Are American Jews in crisis? A conversation with Professor Jonathan Sarna

“Don’t know much about history…” Those were the immortal words of Sam Cooke. It happens to be true. Many of us don’t know much about history. Just think of the way that we use the word. Someone gets fired from a job, and what do we say? “She’s history.” But, I love history, especially American Jewish history. No one has nourished that love of history more than Professor Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University, past president of the Association for Jewish Studies and Chief Historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. In this podcast, Professor Sarna and I get into the weeds of American Jewish history, and the history of anti-Semitism, American style. Pay attention: Both Brandeis University and the state of Israel are celebrating their 75th anniversary. One event happened in Waltham, Massachusetts; the other, in the Middle East. How are those two events linked?  Americans have had “diverse and conflicting attitudes“ toward Jews. Name some Americans who were simultaneously antisemitic and philo-semitic (lover of Jews). Why were my parents upset when I purchased a 1966 Mustang? (Hint: consider the maker). Who was America's most famous and visible Jew-hater? (Answer: In the 1930s, Father James Coughlin, an antisemitic priest, had a huge radio following. Imagine Father Coughlin with TikTok). Compared to other American minorities, historically Jews have gotten off pretty easy. Name some other groups in America that have suffered bigotry -- even more than the Jews. (Hint: and not just Blacks). Is anti-Zionism a form of anti-Semitism? (Hint: the Hamas killers bragged to their parents that they killed -- not Israelis, not Zionists, but Jews.) (A second hint: What was the name of the most infamous Czarist anti-Semitic tract, that is still a best seller in too many places? It is a mythology of global Jewish control, and its name is "The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of ___________.") What would happen if college admissions corresponded to the percentage of Jews in America? (Hint: It would not be good for the Jews.) As bad as it might seem today, what makes this situation "better" than other surges of anti-Semitism that we have experienced in the past? (Hint: watch how the government is responding). Finally, you must listen to the very end -- because Professor Sarna offers words of hope, determination, and inspiration that will lift your souls. How does he do it? Because he is, after all, a historian. Please enjoy my new book -- the first book to outline what a post-October 7 American Judaism will look like -- and how we can restore communal obligation to liberal Jewish life. Tikkun Ha'Am/ Repairing Our People: Israel and the Crisis of Liberal Judaism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices