Writes Jacob Savage in "The Vanishing/The erasure of Jews from American life" (Tablet).
(I know "Judaism" isn't the right word for this issue, but it's a tag I've had for a long time.)
March 3, 2023
"Suddenly, everywhere you look, the Jews are disappearing. You feel it like a slow moving pressure system..."
"... an anxiety of exclusion and downward mobility. Maybe you first noticed it at your workplace. Or maybe it hit when you or your children applied to college or graduate school. It could have been something as simple as opening up the Netflix splash page. It’s gauche to count but you can’t help yourself: In academia, Hollywood, Washington, even in New York City—anywhere American Jews once made their mark—our influence is in steep decline.
For many Jews, the first instinct is to look inward: We blame intermarriage, assimilation, the loss of the immigrant work ethic. This is, of course, a cope. Because the most significant cause of the decline isn’t Jews themselves, but that American liberalism, our civic religion, has turned on us. Where Jewish success was once upheld as a sign of America’s strength and progress over its prejudices, Jewish 'overrepresentation' is again something to be solved, not celebrated...."
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So we're Greeks after all, not Jews. The Jews have lost their alienation.
Totalizing state rule does that to you.
It does along with it kill morality though.
these "Jews" that are disappearing? Are we talking about secular "Jews"? or Actual Jews?
"Because the most significant cause of the decline isn’t Jews themselves, but that American liberalism, our civic religion, has turned on us. "
DIEversity
Careful what you vote for. When the best can no longer rise to the top, and when politics determines economic success instead of performance, your country is in decline.
I don't know if it's due to lack of Jews, but I do know that If I see 202X as the production date of a movie, I simply won't watch it. "Liberalism" is not what this is about. It's not "liberal" to suppress achievement from groups like Jewish people or Asian people. It's something akin to the fascism that Hitler pushed when he tried to bully physics into believing that Einstein was wrong.
Mechanical and formulaic scripts that we get today will never reach the artistic level of a Mel Brooks movie, or a Harvey Weinstein movie, for that matter. Literary fiction is now a backwater, with publishing opportunities tightly controlled. Sure you can publish yourself, but you will never get the kind of marketing support, and cultural prominence, that the big houses could once give a novel. Erica Jong's "Fear of Flying" and Philip Roth's "Goodbye Columbus," source of the term "Jewish American Princess" were cultural phenomena, people don't talk about novels anymore over cocktails, or even movies.
A lot of the issue is the political suffocation of the once free cultural outlets where Jews shone so brightly and out of their numbers.
I saw an ad for an electric pickup truck, and it was actually mentioned, as a positive, that Hollywood was going to feature this truck in movies to show people that a new future was possible. That's what Hollywood is now, it's not Blazing Saddles or gems like The Frisco Kid, or genius level stuff like The Producers, it's preaching to the lumpenprolitariat how we should live. Shows like "This Is Us"? The title should have been "This Is You When You Start Living the Way We Think You Should Live."
I am sad for this change, and happy that I got to experience cultural freedom for a while in my life, and that artifacts of that cultural freedom are still available, for now. We are going back to the days when entertainment and intellectual fodder comes from the Sunday sermon, only the morality being preached is different, and the location is different.
I hadn't noticed it, and if I haven't, then I doubt many non-Jewish people have.
We blame intermarriage, assimilation,
Reminds me of a joke:
What's the difference between Donald Trump and a Reformed Jew?
Donald Trump has Jewish grandchildren.
And the political screw turns. The Jews, east Asians, and old-school white European immigrants are natural political allies today. They are all achievement oriented, focus on science and engineering careers, and are financially stable. (They all do intermarry too.) This is why the social justice crowd has taken to calling Asians and Jews "white" or "white adjacent." Never mind the extensive historical discrimination against both.
All of these groups live in cultures with life expectations for education, stability, and maximizing potential. Do your homework. Attend summer school. Become an apprentice. Attend advanced placement classes. Expect to become a doctor or a professor. Prove yourself.
