Word: jewish
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ludicrous enchantment with all things Jewish." If an Arab oil squeeze further deepens the U.S. economic recession, Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, fears that the interests of both Israel and American Jews will suffer. He warns: "When people are out of work and hungry, they get angry; they start looking for scapegoats...
Rabbi James Rudin of New York City echoes other slogans of ethnic pride: "Jewish is beautiful. Jews in America are now well integrated into society, but a sense of self is considerably stronger." There is, however, some concern about a heightened sense of "double identity." Speaking not only of Jewish Americans but of Italian Americans and other ethnic groups, Chicago Psychiatrist Robert Gronner declares that "it is always difficult to have a double identity...
Moreover, American Jews are far from monolithic, even in their support of Israel. Anti-Zionist Jews are only a tiny minority today, as are the pro-Arab Jewish radicals who emerged in the '60s. Still, individual Jews have questioned Israeli policies. Some have criticized the Israelis' wisdom in occupying Arab lands for so long after the 1967 war and in not trying harder to make a land-for-peace deal. Others deplore Israel's treatment of Arabs in occupied territories...
...there is no doubt that the Jewish position is different from that of other ethnic minorities. The latter retain strong bonds with their mother countries for which they rally support (says California Congressman Thomas Rees: "Look what the Greeks did here during the Cyprus situation"). But no other foreign power is so crucially situated in the world today, or has comparably strong emotional claims on an American minority, as is the case with Israel and American Jews...
...became a strong source of American Jewish consciousness and identity. The 1967 war, with its stunning display of Israeli military prowess, made Jews elsewhere both proud and aware of Israel's vulnerability. Finally, the 1973 war and the Arabs' initial successes tapped emotional springs of agony and empathy for Israel's fate that many American Jews were surprised to find they possessed...