Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

May 9, 2018

A New Book Falsely Accuses the American Jewish Establishment of Indifference to Anti-Semitism

Jonathan Weisman searches for an identity he can’t seem to find.

In 2016, when the alt-right emerged from the corners of the Internet and into the public eye, Jonathan Weisman—a deputy editor of the New York Times—found himself a target of online anti-Semitic attacks. That experience, combined with the violent demonstration last year in Charlottesville and his conviction that the current president is at best an enabler of anti-Semites, led him to produce a book titled (((Semitism))). In it he concludes that in the face of today’s rising tide of hatred, Jews, and especially leaders of the organized Jewish community, have been indifferent. He also laments what he sees as American Jews’ division between Orthodox Jews and Zionists with their regrettable “tribalism” and those Jews whose identity lies wholly in the fact that they “read Philip Roth” and “eat bagels and babka.” Emma Green writes in her review:

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