After the US Asians and Jews shake off old stereotypes of 'conservatives' and consider their personal interests and values, their votes are likely to change and we'll eventually return to economic class debates rather than skin color debates.
Any bets as to when American Jews will reciprocate and turn on American Liberalism?
Anyone....? Hello....? Is this thing on?
When I lived in Manhattan as a young man from the Wesr Coast - 1973 through around 1990- my life was greatly enriched by all the Jews I met, and their various subcultures. Very sad if that should disappear.
From the article: "Younger Jews are being excluded from the liberal organizations their parents and grandparents helped create.
It is a supreme irony that they’ve helped empower a movement that now places their children and grandchildren on the wrong side."
So much in this article to digest, but the overarching theme is the American Jews have attached themselves to the Commie-Pinkos libs only to be cast aside.
Back in the 80's when asked how the Japanese became a manufacturing powerhouse, the expert responded with two words: "hard work". The same applied to the American Jewish community. The success of the Jews in America was unparalleled. Now they are caught up in DIE. The tip should have been when The Most Reverend Jesse Jackson used the term Hymietown. Or when The Mostest Reverend Al Sharpton went after Jewish businesses in Harlem.
The irony is conservative Evangelicals have always stood with the Jews and Israel.
From a professional perch, an observation: Young Jews loathe finance.
Obama told everybody to go into public service. Activism is the new accounting…
"our influence is in steep decline."
That statement depends hugely on who he defines as Jewish.
So much in this article to digest, but the overarching theme is the American Jews have attached themselves to the Commie-Pinkos libs only to be cast aside.
You should have known you’d be the first voted off the island. You’re not cool enough for the Obama alliance…
The favorite snack of our civic religion always has been eating its own.
If I recall correctly (hard to keep track), declaring a particular demographic is disappearing in America, let alone deliberately being diminished, is a far right neonazi conspiracy theory that has NO PLACE in public discourse.
After the US Asians and Jews shake off old stereotypes of 'conservatives'
East Asians, yes. Jews? We’ll see. Wife and I were good friends with a few Jewish couples, and felt honored to be invited to their children’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, etc, This placed the two of us at tables where we were assumed to be MOT because of our dark hair and vaguely Jewish-sounding last name. The people we met at those tables will never stop hating the goyim. Not now, not ever.
and consider their personal interests and values, their votes are likely to change
Again, Asians yes, secular Jews not for a long time. Don’t forget that there were Jews in the 1930s Germany who voted for Adolph Hitler “because he doesn’t really mean it.” There are young Jews today who are very active in anti-Zionist organizations, apparently not realizing that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism in more acceptable clothing. It’s safe for Democrats to hate Jews. Unlike Hispanics and people who work with their hands, the Jews will stay on the plantation and just take it. Never again? As long as they looking right to find enemies their backs will be wide open for a knife blade.
Liberal Jews really fucked themselves over by going all in on the “Trump is a Nazi” bullshit fed to them by their progressive, female rabbi.
"... everywhere you look ...."
Evidently, this author does not read newspaper or magazine column or participate in political campaigns. Secular Jews, like blacks, are omnipresent in Democrat politics for reasons having nothing to do with good sense.
Interestingly, I went to Israel for my first time a couple of weeks ago for 10 days. I got a dose of a very different people. In some ways, Israelis and Americans are very similar- polarized politically, with the left organizing mass protests jamming up cities and shouting that 'Democracy is in peril'. And the right working on, well...just working and keeping things going. Then there's the far right, the ultra religious and...while plentiful, they are not the nation. They are also not productive, but they have their place. And they do wield some power. But more in some places (Jerusalem) than in others (Tel Aviv).
But even with the strong political divide, I found Israelis on the whole very proud to be Israelis and Jews together, and they exhibited an exuberance for life unlike what I see in typical Americans of any background. Maybe it's because they live on the edge, every day. That they are constantly aware those all around them and many around the world want them ended. Maybe because of that, they live with exuberance, a zest for life, and a youthfulness I found incredibly appealing.
