Unease among American Jews?
Must say, this caught me by surprise.
Aliya is one thing, and a wonderful thing…but this is something else altogether. This is escaping in the dark of night with your tail between your legs.
What to do with all those Jewish graves for the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War Two?
Jewish contributions to America run far and wide…and go back to the very beginning. Some 17 Jewish soldiers were awarded Medals of Honor during and after Lincoln’s time.
Jews lit up Hollywood and Broadway, and Jonas Salk was one among many to provide life-saving medicines.
Say it ain’t so. But if what I am hearing is correct, today’s American Jews are afraid, so afraid that they are prepared to pack up and leave.
Are things that bad? Yes and no.
The alarm went off when the Far Right …Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson…began campaigning against Zionism, whereby they accuse American Jews of dual loyalties.
This is Tucker’s alleged Mein Kampf against American patriots like Ben Shapiro, Mort Klein, and myself, people loyal to America, but with a soft spot for Israel.
We are not alone.
Moses and the Ten Commandments provide the hidden voice for our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
So from the Book of Leviticus, later etched in the Liberty Bell, we hear this from Moses to our Founding Fathers:
“Proclaim Liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof.”
We are still not alone as American patriot/Zionists when this comes from the second president of the United States, John Adams, “The Jews are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. They have given religion to three fourths of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more, and more happily than any other nation ancient or modern.”
With a backstory like that, you would think that American Jews feel at home. This isn’t Europe when one country after another took turns expelling the Jews.
Specifically, this is not Toulouse, France, where my father had to decide when it was the best time to flee.
Not an easy decision to leave behind your HOME. Is the danger really that close? Or is it just talk?
Were those just rumors about death camps, and there you were, everything gone except for one allowable suitcase.
Stay or leave…that was the decision facing millions of Jews in Europe back in the 1930s and 1940s. My father chose correctly, and there wasn’t a minute to spare.
In America today, an amazing number of Jews feel unsafe. But is it bad enough to flee? Europe all over again?
Antisemitism will always be with us, but the intensity of it comes and goes in waves. Indeed, the best of times and the worst of times.
Are these the worst of times?
I suggest that the worst of it was in 1991 during the Crown Heights riots, and we are still here as loyal American Zionists.
Back to the question about this time and place. Is it really that bad? Like my father, each man and woman will have to decide for themselves.
Now available, a collection of Jack Engelhard’s op-eds, “Writings.”
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the gambling thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com
From the esteemed John w. Cassell: “Jack Engelhard is a writer without peer, and the. conscience of us all.”