far before an' with an emphasis on accomplishment (of which Israel)...pride, good deeds.... an' let's hope we kin put that nutty argue-mint ta rest--b/c of course antizionism IS anti-semitism... Frankly I once fell fer it too... Wherever we are, we are "zion".... sigh. There is an educational piece to it... an' not just fer outsiders--fer all us jooze too! ('specially the younger generations an' I'm seein' this in mah own "big" kiddos). Either way, right now some'a the "shade" thrown on us is due ta the ADL... too many missteps methinks...
I want to add another note - I want us to remember that Regina Jonas, when she was in Theresienstadt from 1942 until 1944, delivered 24 lectures, including topics on Jewish history, Talmudic, religious, and biblical subjects. She also provided counseling, sermons, and support for traumatized new prisoners, working alongside Viktor Frankl. She continued being inspirational regardless of what was around her. She was murdered in Auschwitz, but did not give up her hope till the very end. She was inspiring to my students and was their favorite female we studied.
I don’t think the ADL should dissolve. It should be apolitical and abandon the Left, which is abandoned the Jews.
It never should have aligned itself with the Left, but it’s not too late.
And it should reorient towards the antizionist threat coming from Islam & the Left - and it should get cracking.
I’m not sure whose Jewish education began with the Holocaust. Mine didn’t. I started Sunday school at 4, but attended regular private school.
We can’t jump straight to Jewish day schools for all, because some Jews have already somewhat rejected Judaism, other than identity. First, Judaism has to invite cultural Jews back in. Except for Goldberg, alderman, Beinart, & their ilk.
The problem with Stephens’ argument is that it ignores historical reality. There was flourishing Jewish life with multiple institutions in Russia before and for some time after the 1917 Revolution. We know how it ended. Ditto in Weimar Germany. Ignoring antisemitism and antizionism won’t make them go away but will only encourage them. And Stephens’ prescriptions for strengthening the Jewish identity beg the question: what identity? I am an atheist and am not likely to have much in common with Chabadniks, and many secular Jews may feel the same (not to mention the fact that some ultra-Orthodox seriously object to their deification of the Lubavitcher Rebbe). The point is: we are all the target of antisemites regardless of our internal squabbles. The fight against antisemitism and antizionism cannot be abandoned, though it may appear to be hopeless. But it’s not. There will always be some susceptible to the poison, but they are not the majority.
Of course, vigilance against antisemitism is necessary. But I happen to disagree that we need to be defined by the negative.
We are being baited into these constant discussions about antisemitism and antizionism without focusing on what makes us unique.
I am also not a religious Jew, as you know, but I find great pleasure in studying and discussing Jewish texts - midrash, aggadah, name it. I have no interest in being defined by those who hate me, but rather want to focus my energy on what makes me and other Jewish people special. Because we are.
I am not saying we do not need to teach the Holocaust, and as you might know, I did, but it has to be better contextualized. We did not start with the Holocaust.
As you know, I lost most of my family in it, but I refuse to be defined by the losses.
And by the way, there is quite a bit of beauty in Hasidic devotion, its music, its lore. I am not part of it and never will be, but I respect what they gave us and continue giving.
My two cents as I am working at the moment on ... race "science."
Bret overlooks a crucial point. Since Jews in the diaspora continue to be guests in their host countries, they need to make serious efforts to incur the goodwill of their hosts, for they depend on their toleration, whether they like it or not. This certainly holds as long as Jews maintain their separate identity, although history shows us that even full assimilation doesn't necessarily eliminate their otherness in the eyes of their hosts. Hence, Jews--even those in the United States, which merely seemed to be different--cannot simply abandon their efforts to stem the rise of antisemitism in favor of the inward turn that Bret recommends, but need to continue the kind of work that the ADL does. The only real alternative is to pack up and go to Israel.
One more point - tolerance is a problematic issue. When I asked my students if they wanted to be tolerated, they always responded, No, we want to be respected. One's respect comes from respecting oneself.
The goodwill of their hosts is a shaky ground. Their focus on their dignity, knowledge of their own traditions and their own worth would gain more respect than their attempts to constantly please. Jews are no more “guests” as other ethnic groups. Assimilation never got them anywhere. Just served as a reminder that they are trying too hard.