Now, compare that with Jews in America. Liberal Jews have spent decades apologizing. For everything and anything. They apologize when they succeed, when they fail, if someone is irritated with them or if someone just looks at them wrong. Most Jews in America are liberal to progressive to outlandishly leftist. And they are used to protesting loudly against conservatives, but apologizing to their tormentors when accused of anything including being Jewish. But there are more and more of us who are libertarian or conservative. And I do believe more will keep developing as more get tired of apologizing and just get on with life, being the best we can be at what we do. Which is what did for years in every country we've ever lived in. Somehow in America, the quest to 'blend in' became so strong, and we succeeded so well, we forgot the fight we've always had to make our way. We lost our edge. I saw that edge again in Israel. I saw it on Masada and I saw it on the streets of Tel Aviv. I hope it can return to more of us here. We're better when we're like that.
For those of you who worry that we own the world, don't confuse influence with ownership. We don't own the world. The world won't allow it. Every generation we're reminded. And once again, even here in America, anti-Jew or antisemitism is back in vogue with all the 'smartest' people. And as always, it starts on the left and on the campuses.
The article conflates several phenomena in an incoherent way. First, in certain very far left circles (museums, university English departments, etc.), support for, or strong identification with, Israel is very damaging to one's career prospects. But this rule hardly applies to mainstream settings, like law firms or banks. Being pro-life, or pro-gun rights, can be career-ending in such settings, but support for Israel is fine. Second, again limited to such settings, the DEI ideology can handicap white men. To the extent that Jews were disproportionately represented in such settings, this phenomenon operates to their particular detriment. "Comme Saturne . . . ." Finally, to the extent that the number of Jews has declined among the rank and file in elite settings (Ivy League colleges, Amlaw 100 firms), that really is due to intermarriage and assimilation, not to discrimination or anti-Semitism.
Shared suite of 8 freshman year at Ivy college. 3 Jews. 2 RC. 3 WASP. None out, but .... No DEI. 2 from same NE prep school. Wonder at composition of that suite today.
A powerful and disturbing article. The rise of anti-Semitism among progressives is truly appalling. People who are oh so sensitive to the feelings of other groups have no qualms about repeating stereotypes about Jewish people or discriminating against them.
but that American liberalism, our civic religion, has turned on us.
It wasn't liberalism that turned on the Jews, it was Liberals, which is a far different thing. Liberalism today is practiced by conservatives, not Liberals turned Progressives.
@Big Mike: "This placed the two of us at tables where we were assumed to be MOT because of our dark hair and vaguely Jewish-sounding last name. The people we met at those tables will never stop hating the goyim. Not now, not ever."
Sadly, yes. The negative stereotypes of Jews are based in the negative actions of some Jews. I've met this type in every racial/ethnic group I've encountered, and stereotypes can be rooted in facts. See psychological research on 'heuristics.'
The true xenophobic conservatives in any group will be xenophobic until the end of time. In most eras they'd be called out as extremists and put in the closet/not allowed to speak or hole up in a traditional town/region. However, in this era actual conservative only-skin-color-matters xenophobes control leftist "diversity" political discussions. The anti-Trump foes made a deal with the devil to defeat Trump at any cost. They agreed to publicizing bigoted nonsense to win, and so opposite day happened.
[Side note: We really need to get away from -phobe for many exclusionary labels. Phobic means fearful, and literally applies to those who fear and avoid all outsiders. It does not apply to targeted anti-gay, anti-trans, or fearful reactions that follow negative encounters and abuse from those in other groups. The left needs to learn about disgust, revulsion, bitterness, regret, and other emotional responses to others. Calling people 'phobic' is akin to saying they are 'sissies' or weak or cowards and cuts off serious discussions.]
The vanishing has only just begun. For now, prog antisemitism is still "contested," "controversial." For now, older Jews still have some power and influence. But they, most of them, allied with their enemies and disdained association with deplorables. For Jews, progressivism is a death wish. If they don't care, why should we? I mean, apart from the traditional reason: the canary function of Jew-hatred.
Liberalism is the philosophy of divergence. Classical liberalism is practiced with boundaries ("principles").
