Answering the hysteria around antisemitism

The recent New York City mayoral election brought out another wave of what I categorize as antisemitism hysteria. Jews have an unhealthy obsession of searching for antisemitism — and finding it. It’s not healthy psychologically. It’s not healthy politically. It’s not healthy for the long-term development of Diaspora Jewry and its important relationship with the State of Israel.

Following the recent election, JTA quoted a Jew from NYC’s Upper East Side saying: “One-hundred percent: People are going to be leaving New York City during this mayorship….There’s no reason to stay.” A Queens Jew described as “a social media influencer” was quoted as saying: “I believe that there is no life with Jewish people in New York going forward.” From Israel, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli tweeted: “New York will never be the same again for its Jewish community. I invite the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel.”

Let’s be realistic, politically savvy, and socially smart. I just spent a Shabbat on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, post-Election Day. I couldn’t count the number of young Jewish men and women walking to friends’ homes carrying pekalach (packages) with Shabbat food. I couldn’t count the number of young Jews dressed for synagogue services on Friday night and Saturday morning. Some wore suits and dresses, some had more casual attire. Most of the men wore kipot or hats. All were going in the same direction: To their synagogue of choice. No one was leaving their comfortable Jewish neighborhood after November 4, or hiding their Jewish identity.

Had I not left the confines of NYC more than 50 years ago, I would have joined my NYC friends and family, held my nose, and voted “for the other guy.” The unsuccessful candidate. The new mayor is not someone whose statements or allegiances make me happy. Hopefully, he will mature in office. Hopefully, the strident voices of fear and alarm also will mature.

Any objective observer will recognize that antisemitism is here to stay. So is anti-Zionism. All of the gashreis and headlines notwithstanding. Ask an 80-year-old whose parents grew up in the United States in the beginning of the 20th century to describe antisemitism as they remember it: There were jobs you wouldn’t even apply for because you knew that Jews weren’t welcome in those “establishment” law firms, insurance firms, schools, colleges, and medical centers. Why did you think we have Beth Israel and Mount Sinai medical centers? Because Jewish doctors weren’t welcome in the other centers of healing. How many Jewish presidents of Ivy League universities were there in the previous generation, and how many Jews were accepted as professors and as students? Is everything perfect for Jews and Zionists on our college campuses? No! Was antisemitism much more pronounced and strident in the last century? Yes.

Let’s get mature about antisemitism. The attempt at fighting it is a $100 million annual industry for the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Weisenthal Foundation and the American Jewish Committee (check out their budgets; it’s publicly reported to the IRS). Following the NYC mayoral election, the ADL proudly advertised a “Mamdani Monitor Initiative.” The AJC is now accepting applications for “Disrupt Antisemitism” grants. As mature Jews we have to ask: What is the return on investment? What are those initiatives going to accomplish? How much antisemitism have the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in the last 50 years prevented? Had these funds been spent on providing free Jewish day school, summer camps, and teen programs, would we have been better off as a Jewish community today?

In the United States, we’re living in an open society. Our biggest threat is not antisemitism. It is assimilation. If antisemitism were so pervasive and dangerous, why would non-Jews want to marry Jews? Why would Jews be welcomed into non-Jewish families?

We’re living in the post-Shoah era. I get it. I understand that each Jew who knows history legitimately carries within him or herself some PTSD. But we’re also living at the time of the third Jewish Commonwealth. Since 1948, we’ve experienced a Jewish homeland, in Jewish hands, with increasingly more safety and vitality. We’ve witnessed Israel becoming the start-up nation. In this past year, we’ve witnessed Israel’s major security accomplishments against Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran. Arab nations are lining up to join the Abraham Accords. Israel’s borders with Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria are more secure than they ever have been. IDF and Israel’s clandestine military operations are feared by our enemies.

Can’t we recognize good news when we see it? Fight antisemitism? What about fighting assimilation, Jewish ignorance, the high cost of Jewish summer camps, teenage programs, synagogue affiliation, religious school and day school education?! Let’s be mature members of the Jewish community and look for real return on investment instead of trying to slay the antisemitism dragon that is never going to be defeated.

Let’s be mature Jews working on assuring a Jewish future, instead of turning back and looking at what is lurking in the shadows.

Richard Hammerman of Caldwell, a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, is rabbi emeritus of Congregation B’nai Israel in Toms River, where he served for 31 years, and is a member and teacher at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell.