“Throughout history, American Jews have had more trouble coping with assimilation than with antisemitism,” says Eli Lederhendler, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and holder of the Stephen Wise Chair in American Jewish History and Institutions.
Prof. Lederhendler is leading a five-part series at Beit Avi Chai focused on the latter challenge. The series examines crucial moments of crisis in American history from the mid-XIX to the mid-XX century, exploring how the country’s Jews were affected. Moments of crisis often correlate with a rise in antisemitism, making them potent test cases for gauging the Jewish-American condition outside its comfort zone.
Some of the events featured in the series are wars – the Civil War and the two World Wars – but the series also covers periods of social and political turmoil. “During these critical moments in the nation’s history, inhibitions sometimes fall,” Prof. Lederhendler says, explaining his choice to focus on the less comfortable aspects of Jewish-American history. “Things are said and done that are not necessarily visible on the surface in normal times. These are moments that emphasize Jewish difference rather than Jewish sameness.”
It’s the Jews’ fault
During the Civil War, Jews faced accusations on both sides of the warring divide. “The quality of the uniforms produced for the troops was famously terrible,” Prof. Lederhendler says. “They were known to be shoddy – they fell apart and became useless very quickly. Because Jews were already deeply involved in the clothing industry, it was seen by both sides as a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the war effort.”
Jews were also blamed for the widespread smuggling of cotton from South to North. So pervasive were these accusations that Ulysses S. Grant, commander of Union forces, ordered the expulsion of all Jews from a region of Tennessee under his command, where much of the smuggling occurred. “The fact that it happened during the Civil War is not a coincidence,” says Prof. Lederhendler.
The expulsion decree was immediately rescinded by President Abraham Lincoln – a moment that, Prof. Lederhendler argues, highlights the fundamental ambivalence of Jewish status in the United States: on one hand, Jews were scapegoated; on the other, they enjoyed the constitutional protections of citizenship.
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“People like you are no longer welcome”
This ambivalence recurs throughout the XIX and XX centuries. In 1911, for instance, Russia and the US were due to renew a commercial treaty originally signed in 1832. Although the renewal was a formality, American Jewish leaders saw an opportunity to pressure Russia – to impose sanctions, in today’s parlance – and guarantee the safety of Jews who at the time were enduring pogroms and other violence. “There was a big public campaign against renewing the treaty,” says Prof. Lederhendler, “and it worked – Congress voted to abrogate it.” The campaign succeeded, he stresses, because its leaders framed the issue not as Jewish self-interest, but as a matter of American democratic values.
But there were also opposite cases. After World War I, the US entered a period of isolationism. The recent entanglement in European affairs had left the country scarred, and the continent itself was crumbling: revolutions had succeeded in Russia and been attempted in Germany and Hungary. Public opinion turned against the threat of radical foreign influence, and the government began deporting suspected agitators. It was at this point that the image of America as a land of open immigration began to unravel. Until 1921, immigration was virtually unrestricted – a policy from which some 2.5 to 3 million Jews had benefited, comprising 11% of all immigration between 1880 and 1920.
Congress then enacted a quota law restricting immigration by country of origin. “White” nations from Western Europe were largely unaffected, while those from Eastern and Southern Europe faced strict quotas – which were tightened further in 1924. When the Great Depression began in 1929, the State Department instructed its consuls abroad not to fill even the permitted quotas, effectively blocking all visa applications. “There was never a quota against Jews per se, but it was enough to keep numbers very low,” Prof. Lederhendler says. “The Jewish leadership fought to keep the doors open to free immigration from Europe, but that campaign failed.” It was a losing battle against public opinion: the labor movement opposed immigration on the grounds that new arrivals would take jobs. “The only union leaders who wanted immigration to continue were the Jewish ones,” he notes.
“This is a great example of a moment of crisis when American Jews were told: ‘People like you are no longer welcome’”.
Israel: empowerment and estrangement
Although the series ends with the Suez Crisis of 1956, its contemporary relevance is hard to miss. “American Jews today are going through another period of crisis – since October 7, and arguably even before,” he says. “It is therefore important to understand how things played out in the past, and to draw parallels where necessary.”
Some sources of turmoil were internal. “Between 1865 and 1917 there was more or less a period of peace, during which America projected its growing power in the world, both economically and militarily,” he says. “But it was also a time of great tension – driven by immigration, urbanization, industrialization, and their social consequences.”
“After the 1960 election, there was a significant uptick in the intensity of Jewish organizational energy and mobilization on behalf of Israel,” he says. There had been a peak in pro-Zionist activity between 1945 and 1948, but things quieted down; the Eisenhower administration was not particularly friendly toward Israel or Zionism, and maintained an arms embargo that persisted through the 1950s.
After Kennedy’s election, however, one of his signature policy decisions was to vastly increase foreign aid – particularly to developing nations, former colonies being contested by the USSR. Since American taxpayers had a stake in where that money went, the pro-Israel lobby gained significant momentum. In the Cold War context, Israel’s existence gave American Jews a political boost. "It made them far more involved in public affairs and governance,” he says. “Israel’s existence enabled American Jews to be a lot more influential.”
But while Israel made American Jews more confident as Americans, it made them less confident as Jews. In 1948, upon Israel's establishment, American Jews constituted the largest and most powerful Jewish community in the world. After the Holocaust, community leaders recognized that the future of the Jewish people would rest on their shoulders. David Ben-Gurion disagreed: as leader of the new Jewish state, he claimed precedence. “There’s a steady conflict on that level, between the American Jewish leadership that wanted to play a major role on the world Jewish stage and the Israeli leadership,” says Prof. Lederhendler. “There is also a built-in asymmetry: In 1960 there were as many Jews in New York City as there were in the entire State of Israel.”
“The whole idea that American Jews were empowered by Israel is true, but the other side of the story is that they are sometimes out of sync with Israel.”
Out of sync
Prof. Lederhendler admits he has no simple explanation for why Jewish public opinion is turning against Israel. “At the level of Israel’s own policymaking, there has been a steady failure over the last two decades – not only on public diplomacy, but also in working together with American Jews to maintain a meaningful shared framework of values. The failure is partly due to the people who have been in power, but it also stems from concrete policies – such as differences in opinion on the treatment of the Palestinians. Not enough has been done to bring these policies into alignment, and the fault lies primarily on the Israeli side. There is a lot of rhetoric about ‘shared values,’ but nobody is doing the work to bring the Israeli case back in sync as the policies of the two countries are drifting apart.”
“I’m not saying Israel always needs to do what the US government says,” he insists, “but America is Israel’s most important asset, and you have to invest in that asset properly. When Americans perceive that Israel is a client state that is not doing what America is doing, they will turn against them.”
Ultimately, he says, “American Jews are not just Jews – they’re also Americans. At some point, when public opinion turns, they will too.”
Main Photo: Half-length portrait of two girls wearing banners with slogan "ABOLISH CHILD SLAVERY!!" in English and Yiddish. Most likely taken during May 1, 1909 labor parade in New York City.\ Wikipedia