I want to add this note here: While Western Jews excelled in languages and advanced degrees and amassed wealth, their Eastern European brother “had created a way of life that was second to none in its ethical and moral standards. During the last century, it created modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature. It essentially contributed to the upbuilding of the American Jewish community and virtually alone built up the present-day Jewish community of Palestine. Within two generations, it gave the world at large many brilliant representatives of literature, art, and scholarship. It actively participated in the struggle for liberty in all countries of Eastern Europe. All this was achieved under conditions of poverty, which even the covetous Nazi writers were compelled to acknowledge. … The experience of the war years again showed the unusual vitality of the group and thus, in a sense, confirmed the reason for the hatred by the Nazis: under the inhuman conditions of the German occupation, in the city ghettos and in the slave-labor camps, large-scale cultural activities were carried on and, finally, Eastern Jewry produced the fighters in the memorable battles of the ghettos” (Weinreich 92-93).
See Abraham Joshua Heschel, “The Eastern European Period in Jewish History.
This is what needs to be taught. And more than that. Going back to the debates between Nachmanides (Ramban, 1194–1270), the medieval Spanish rabbi, biblical commentator, and physician, is most famously associated with the Disputation of Barcelona (1263) and Pablo Christiani (also Paulus Christiani), a Jewish convert to Christianity and Dominican friar. And more, much more.
Good take on Stephens, an' I near-fully agree with ya BUT mah quibble "pernt" is that perhaps a new Org. that's NOT the ADL needs ta do the same detective werk but without the "rabid ugly" & inconsistency I've seen.... I do believe once upon a time they were a purdy decent organization.... likely NOT in the 21st C tho'...
a. they have advocated fer aggressive (ham fisted lol) campus censorship &, too, censorship of writers (includin' on substack) an' in other arenas... all usin' AI (Palantir, etc) as a "weapon" vs a more noo-anced approach with far greater restraint. Honestly, readin' the reactions to the ADL, this modus operandis brings on MORE haters sayin' "ve joos are whores fer Israel an' wanna censor their honest free speech, genuine beefs, etc." an' that we ain't American cuz if we were we wouldn't be advocatin' fer the destruction of free speech -- UGH!
ADL lacks all nuance... Of course a plan IS needed ta manage this new diggy-tail terrytory--but the ugly "ve vill censor anti-semitism in your speech" kinda rhetoric (an' advocatin' fer students ta be booted from campus) wins far more enemies than friends... I'm recallin' Tablet covered this a couple years ago....
b. ADL makes strange uber-lefty bedfellows an' gits behind causes whar they need ta just clam up.... I'm recallin' them statin' that they were "SURE" that Musk's Nazi sale-loot wuzn't one. C'mon--the dude's daddy-o got kicked outta two countries fer bein' a Nazi an' the "Roman Salute" IS the Nazi salute... Did they even have ta opine at all? Bigger fish ta fry....
Honestly Greenblatt gits on mah "noives"... he duz us no favors. Mebbe Dennis Prager ain't "hip" but he's a respected voice of reason--I'd ruther see a "wiseman" like him sensitively navigatin' the terry-tory...not that he needs this ('specially now with him recoverin') but the temper-mint is far more appealin'--we need friends not enemies now
I am not a big fan of ADL either, but mostly because I do not see it particularly effective beyond their collection of stats. However, I do not know who should replace them, and having no information that they collect might also be hardly advisable.
My point is that our knowledge about Judaism and Jewish people should start far before the constant focus on the Holocaust. It is very annoying to me when people invoke the Holocaust in the same breath as arguing that antizionism is not the same as antisemitism.
got'cha.... to replace 'em? As a leader I'd say sum'buddy the likes of Melanie Phillips if ya ask me--she's brilliant, thoughtful, "cool as a cucumber" even when angry--has all the facts at hand.... commands much respect, no derision. (Clearly a Brit cain't do it tho'...) In the US? honestly I think we have so many thoughtful writers & speakers that it'd be possible ta find the right person.... might even be sumbuddy off our radar--that's okay too. An' of course the info must be collected an' tallied but in a way that's far more transparent ta avoid these accusations of covert "spyin'"....A voice fierce yet reasoned. (I feel the ADL kinda talks outta two sides of its mouth....I'm SO done with 'em....)
Yer totally right about mistakenly startin' "our story" with the Holocaust--which causes too many to insist that Israel "only" eggzists b/c of the Holocaust--an' puts us all on the defensive. Sadly are even jews that say this!--they dunno our his'try. How kin this be?
