President Trump’s signing of an executive order identifying anti-Semitism as a violation of the Civil Rights Act and including it in that piece of legislation has created a hysterical reaction from the liberal, left-leaning Jewish community in this country.

Their chief complaint is that it identifies Judaism as a “nation” or a “people” separate from the rest that requires such protection.  Clearly, if Judaism is a “belief” rather than a nation or a race, than simply disavowing such belief disqualifies one as being Jewish, and the need for such protection is nonexistent. 

Worse, from this perspective, it identifies Israel as a “Jewish State” as opposed to their perspective that Israel is indeed, not a Jewish State, but a secular state comprised of many Jewish people.  It also raises the uncomfortable premise that Jews may have allegiances to Judaism or Israel or both, that bifurcates and marginalizes Jewish commitment to the United States. 

The argument is that this move fuels the fire of anti-Semitism in the United States by enabling attacks against Jews due to this bifurcated loyalty. This, opponents hold, neutralizes the effort American Jews have made in assimilating into the U.S. culture and downgrades Jewish loyalty to the U.S., which has so graciously accepted Jewish migration and citizenship.

The perception of potential disloyalty stems from the unique position that the U.S. has for the Jewish mindset.  It was the first country to provide for a separation of church and state, and a founding document providing for unmitigated right to religious freedom.  It was the only country founded by individuals seeking freedom from persecution.  The U.S. divestiture from religious dedication and the separation of Church and State provides for Jews the perception that secular government is not only preferable, but in fact mandatory for the success of the Jewish belief system. 

This mindset, from the liberal Jewish perspective, mandates the need for Israel to also not be a Jewish state.  The very existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and the very concept that Jews themselves are actually a “race” of people, defeats the perception of loyalty to the U.S. and its secular concept of government.  The liberal Jewish U.S. concept was acceptance and support of Israel, if and only if it was threatened with annihilation, but not when it made strides to not only be able to survive, but to punish its attackers. 

Thus, the question of Jewish “race” is anathema to liberal Jewish thought.  This concept rejects the orthodox version of Judaism with its dedication and belief in “Yiddishkeit” as a real, tangible, and factual thing.  There is no “soul” of Judaism, if indeed it is a monolithic theology of which anyone could believe in or reject regardless their personal genetic background.

While these are interesting and troubling questions, they have all been answered in the past.  While American Jews would like to be able to reject or accept their Judaism, and be considered as Jews or non-Jews at their discretion, the history of anti-Semitism would seem to indicate that this cannot be.

Countless times in the past, such identifying of Jews as a “race” specifically by anti-Semites, has been the norm.  A Jew can forget he’s a Jew, but others will not.  The Jewish community in 14^th century Spain had risen to equality within that system, and Jews, some observant, others not so much, had assimilated into society.  That did not stop Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition from using physical torture to elicit conversions.  When many Jews voluntarily converted without the need to torture, they were still not accepted as “true converts,” and were still subjected to those treatments.  So much for the ability to abandon your Judaism at will.

After the rise of Nazi Germany, Jewish war veterans of WWI met the Nazis rounding up Jews for the transport to the camps wearing their medals, citations, and awards for their service in the German Army and the country.  Their former patriotism and dedication was not sufficient to save them from their fate.  A great debate within the Nazi party centered on exactly how much “Jewish blood” a German was allowed to have before being considered a “real Jew.”

Thus, irrespective of Jewish arguments as to whether we are a race, a creed, a nation, or rather a conceptual monotheistic spiritual belief, and as a Jew, regardless of which side of the argument you fall on, it is irrelevant to the world in general.  The fact is, the world has already made up its mind as to the status of Jews as a people or a nation of people, or as a race, and has provided proof by their conduct through the centuries. 

Presumably, some would make the argument that the U.S. and its citizens are “different.”  That those perceptions of the past are not applicable today, here, in this country.  Thus, the inclusion of anti-Semitism in the realm of the Civil Rights Act admits that this place, and this time, are not different and those perceptions in distant place and different times are real today. 

I would offer this.  Recent actions indicate that any difference in the perception of what Jews are, in the past, is indeed present here.  One can still be, regardless of devotion and pious observance of Halacha law, a true loyal citizen of a secular country such as the United States.  It is time for many Jews here in America to come to the realization of what you are, how you are perceived, and accept it rather than feel the need to tamp down your “Jewishness,” lest you be perceived as unAmerican.  Jews have answered the call in the U.S. in every age and in every generation, and will continue to do so in the future,  and no devotion to Jewish belief, or acceptance of our unique heritage, can or will undermine that.