One of the most frequent themes in Rabbi Sidney Ballon’s sermons over the years is that of Jewish survival and threats to it from within and without—from the most virulent forms of violent Jewish oppression over the ages to subtler forms of anti-Semitism. Despite the relatively secure position of Jews in American society, in a post-Holocaust world he did not take such security for granted and cautioned vigilance in maintaining a strong Jewish community and robust Jewish institutions as hedges against the undying specter of anti-Semitism.
The fact is that in spite of our full citizenship in a democratic country, in spite of our feeling of at-homeness, there is an "otherness" to the Jewish people, which leaves us forever vulnerable.
To neglect [our synagogues, educational system, religious faith, cultural institutions, charities, and especially our link with Israel] is to make the task of the anti-Semite easier and to do his work for him, to let ourselves dissolve as a community into nothingness.
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Morris Abram,[i] formerly president of the American Jewish Committee[ii] and also of Brandeis University, at the last biennial of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said that peace in Vietnam without an American victory might generate a wave of conservative-rightist resentment and thus trigger a resurgence of anti-Semitism. "When a major power cannot justify its war losses,” he warned, “it then begins the search for a scapegoat, and Western history has a favorite scapegoat at hand — the Jews." There may be as many non-Jewish doves as Jewish ones, but it is the Jews who would be singled out for blame, and actually it makes no difference if Jews are doves or not. They can just as easily be blamed for being hawks as doves.
In the August issue of Commentary Magazine the editor Norman Podhoretz[iii] writes that he and some of his intellectual friends have begun to feel "a certain anxiety." Two major events have contributed to this anxiety. One of these is the reaction to Jewish victory in the Six-Day War. During the Six-Day War we all know how much concern Jews suddenly showed for their fellow Jews. It was a revelation even to Jews to note how closely identified they were with one another regardless of how dormant their Jewishness may have been up to that moment. But Jews also discovered how difficult it was for many people to accept the thought of a Jewish victory. There was deep sympathy for the Jews while they were the underdogs, but they were not supposed to win. When they prevailed over the enemy that threatened to push the Israelis into the sea and that seemed to have the power to do so, then the Jews became the imperialists and aggressors, the oppressor of the Arabs, unreasonable in their desire to protect themselves, unjust because they would not return the gains which would enable the Arabs to start their threatening actions all over again. A wave of anti-Zionism swept over the intellectual community and a longtime taboo against expressing open hostility toward Jews was broken.
Podhoretz speaks of intellectuals, but he might also have referred specifically to churchmen as well. The Protestant clergy, in particular, resented the Jewish victory because they simply could not abide the thought of a completely Jewish Jerusalem. When the Arabs desecrated synagogues and cemeteries of the Old City there was silence. When the Arabs violated the agreement in 1948 to internationalize Jerusalem there was silence. When Jordan violated the truce agreement to permit Jews to visit their holy places, there was silence. But when the Jews gained control and made it possible for everyone to visit the holy places without restriction, there was an uproar and a clamor for internationalization.
The second cause of anxiety mentioned in the Commentary article arose out of the teachers' strike of 1968.[iv] This strike brought to the surface a disturbing picture of black anti-Semitism, and what was even more disturbing was the apparent willingness of what is called the white power structure to sacrifice Jewish interests for the sake of buying peace with the blacks. The anti-Semitism of the blacks may not have been any more prevalent than anti-Semitism among whites, but it seems to have been explained more and excused more, and has brought sympathy for blacks rather than condemnation of anti-Semitism. Whatever the problem, whether it be Israel, the teachers, or anything else, there would seem to be an insensitivity to Jewish needs and Jewish accomplishments. It is the Jew from whom sacrifice is demanded, the Jew who is wrong and unreasonable. Hence the anxiety.
