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The Paradox of American Anti-Semitism
(Wall Street Journal) Adam Kirsch - The great contradiction of American anti-Semitism is that it is at the same time feeble and deadly. America's acceptance of Jews and Judaism is profound. Last year, the Pew Research Center released a poll in which Americans were asked to rate different religious groups by the warmth of the feelings they inspired. The group that received the friendliest response was Jews. At the same time, massacres in what should be safe places are no longer surprising in the U.S. If angry, heavily armed men can commit mass murder in kindergartens, high schools, movie theaters and nightclubs - as well as a black church in South Carolina and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin - there is no reason to think that a synagogue would be immune. Meanwhile, the ADL reports that in 2017, anti-Semitic assaults actually decreased by almost half, to just 19 in the whole country. The number of threats made to Jewish institutions jumped dramatically over the year before, but almost the entire increase is owed to a single Israeli teenager who phoned bomb threats to dozens of American Jewish schools and community centers.