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EDITORIAL: The fight continues against one of the world’s oldest prejudices

3 min read

On Tuesday, Josh Shapiro became Pennsylvania’s 48th governor, taking the oath on a Hebrew Bible that had been in the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Oct. 27, 2018, when 11 congregants were killed in the worst act of antisemitic violence in the country’s history.

“Pennsylvanians can indeed find light in the midst of darkness and drown out the voices of hate and bigotry,” Shapiro said.

That Shapiro, a practicing member of the Jewish faith, could become Pennsylvania’s governor is a marker of significant progress. It wasn’t that long ago that the highest levels of politics in the commonwealth, or anywhere in the country, were closed to anyone who was not just white and male but also Protestant. In addition, the state’s new lieutenant governor is Austin Davis, the first African-American to hold the job.

Antisemitism is one the world’s oldest prejudices, going back centuries and manifesting itself in horrors ranging from the Crusades to the Holocaust. As we have moved into the 21st century, it’s been easy to believe that antisemitism was becoming a thing of the past, a holdover from less rational, less enlightened times. But a recent study that was reported on by The Washington Post last week highlights the reality that one of the world’s oldest prejudices has lately gotten a second wind in this country, and found new, ugly life.

The survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that many of the mustiest stereotypes about Jewish people still have a hold on many Americans. It found that 26% believe that Jewish people have too much power in the world, and 24% believe that Jewish people are so shrewd in business dealings that other people don’t have a fair chance. Twenty-four percent are convinced that Jews control Wall Street. Granted, this is far from a majority of the American people. But 1-in-4 Americans buying into what one representative of the ADL called antisemitism in its “classical fascist form” should be discomforting for any American, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Disturbingly, the survey found that some of these antisemitic views are shared by younger people.

Alvin Rosenfeld, director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at Indiana University-Bloomington, told the Post that the “new” antisemitism has ancient roots. He explained, “Charges of Jewish conspiracy, Jews in control of the media, politics, entertainment, the money world – all that dates way back. It’s multicausal today. When hatred is so diverse, it’s more potent and dangerous.”

And given its danger, we all need to speak up, and help drown out “the voices of hatred and bigotry” that stubbornly refuse to be silenced.

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