We can, of course, make a good case for the fact that these fears for the future are exaggerated and unfounded. There have always been anti-Semitic irritants in this country, and it is unrealistic to expect that they will completely disappear. In spite of them we can say that American Jewry has become the largest Jewish community the world has ever known. Whatever economic handicaps may have existed have not prevented us from becoming also the most affluent Jewish community there has ever been. The separation of church and state has worked to our advantage and the government guarantees Jewish rights to the same extent that it does the rights of all of its citizens. We live here without legal restrictions or anti-Jewish legislation. There is no record of pogroms or physical violence as in many places of Europe. Our young people are among the best educated. We attain high political positions, and there is complete freedom of the ballot. We build our synagogues and institutions as we will. Our government has been a mainstay for the State of Israel from its very beginning, and so on. Certainly the position of the Jew is safeguarded here better than it has been anywhere else. What is there to fear?
It would seem then that American Jews may, indeed, have full confidence as we face the future, that nothing of a serious nature to disturb us is possible. And yet history bids us to stop and think. History teaches us never to forget that the seemingly impossible may, nevertheless, come to pass. Unfortunately, there is the example of history to keep us watchful.
We read in our history books of the Golden Age of Spain, but it ended in tragic expulsion. The French Jews were the first to be emancipated in modern times, but this did not prevent Jews from being denounced as traitors after defeat in the Franco-Prussian War[v] nor the suggestion by de Gaulle[vi] in more recent times that Jews were disloyal to the state. In Germany Jews attained the highest degree of acculturation and many considered themselves Germans of the Mosaic persuasion, but they were blamed for World War I and Hitler was encouraged in his efforts to make Europe Judenrein.[vii] The record of America is surely not so dismal, but the dividing line between the rational and irrational in man is very thin, and the history and laws of our country might not be enough of a barrier in a time of national adversity and despair. The fact is that in spite of our full citizenship in a democratic country, in spite of our feeling of at-homeness, there is an "otherness" to the Jewish people, which leaves us forever vulnerable. Those Jews who may have lost their awareness of otherness had it revived for them during the crisis of the Six-Day War. They found themselves passionately concerned with the survival of their people. As for non-Jews, they have been conditioned to feel this otherness of the Jews by centuries of Christian history, which have looked upon the Jew as a rebel against truth and as a wandering people punished for its rejection of the truth. We Jews live in two communities. We will not permit anyone to tell us that we are not part of the American community, but at the same time we are involved in a worldwide Jewish community. This makes the Jew different from the rest of the population. The rest of the population ignores this difference when times are good, but reacts to it irrationally when there is discontent in the land or social problems to disturb the peace.
We need not be embarrassed by this otherness. Its presence is a lesson to the world. (It acts as a barometer of the world's condition.) The Jew affords an example of a people living on its own soil and being part of the world as a whole. Only when the Jew can accept this without complaint, only when the world can rise above its tribal nationalisms and do likewise, will the world be at peace. It is this factor, however, in the makeup of the Jew, which makes it impossible to predict a totally secure future for the Jew, whether it be in America or any other place.
This is not to say that the Jews of this country need be pessimistic about the future—far from it. The Jewish Defense League[viii] has warned us all to leave but there has been a tendency to do and say that which captures the headlines. But it does nonetheless mean that we ought not take that future for granted. We may well have faith in America, but at the same time the Jew as American must ever be vigilant with regard to the protection of democratic principles. The civil rights and freedom of all groups in our country must be our concern, not only because our religious ideals tell us to be concerned with the welfare of our neighbors, but also for the very selfish reason that if other groups are made to suffer abuse and indignities, if other groups are oppressed and treated unjustly, we shall become the targets of their frustration. The Jew thrives best in democracy, and we must be actively concerned with the preservation and advancement of democracy in America.