Try being the brilliant and wise Dennis Prager. A conservative-libertarian Jew.
The corrupt left do all they can to cancel and ban him. The corrupt left are Soviets.
The corrupt left are Adam Schitts(D). The corrupt left are Peter Strzoks. The corrupt left are the Bidens and the Merrick Soviet Garlands.
Early 20th Century WASPs and early 21st Century leftists united in making sure there aren't too many Jews in major institutions.
"Because the most significant cause of the decline isn’t Jews themselves, but that American liberalism, our civic religion, has turned on us."
Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. In this case, it is the inevitable consequence of the ideals espoused in that "civic religion" - not what you think those ideals meant.
TIV @ 6:29, careful who you vote for indeed. Milton Himmelfarb, an American sociographer of the American Jewish community, said “Jews earn like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans.” (from Wikipedia - I knew the quote but not the source.)
The left destroys everything they touch. Dems are fascist terrorists in word, deed, and belief. Treat them accordingly.
The left destroys everything they touch. Dems are fascist terrorists in word, deed, and belief. Treat them accordingly.
The left destroys everything they touch. Dems are fascist terrorists in word, deed, and belief. Treat them accordingly.
Don't let word of this get out. It will severely restrict Farrakhan's fund raising efforts.
American Jews predominated in comedy from the rise of Milton Berle until the fall of Roseanne. Perhaps the glory days of Mel Brooks and Neil Simon are over.....Maybe their predominance was just a ripple in the zeitgeist. During the twenties, the big three--Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd--were not Jewish. There's always been a huge cohort of English comedians from Chaplin through Bob Hope and onto Monty Python. The years of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen may have been the high water mark and Jewish comedians are retreating to mean of Sarah Silverman.
They let themselves get identified as white bread.
Jews are being replaced by Asians. Example: Ivy League using the same quota system they used to limit the Jews early in the last century.
How far is it to his planet?
The vanishing has only just begun. For now, prog antisemitism is still "contested," "controversial." For now, older Jews still have some power and influence. But they, most of them, allied with their enemies and disdained association with deplorables. For Jews, progressivism is a death wish. If they don't care, why should we? I mean, apart from the traditional reason: the canary function of Jew-hatred.
The vanishing/The Erasure: How passive.
Who is doing this to the Jews?
Why can't people write in the active sense, rather than passive?
Jews continue to vote for Democrats as the Democrat Party increasingly turns to anti-Semetic black politicians. Obama and his Muslim mentors are proud of their Jew hatred.
It's what happens when you commit slow suicide by voting for people who hate you, and disowning your own culture.
Prof. Martin van Creveld's father moved the family from the Netherlands to Israel in the early 1950s "so he wouldn't feel like a Jew all the time."
William mentions the heyday of Jewish comics, and the same could be said for Jewish novelists.
A "Greatest Generation" phenomenon entirely(?)
I have dealt with this by embracing the concept of being a member of the Chosen People. What I mean by this is not that I am superior to non-Jews, but that Jews should be a model for how to act in what is turning out to be an increasingly crazy world. Think of it as meritocracy on steroids.
Today's Ivy League institutions are not the Ivy League institutions I attended 40 years ago. In fact, they are embrarassing and full of hateful and stupid people. I am perfectly fine with the fact that most of their students and many of their faculty hate Jews. Trying to gain sympathy by acting as a victim is certainly not the answer. Working hard and excelling -- as American Jews have done historically -- is.
The irony here is just how similar this is to John Cleese and his railing against "vanishing British culture".
There's been a steady stream of Jewish cultural figures like Jon Stewart working to erode the underpinnings of their host culture. Having done so, they're now amazed to discover that the replacement culture that is seeping in isn't exactly Jew-friendly. Huh. Wonder how that happened?
It's also sadly indicative of the false intelligence and utter lack of wisdom that a lot of these types display. You'd almost have to conclude that "intelligence" of the sort that they are so proud of isn't really all that useful, because it keeps accruing a lot of long-term negative effects out here in the real world.
