Over multiple generations and in many places, Jews have been charged with having “dual loyalties”; that is, they allegedly show no allegiance to the countries that so graciously took them in. What underlies this is the idea that insistence upon continued Jewish existence is no more than coarse chauvinism and a stumbling block to human progress.

In fact, if left alone in freedom, Jews are ardent patriots. But when a government turns on them, they’ll logically start looking for a way out, which is bad for the Jews and the country they’re forced to leave. After all, history shows that countries without Jews are also countries without liberty for the rest of their citizens.

From the Jewish perspective, after decades or even centuries of living peacefully, loyally, and patriotically in a specific country, the “dual loyalty” charge sets the wheels turning in their heads: Where do we run to next because a pogrom cannot be far behind?

If the host government wants the Jews to stay and add to the country’s life and character, all it would have to do is prevent violence from erupting against the Jews. Once governments want Jews to choose between being overtly Jewish or leaving the tribe behind, Jews who are deeply attached to their historical roots become suspicious and distrustful. They can resolve the dissonance raised by the question of allegiances by either escaping their Jewish roots through assimilation or by strengthening their Jewish roots.

Image: 1899 painting by Eugeen Van Mieghem showing Eastern European Jews in Antwerp hoping to head to Ellis Island. Public domain. Once there, they were subject to medical inspection and interrogated about their financial status, destination in America, criminal past, etc.

Jews-in-name-only (JINOS), along with those who have converted entirely, cannot escape the consequences of their stiff-necked progenitors’ loyalty to Jewish practice. They get caught in the antisemitic backwash because they can never separate themselves sufficiently from their roots in a way that prevents antisemites, even with a backhoe, from excavating their unwanted original connections. This group of fleeing Jews can run, but they have not yet been able to hide completely.

In our generation, Anthony Blinken and Robert Malley are two prime examples of those who have tried both desperately and dramatically to erase their Jewish origins, either through the weakening of the State of Israel (Blinken) or by closely advising the enemies of the Jews (Iran) perhaps to the point of committing legal treason against the US government (Malley).

While adversity causes some Jews to ally with those who seek their destruction, there is an opposite response too: Jews who have been only mildly attached to their ancient past decide to strengthen their connections. These Jews were stunned by the hostility from large groups of non-Jews worldwide since October 7. They realized that they were safer within the boundaries of the Jewish community and found themselves willing to expend energy to solidify that feeling of belonging.

Indeed, this is an ongoing process, predating October 7. In Nahariya, a town north of Tel Aviv, French is commonly heard and spoken. This is because escalating antisemitism in France has seen French Jews immigrate to Israel. In previous generations, Russia competed with Hebrew in Israel’s streets, as did Arabic, from the Mizrahi Jews ejected after 1948 from their ancient homes in the Muslim world.

Today, Jewish newspapers in the United States and Canada have recently begun running more real estate advertisements for modest apartments in Israel. They also have ads for all-English courses at Hebrew University, Bar Ilan, Technion, and the Jerusalem College of Technology for Jewish students who want to obtain their college degrees without the hassle of being accused of genocide. These world-renowned institutions charge between eight and twelve thousand dollars annually for tuition, a bargain by American standards. After enough harassment, these opportunities begin to look pretty good to the beleaguered young Jew on a hostile American or Canadian campus.

I fear that there will yet come a time in America when people will be unable to say that they have met a Jew. Why? Because America continues to import congenitally anti-Jewish Muslims who will seal the fate of the American Jewish community. Everyone sees safety as a prime concern, especially Jews, given their history. If they cannot remain Jews in a society that will tolerate them, Jews will vote with their feet.

This is bad for the Jews, but it’s also bad for the former host country. Jews are like the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to liberty. If Jews cannot survive, everyone else is also in for a terrible experience.

This need to uproot and start over has characterized Jewish life for millennia (Fiddler on the Roof as a reality). To the Jew, it is not a matter of ‘dual loyalty’ but the tolerance of the society in which he finds himself. When simply wearing a Jewish star on a necklace is an unacceptable aggression, the differences between America and Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China will have evaporated. Can America find its way back from the edge of the abyss?