Yes, startin' far before an' with an emphasis on accomplishment (of which Israel)...pride, good deeds.... an' let's hope we kin put that nutty argue-mint ta rest--b/c of course antizionism IS anti-semitism... Frankly I once fell fer it too... Wherever we are, we are "zion".... sigh. There is an educational piece to it... an' not just fer outsiders--fer all us jooze too! ('specially the younger generations an' I'm seein' this in mah own "big" kiddos). Either way, right now some'a the "shade" thrown on us is due ta the ADL... too many missteps methinks...
I want to add another note - I want us to remember that Regina Jonas, when she was in Theresienstadt from 1942 until 1944, delivered 24 lectures, including topics on Jewish history, Talmudic, religious, and biblical subjects. She also provided counseling, sermons, and support for traumatized new prisoners, working alongside Viktor Frankl. She continued being inspirational regardless of what was around her. She was murdered in Auschwitz, but did not give up her hope till the very end. She was inspiring to my students and was their favorite female we studied.
I don’t think the ADL should dissolve. It should be apolitical and abandon the Left, which is abandoned the Jews.
It never should have aligned itself with the Left, but it’s not too late.
And it should reorient towards the antizionist threat coming from Islam & the Left - and it should get cracking.
I’m not sure whose Jewish education began with the Holocaust. Mine didn’t. I started Sunday school at 4, but attended regular private school.
We can’t jump straight to Jewish day schools for all, because some Jews have already somewhat rejected Judaism, other than identity. First, Judaism has to invite cultural Jews back in. Except for Goldberg, alderman, Beinart, & their ilk.
That is a good point about cultural Jews, like myself 🙂
The problem with Stephens’ argument is that it ignores historical reality. There was flourishing Jewish life with multiple institutions in Russia before and for some time after the 1917 Revolution. We know how it ended. Ditto in Weimar Germany. Ignoring antisemitism and antizionism won’t make them go away but will only encourage them. And Stephens’ prescriptions for strengthening the Jewish identity beg the question: what identity? I am an atheist and am not likely to have much in common with Chabadniks, and many secular Jews may feel the same (not to mention the fact that some ultra-Orthodox seriously object to their deification of the Lubavitcher Rebbe). The point is: we are all the target of antisemites regardless of our internal squabbles. The fight against antisemitism and antizionism cannot be abandoned, though it may appear to be hopeless. But it’s not. There will always be some susceptible to the poison, but they are not the majority.
Of course, vigilance against antisemitism is necessary. But I happen to disagree that we need to be defined by the negative.
We are being baited into these constant discussions about antisemitism and antizionism without focusing on what makes us unique.
I am also not a religious Jew, as you know, but I find great pleasure in studying and discussing Jewish texts - midrash, aggadah, name it. I have no interest in being defined by those who hate me, but rather want to focus my energy on what makes me and other Jewish people special. Because we are.
I am not saying we do not need to teach the Holocaust, and as you might know, I did, but it has to be better contextualized. We did not start with the Holocaust.
As you know, I lost most of my family in it, but I refuse to be defined by the losses.
And by the way, there is quite a bit of beauty in Hasidic devotion, its music, its lore. I am not part of it and never will be, but I respect what they gave us and continue giving.
My two cents as I am working at the moment on ... race "science."
Jewish education has to be about more than just Holocaust education, however the latter is framed.
Framed in what way?
Persecution or resilience.
Bret overlooks a crucial point. Since Jews in the diaspora continue to be guests in their host countries, they need to make serious efforts to incur the goodwill of their hosts, for they depend on their toleration, whether they like it or not. This certainly holds as long as Jews maintain their separate identity, although history shows us that even full assimilation doesn't necessarily eliminate their otherness in the eyes of their hosts. Hence, Jews--even those in the United States, which merely seemed to be different--cannot simply abandon their efforts to stem the rise of antisemitism in favor of the inward turn that Bret recommends, but need to continue the kind of work that the ADL does. The only real alternative is to pack up and go to Israel.
One more point - tolerance is a problematic issue. When I asked my students if they wanted to be tolerated, they always responded, No, we want to be respected. One's respect comes from respecting oneself.
The goodwill of their hosts is a shaky ground. Their focus on their dignity, knowledge of their own traditions and their own worth would gain more respect than their attempts to constantly please. Jews are no more “guests” as other ethnic groups. Assimilation never got them anywhere. Just served as a reminder that they are trying too hard.