One of the things that militates against there being real justification for antisemitism is that the Jews, as a group, do not generally display a hell of a lot of wisdom when it comes to dealing with other people, like the ones they live amongst. They keep pissing everyone off, and do so with a consistency that begins to look almost deliberate, going back in history. I mean, OK... You're smart. Right. So... Why do you keep doing things that other people use to justify persecuting you? Sure, some of that was forced on them, but how much of it stems from their arrogance and refusal to participate in the culture they find themselves among? If they were really this worldwide conspiracy, wouldn't they be doing a much better job of blending in and hiding?
When I was in high school, we had a couple of really smart kids move into town. They were big-city kids, and the two of them had vastly different trajectories within the school. One of them looked around, and decided to blend in and make friends. The other idiot chose to lord it over everyone with how smart he was and how much better he was because he came from an urban upper-middle class background, and was gonna Go Places in life, unlike the rest of us rural halfwits.
Care to guess who had the easier time of it? Who got his ass kicked on a near-weekly basis because he'd pick a fight with someone bigger than he was by making some snide remark?
There are two things I have to conclude: One, a lot of what is considered "intelligent" really... Ain't. And, two, Jews are often their own worst damn enemies. I mean, for the love of God, which party was it that's been the most consistently anti-semitic? Who was president when the Jews were looking for refuge during the 1930s, and refused entry to entire shiploads of them, sending them back to Germany? Who didn't take effective action, during the war, to stop the Holocaust?
Yeah. Go figure out why the hell the Jews are such staunch Democrats, and try to explain that to me. That party has never, ever done anything other than use them as patsies, and they're fiercely loyal to them. Meanwhile, who comes in for the most mockery and disdain, from Jews in general and particularly the Jon Stewart types? Oh... That's right, the people who're most likely to support Israel and all that.
Really makes you wonder, sometimes, why anyone thinks there is a correlation between high IQ test scores and actual functional intelligence. Because from where I'm sitting, the sad fact is, most of these "smart people" are demonstrably pretty stupid.
If we could test for "wisdom", you have to wonder what their scores would be...
Michael K,
"Jews continue to vote for Democrats as the Democrat Party increasingly turns to anti-Semetic black politicians. Obama and his Muslim mentors are proud of their Jew hatred."
You'll have to point out for the rest of us when, precisely, the Democrats weren't actively anti-semitic. They've always been that way, going back to before the Civil War. Their tolerance for Jews existed only so long as the Jews were useful patsies for their political machinations; they were never, ever going to really accept them.
Roosevelt and the St. Louis ring any bells for you? The thousands of other German Jews his administration refused refuge to?
It really is a remarkable article--several of its casual assertions would 100% be deemed vile anti-Semitism if made by anyone else.
HD Twitter thread - The Vanishing article
"Because the most significant cause of the decline isn’t Jews themselves, but that American liberalism, our civic religion, has turned on us."
A case in point: 40 years ago Jews represented 25-30% of any entering class at Harvard. Now they are around 10%. Leaving aside the question of whether Harvard is still something to aspire for, I doubt they've gotten stupider or less qualified. And it's not as if they're being replaced by Asians (as has happened in the elite NYC public high schools). They are being pushed out by POCs that Harvard now favors. Yes, leftism has turned on its own.
"If I see 202X as the production date of a movie, I simply won't watch it."
Much brave.
Big Mike referenced the "Never Again" trope (or is it a meme?).
Leftist Jews today: "Maybe just one more time."
American Jews are on a Holiday from History, that George Will referred to in another context a few decades ago. When holidays end, we get back to the Daily Grind.
Jews aren't disappearing, but Jews as Jews aren't as noticeable. Part of the reason is that we have so many ethnic groups in the country that Jews aren't the classic outsiders or others that the were for centuries in Europe. Another part is that Jews, secular Jews in particular, have become more assimilated. Jews don't fit into the old stereotypes as well. Nobody wants to be Harvey Weinstein. Once a group has advantages, they don't push as hard. That's not entirely a bad thing. David Mikics's recent articles at Tablet on Jews losing their edge may also be of interest.
Lurker21 said...
