Antisemitism in Today’s America

Abstract

Leonard Dinnerstein’s Antisemitism in America, published in 1994, remains the most comprehensive and authoritative study of its subject to date. In his book’s final sentence, however, Dinnerstein steps out of his role as a reliable guide to the past and ventures a prediction about the future that has proven to be seriously wrong. Antisemitism, he concludes, “has declined in potency and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”1 In the years since he formulated this optimistic view, antisemitism in America, far from declining, has been on the rise, as I will aim to demonstrate. I begin with a personal anecdote. During a lecture visit to Boca Raton, Florida, in January 2017, I attended religious services at one of the city’s large synagogues and was surprised to see heavy security outside and inside the building. “What’s going on?” I asked a fellow worshipper. “Nothing special,” he replied, “having these guys here is just normal these days.” It didn’t strike me as normal, especially in America. From visits to synagogues in Europe, I am used to seeing security guards in place—mostly policemen but, in France, sometimes also soldiers. As targets of ongoing threats, Europe’s Jews need such protection and have come to rely on it. Why such need exists is clear: Europe has a long history of antisemitism, and, in recent years, it has become resurgent—in many cases, violently so. European Jews are doing, then, what they can and must do to defend themselves against the threats they face. Some, fearing still worse to come, have left their home countries for residence elsewhere; others are thinking about doing the same. Most remain, but apprehensively, and some have adopted ways to mute their Jewish identities to avert attention from themselves. For instance, they may feel it no longer prudent to wear Jewish skullcaps or other Jewish markers, like jewelry with the Magen David, in public. Some have removed the mezuzot (the markers of a Jewish home that contain biblical verses) from their outside doorposts. It’s a nervous, edgy way to live, but for many, that’s Jewish life in today’s Europe. America, we have longed believed, is different—even exceptional—for being largely free of ongoing, serious anti-Jewish hostility. The great majority of American Jews go about their daily lives without encountering overt antagonism. Unlike Jews over the centuries who often suffered from intolerance and persecu-