present and future of los angeles & american jewry
The past century was called the Golden Age of American Jewry? How is the 21st Century shaping up?
Here are some articles that provoke thought on contemporary Jewry from various sources:
One Anti Semtism in America, from the American Jewish Committee
https://www.ajc.org/AntisemitismReport2023
This article, by Cynthia Ozick, written in 1974 ,in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, is a forestate, in some ways, of the response against Israel's fight for survival in 2024,
https://classic.esquire.com/article/1974/11/1/all-the-world-wants-the-jews-dead
On the other hand, Jews have feared their own disappearance, only to be surprised that they still march on! Look Magazine in 1964 announced, "The Vanishing American Jew". The managzine has since vanished, but the American Jew is still here:
And a note of optimism:
Here is the view, from the other side of the Atlantic, from France, in the words of the former Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, who saw this coming ten years ago. He perceives the dangers for French Jewry from hard right, hard left, and militant Islamism.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/jewish-question-in-french-politics
Valls discussion exemplifies our picture of the Gargoyle overlookng Paris. The conundrum is that the very values of the French revolution ( similar to those of the American revolution) are threantened when Jews are threatened:
“The choice was made by the French Revolution in 1789 to recognize Jews as full citizens,” an impassioned Valls explained. “To understand what the idea of the republic is about, you have to understand the central role played by the emancipation of the Jews. It is a founding principle.”
For America’s Jews, Past Is Prologue
The message of our history is fight, not flight
" Antisemitism has been, is now, and always will be part of what it means to be a Jew in America. But history tells us that, grim as the story has sometimes been, it has also, and more often, been good and even glorious. Knowing my history gives me an abiding faith that it will continue to be so. "
Here is an inspirational challenge to American Jewry to look forward and upward:
"If, utilizing the freedom this glorious country affords us, we truly stand for all that is right, if we create and strengthen Jewish and civic institutions, if we work to defeat the enemies who hate the exceptional nature of America, and therefore hate the Jewish people whose Scripture gave rise to the exceptional way in which America sees itself, if we work courageously in defense of the Jewish people, and on behalf the America that we love, then the present time, not the 1990s, will be remembered as the golden age of American Jewry. Perhaps, one may say that this will be celebrated as our finest hour. "