Jews aren't disappearing, but Jews as Jews aren't as noticeable.
there's a simple solution.
If Jews would just wear some sort of distinctive item, people would know who they were.
(I'm talking hats.. What did you Think i meant?)
The other idiot chose to lord it over everyone with how smart he was and how much better he was because he came from an urban upper-middle class background, and was gonna Go Places in life, unlike the rest of us rural halfwits.
I don't know the circumstances in that particular case, but some kids want attention and think they'll get it from the teacher. This is interpreted by other kids as lording it over them and showing them up, but that's not the only way of looking at it. High schoolers also aren't necessarily that great at situational awareness, and a move to a very different environment makes it even harder to sort things out.
@Lurker21,
The point of that was to demonstrate that the supposed "smart guy" wasn't really all that wise; the other "new kid in town" was actually from a wealthier background, from "old money", and did a lot better at fitting in. He didn't actively antagonize people, and after about six months, I don't honestly think anyone really remembered that he hadn't always been there.
Other dumbass remained an outsider the entire time he was there, and still behaved the same way when he showed up at the one reunion I bothered to attend.
What is commonly tested and identified as "intelligent" doesn't always produce good outcomes or demonstrate much in the way of wisdom. If you examine the way the Jews often behave when interacting with other cultures they're trying to live among, some of the very same syndromes I'm talking about tend to show up.
You don't often run into Jews in the enlisted ranks in the Army combat arms. What few you do tend to be the sort of guys where you go "What? Jacobs is Jewish? Seriously? I had no idea..." Those guys blend in, and you don't see them, really. The guys who're ostentatiously Jewish, demanding special provisions and all the rest? Solid rule of thumb I had: If I knew a guy was Jewish, other than by looking at this dog tags for some damn reason, he was pretty much a high-maintenance problem child that wasn't fitting in. Anywhere.
I had one of the first sorts of Jews as a squad leader, working for me for awhile. The only way I knew he was Jewish was when he casually mentioned a tour in the IDF, which was a fairly mind-boggling thing to actually run into. He had, by random chance, one of the second sort of Jew assigned to his squad. Their interactions were 'effing epic, because the problem child made the mistake of claiming my squad leader was (!) anti-semitic...
That was not a good day for him. Amused the hell out of everyone else, though...
You'll have to point out for the rest of us when, precisely, the Democrats weren't actively anti-semitic.
It's more a matter of cultural changes. The anti-Jewish trend in America was mostly a late 19th and early 20th century phenomenon as many eastern Jews fled Russia and Poland and were able, because of better transportation, to get west and across the ocean to America where they were new immigrants and considered, like most new immigrants, as ignorant and dirty. In 1920 and the years before, everybody was anti-Semetic. The "Know Nothings" were a major party in the period after the Civil War. The Irish went through a similar phase of being hated. My Irish ancestors came by 1810 and were farmers so never experienced the NYC slums. The Italians had similar experiences to Jews. The fact that quite a few Bolsheviks were Jews in Russia added another negative.
A significant difference was that Jews were highly motivated for education and business. They tended to vote for and support Democrats for reasons that are obscure. Much of the black anti-Jewish sentiment was envy and resentment because Jews owned the small shops in black neighborhoods. I first saw this with my black nurse maid who was a wonderful woman but anti-Jewish.
I think Democrats have changed as the left took over. The left identifies with the Palestinians and generally with Muslims. Obama had significant Muslim help, I believe, in such areas as getting into Harvard Law. His affection for Iran and antipathy to Israel are related.
In the early days of this country there was little anti-Semetic feelings because Jews were few and prosperous. Note that Washington's visit to the synagogue in NewPort was much celebrated.
If Jews would just wear some sort of distinctive item, people would know who they were.
(I'm talking hats.. What did you Think i meant?)
In many parts of Europe they were.
The problem with Jews and Catholics is, either you are religious or you are not religious at all.
If Jews are disappearing it's because they have become both unbelievably secular and liberal.
