10 | JANUARY 2 • 2020 

Views

slur for good measure.
The AJC, which just 
inaugurated a social media 
campaign to “Translate 
Hate,” should have been 
especially attuned to what 
was happening here.
Trump has repeatedly 
hit on all these anti-
Semitic themes before. He’
s 
complained that Jews won’
t 
back him because he doesn’
t 
“want your money.” He’
s told 
American Jews that Israel is 
“your country.”
In many ways, Trump’
s IAC 
speech perfectly encapsulated 
the emerging conservative 
consensus about American 
Jews: We’
re disloyal to 
America in favor of our actual 
country, Israel, to which we’
re 
also disloyal. 
Yet instead of a robust 
condemnation of yet another 
anti-Semitic indulgence 
from the president of the 
United States, the AJC’
s reply 
stood out from the rest of 
the Jewish community for 
adopting a tone that can only 
be described as groveling. Via 
Twitter, the AJC wrote:
“Dear @POTUS — Much 
as we appreciate your 
unwavering support for Israel, 
surely there must be a better 
way to appeal to American 
Jewish voters, as you just did 
in Florida, than by money 
references that feed age-old 
and ugly stereotypes. Let’
s 
stay off that mine-infested 
road.”
Somehow a statement that 
purports to condemn Trump’
s 
anti-Semitism seemed to 
express more concern about 
Trump’
s well-being than that 
of the Jews. More than a few 
observers contrasted the 
wishy-washy response given 
to Trump with the AJC’
s 

considerably more robust 
reply to Rep. Ilhan Omar’
s 
“Benjamins” remark:
“@IlhanMN, Suggesting 
that a Jewish organization 
is buying off American 
politicians is both 
demonstrably false and 
stunningly anti-Semitic. 
American politicians are 
pro-Israel because Americans 
are (http://bit.ly/2SES7DG). 
Apologize.”
The AJC’
s approach to 
Omar was not prefaced with 
sincere appreciation for her 
political accomplishments 
nor couched in language that 
suggested they were primarily 
concerned with her well-
being. She gets unadulterated 
scorn, and the AJC will never, 
ever let her forget it.
The message? Being 
pro-Israel (or at least pro-
Likud) is a “get-out-of-anti-
Semitism-free” card. Groups 
like the AJC are sending 
the message that the correct 
positions on Israel will suffice 
to forgive any amount of anti-
Semitism in America. 
Even where other Jewish 
organizations have clearly 
and robustly condemned 
Republican anti-Semitism, 
the media (both Jewish and 
non-Jewish) routinely fails to 
follow up.
Repeated instances of 
conservative anti-Semitic 
rhetoric are routinely glossed 
over and effectively forgiven 
even as Republicans defiantly 
refuse to apologize. Bari 
Weiss famously justified 
putting more intense focus 
on left-wing anti-Semitism 
because it is supposedly more 
“insidious” than the right-
wing variety: harder to spot, 
more easily integrated into 
reputable political, academic 

continued from page 8

rights of women and other 
minorities are extraordinary. 
Our rituals that create a deep 
sense of spirituality and our 
traditions that profoundly 
strengthen the family are 
extraordinary. Certainly, none 
of the Jews’
 achievements take 
away from others’
 ability to 
achieve. Nevertheless, people 
feel jealousy toward us.
Why the Jews? Because we 
want to be ordinary, but our 
desire for ordinary threatens 
others’
 desire for power. Why 
the Jews? Because the demands 
of faith and the bonds of 
peoplehood propel us toward 
extraordinary, and humanity 
is jealous of extraordinary. 
Whether it is against the Jews 
or others, human nature is that 
the powerful often take advan-
tage of the powerless; human 
nature also often causes jealou-
sy toward another. Such is the 
way of our world.

RESPONDING TO HATRED
There are many responses to 
the rising tide of anti-Sem-
itism. As moral individuals, 
we must speak out against all 
forms of hate speech and bul-
lying; moreover, as Jews, we 
must never let partisanship get 
in the way of our allegiance 
to each other. We must build 
relationships with interfaith 
partners. We must also in a 
myriad ways support Israel’
s 
right to live in peace and secu-
rity as a Jewish state. 
We must combat anti-Sem-
itism by investing ever more 
deeply in our own security; 
Federation has begun this ini-
tiative and even more dollars 
are necessary. Our community 
must also find a way to create 
pro-marriage and pro-fertil-
ity messaging and programs 
so as to increase the Jewish 

birthrate; to this we should 
add increased funding oppor-
tunities for assisted reproduc-
tion and adoption advocacy 
initiatives. Certainly, we must 
also remain understanding 
and supportive of individuals 
unable to marry or couples 
unable to have children (or 
more children).
Finally, we must respond 
to anti-Semitism with, well, 
Semitism. We ought to focus 
on the aspects of our faith that 
give us a connection to the 
Divine; the parts of our tra-
dition that strengthen family 
and peoplehood; the customs 
of our religion, such as holi-
days and lifecycle celebrations, 
that give us joy; the ethics of 
our law code that demand 
we care deeply for our own 
and that we also work to treat 
every person with kindness 
and dignity; and we must 
carry to the world the message 
of our Hebrew Bible that gives 
us hope for a day when every 
person — Jew and gentile alike 
— shall sit under his or her 
vine and fig tree that none will 
make them afraid. 
We must respond to 
anti-Semitism by being proud 
Jews and also by being prac-
ticing Jews who participate in 
synagogue life and in the life 
of the organized Jewish com-
munity. Finally, we must give 
thanks for the countless ways 
in which we as Jews are bless-
ed, including and especially 
in the State of Israel as well as 
in the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity. Anti-Semitism is on the 
rise; through our Judaism — 
through being extraordinary 
— may we Jews seek to merit 
the peace of the ordinary. 

Aaron Starr is a rabbi at Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. 

JEWS from page 6