On the other hand, we must not be so concerned with the welfare of others, that we neglect our own well-being in the process. We are faced today for example with the phenomenon of the radical left, which has attracted a great deal of support from Jews, because of the unusual Jewish concern for liberal principles. A peculiar feature of the radical left, however, is that it is concerned with everyone's problem except the Jews. The Jew is always expendable. If it is teachers we deal with, the Jew must give up seniority and positions earned by merit to make way for a quota system, which would drive them out of the profession. If it is Israel we speak of, the Jew must yield to the Arabs even if it means that Israel would thereby be destroyed. If it is black-Jewish relationships we speak about, the radical left condemns prejudice where it exists among Jews, but explains and justifies anti-Semitism where it exists among blacks. If a Jew expresses some concern with regard to a Jewish problem, he is advised that it is more important to think in universal terms and that it is petty and selfish to have any special concerned for fellow Jews. Our young people who have become enamored of the radical left need to be reminded that the history of left-wing movements shows that ultimately these so-called universalistic movements consumed the Jews that support them. There may be some pretense that Jewish problems also will be solved by them, but the usual method of solving a Jewish problem is to eliminate the Jews. These movements soon expelled from their ranks even those Jews who support them most faithfully, as witness what has happened in Russia and Poland. There were once Jews in Germany who supported Hitler in his early days and were reputed to have shouted, "Down with us!" Jews who partake of the radical left do the same, and also are in effect shouting, "Down with us!"
But it is not only outside factors that need to be considered in securing the American Jewish future. To do so we need also to build an authentic Jewish life in America, that is, to create a Jewish community with the self-knowledge and self-respect which will keep it from doing harm to itself. It must be a community that does not neglect any factor of its existence which has a survival value, that is, its synagogues, its educational system, its religious faith, its cultural institutions, its charities, and especially its link with Israel. To neglect any of these is to make the task of the anti-Semite easier and to do his work for him, to let ourselves dissolve as a community into nothingness. We must make a conscious effort to assert and enhance our Jewishness, and not let it wither away by default. If we thus contribute to the establishment of justice in the world at large, if we speak up in our own behalf for justice to ourselves as Jews, if we nourish and sustain a Jewish spirit in our own ranks, then our faith in the future of American Jewry will be warranted.
On this day of Rosh Hashanah we take stock of ourselves and our Jewishness. Let this self-searching not be routine. Let us resolve earnestly to fulfill the duty which is ours by virtue of the covenant of Abraham, our father, and Moses, our teacher, and let us so live as individuals that the Jewish people as a whole will live, that Judaism will survive. Let us say with deep conviction and resolution Am Yisroael Chai — the Jewish people shall live.
Amen.
[i] Morris Berthold Abram (1918 – 2000) was an American lawyer, civil rights activist, and president of Brandeis University. Abram was deeply affected by the Holocaust and later became an ardent supporter of Jewish causes.
[ii] The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is an international Jewish advocacy group. It was established in 1906 with the purpose of safeguarding the welfare and security of Jews worldwide. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations in the United States and has been described by The New York Times as "the dean of American Jewish organizations". Their mission is "to enhance the well-being of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide, and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world."
[iii] Norman B. Podhoretz (born, 1930) is an American neoconservative pundit and writer for and former Editor-in-Chief of Commentary magazine.
[iv] The New York City teachers' strike of 1968 was a confrontation between the new school board — an experiment in community control over schools in the largely black Ocean-Hill Brownsville section of Brooklyn — and New York City’s United Federation of Teachers. Thousands of New York City teachers went on strike when the school board of Ocean Hill–Brownsville abruptly dismissed a set of almost all white and Jewish teachers and administrators. The strike dragged on from May 1968 to November 1968, shutting down the public schools for a total of 36 days and increasing racial tensions between Blacks and Jews.
[v] The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871), was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.
[vi] Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (1890 – 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969. He is considered by many to be the most influential leader in modern French history.
[vii] Judenrein ("clean of Jews") and Judenfrei ("free of Jews") were Nazi terms to designate an area cleansed of Jewish presence during The Holocaust. While Judenfrei referred merely to "freeing" an area of all of its Jewish citizens, the term Judenrein (literally "clean of Jews") had the stronger connotation that any trace of Jewish blood had been removed as an impurity.
[viii] The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right organization whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from anti-Semitism by whatever means necessary". While the group asserts that it "unequivocally condemns terrorism" and states that it has a "strict no-tolerance policy against terrorism and other felonious acts," it was described as "a right-wing terrorist group" by the FBI in 2001. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing numerous acts of terrorism within the United States. The JDL's website states that it rejects terrorism.