I would not presume to suggest that I have a breadth of experience that allows me to comment knowledgeably on the national dimensions of this topic. However, Jacob Savage's observations are not borne out by my experiences of life within the more successful confines of Los Angeles' professions of law, medicine, finance, and entertainment, in which participation by Jews remains robust.
Neither Jacob Savage nor I can comment knowledgeably about the upcoming age cohort, born after 2001. That is where we will see if something is really happening. In any case, can anyone tell me what are the "correct" percentages for each ethnic group's ratio of success? David Bernstein's recent book on racial classification demonstrates the vacuity of most of the ethnic categories. As to the sexual categories, it would be interesting to compare the percentages of success within the gay and straight subcategories.
The Jews are "disappearing". Really? Tell that to Ye, or Kyrie Irving. Or maybe you can talk to:
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer,
The head of the Federal Reserve,
Merrick Garland the Attorny General,
the Sec of State,
the Secretary of the Treasury,
the Head of DHS,
Biden's Chief of Staff,
or the Director of national intelligence,
Not to mention the fact that head of almost every major Entertainment megacompany is a Jew. Or supposedly 7 out of 8 Ivy League Presidents are Jewish.
So, if Jews are "disappearing" we should send a note to the ADL.
Whoops, I just rememeber where Jews are "disappearing". The SCOTUS. As late as 2020, we had 3 SCOTUS judges who were Jewish, and almost had a fourth one - Garland. But now we only have 1. Damn that Trump. What an antisemite!
You can say "Well, all those Jews, are just in Biden's cabinet because they're better than anyone else", and given that we're talking about Democrats, that's probably true.
@takirks
You don't often run into Jews in the enlisted ranks in the Army combat arms. What few you do tend to be the sort of guys where you go "What? Jacobs is Jewish? Seriously? I had no idea..." Those guys blend in, and you don't see them, really. The guys who're ostentatiously Jewish, demanding special provisions and all the rest?
I think Philip Roth wrote a story about that. "Defender of the Faith" in the Goodbye, Columbus volume.
The "Know Nothings" were pre-ACWABAWS, not post- (per Mike K's comment), and the first Jew to serve in an American cabinet was Judah Benjamin.
Gooder and harder.
>>Shared suite of 8 freshman year at Ivy college. 3 Jews. 2 RC. 3 WASP.
Fifty years ago or so I was on the first floor of a freshman dorm at a college, um, "near Boston." Thirteen people on the floor, who were the ones I mostly hung out with (I was not the most outgoing person, then or now, though I'm actually probably a better now than I was then). Eight Jews (including my roommate from Long Island). One non-Catholic, not particularly religious Italian (father was Italian; I don't know if the father was/had been Catholic, but mother was clearly not). The last three were jocks that we didn't associate with much, or vice versa.
Finally, there was me, a half Scottish/half German Catholic. Aside: my parents had to get married in the rectory, not the church, because the old man wasn't Catholic. I doubt that he much cared about that point, but he also had to sign away me and my (ultimate) ten siblings to the Catholic church in order to get married, even in the rectory.
It's not entirely impossible that some folks might have thought I was also Jewish (it's happened elsewhere!), because of a (Scottish) last name that seems vaguely Jewish (pretty similar to the name of a female Jewish prime minister of Israel). But unlikely since anyone looking beyond the name would know that I was coming from a Jesuit high school and a lower middle class neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago that wasn't particularly noted for a Jewish presence.
There were at least a few other Jews elsewhere in the dorm, maybe about fifty total, though I wasn't well acquainted with those folks.
--gpm
I always love these boomer comments.
If its about blacks, then the white Boomer's tell us how much they love blacks (unlike racist Grandma). And Gosh darn it, they have blacks friends or dated a black girl. And MLK was a great man.
If its about jews, then the Gentile Boomer's tell us how much they love Jews. And Gosh darn it, they aren't antisemtic, like y'know whats his name. Y'know that guy. Somewhere. And they shed tears every time the Israeli flag is seen.
Despite reality, American Jews really are being oppressed. And the Boomers are their best friends forever. And that will never change. Ever.
The world stopped at 1969 - or was it 1979?
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