I’ve Become a “Risk”

When discussing presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential choice, CNN’s John King (who converted to Judaism) said that Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro presented a “risk”.  Taken in the context of Pennsylvania having the greatest number of electoral votes (19) of all the contentious“swing” states and couple that with the fact that Governor Shapiro enjoys one of the highest approval ratings of any Governor, one might ask what that “risk” is?

Few want to verbalize what the risk is, but I know it all too well.  In today’s America, being “Jewish” is a risk.  I thought that was something we in America had grown out of.  I thought that the shouts of “jew boy” hurled at me during my childhood were a thing of the past.  I thought that the days when Jews had to change their names from Robert Zimmerman to Bob Dylan, and Ralph Lifshitz to Ralph Lauren, or people removing their head coverings (kippa) in public like my grandfather did, were long gone.

Early in my career, when I asked a patient why she chose to come to me, she unabashedly said it was because I was Jewish.  “I like Jewish Doctors” was what this person of Italian descent said.  When New York Magazine came out with their first “Best Doctors” issues, dozens of my patients were among the chosen.  When I asked one, an Ob-Gyn doc of Indian descent, whether it impacted her new patient flow, her answer to me was; “it would have, if I had your last name.”

What both patient and doctor were saying is that being Jewish instilled a sense of trust.   While that sounds silly and simplistic, it does point to one of the root causes of anti-Jewish sentiment, a lack of trust.

Is someone of the Jewish faith to be a trusted American?

After World War II when so many Jewish Americans like my father heeded the call, it became increasingly difficult to assail their loyalty.  Jews were perceived to be more trustworthy.  And, as they fought alongside others to fight for civil rights, that feeling of trust deepened.

What’s changed?

Nothing, and everything.  The current trend is that “Identity” is being elevated as the be-all and end-all determinant of trustworthiness.  Right, Left, Black, White, Red, Blue, Straight, Queer, Religious, Atheist, Male and Female have come to define an otherness that promotes distrust.   It is ripping our society apart.  Anti-Jewishness has always been the canary in the coal mine.  What happens next will depend on how this is managed.

A few weeks after the October 7th massacre, I brought up the rise and increased threat of antisemitism in the United States, at the end of a lecture I gave.  I was attacked by some members of the audience and accused of being inappropriate.

Since when is calling out any discrimination politically incorrect?  Isn’t that what happened in the wake of George Floyd?

The oldest hatred (other than self-hate) has become institutionalized.  It’s embedded in many governments around the world.  It’s embedded in the United Nations and in the International Criminal Court, where members who are blatantly anti-Jewish sit in positions of judgment.

Being Jewish is “risky” today.  What’s being done about it?

Other than calling it out for what it is, there’s nothing much to do.  Other than supporting the lone Jewish State and the rights of Jews to live autonomously in their ancestral homeland, there’s not much else to do.

Or is there?

I call on all people of good conscience to raise their eyes to the reality of Jew-hatred both at home and elsewhere and to raise their voices whenever and everywhere they can.  Complacency in the face of this evil is complicity in the persecution and the outcome should it not be reined in.  We all know where such hate has led in the past.

Never Again?

Michael

P.S.  Should Josh Shapiro NOT be chosen as Kamala’s Harris Vice-Presidential choice, watch the media cover up the reason.