Like many secular Jews in the United States, I celebrate Christmas. My wife, who is nominally Christian in much the way that I am nominally Jewish, bought a little fake tree with lights, and on the 25th we’ll hang stockings and exchange presents. Why not? My Judaism isn’t central to who I am. I’m not particularly conscious of it, and it doesn’t set me apart.
At least, it didn’t until recently.
My country has long let me hold my background loosely. When I was in middle school, there was an incident or two during which kids threw pennies at me — because Jews are greedy, get it? That was 30 years ago, though, and since then I can’t think of many instances in which I’ve faced discrimination or faith-based bullying. Despite the nose and the name, most people don’t notice that I’m Jewish. Lots of people claim that they don’t see race, but in the U.S., at least, Judaism is often truly invisible.
Donald Trump and his cronies, however, are working hard to change that.
I think Mr. Berlatsky is on to something. Donald Trump is triggering a revival of Americanism, which is different from Jewish identity. The more strongly you identify as American, the more likely you will have negative views of outsiders, including Jews, just as the more strongly you identify with being Jewish, the more likely you will have negative views of outsiders.
There was a great exchange in the 2006 movie, The Good Shepherd:
Joseph Palmi: “Let me ask you something… we Italians, we got our families, and we got the church; the Irish, they have the homeland, Jews their tradition; even the niggers, they got their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you have?”
Edward Wilson: “The United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting.”
The United States of America was created by whites of Protestant background. The rest of us, perhaps, are just visiting.
