This year's Fourth of July: A moment for American Jewry - opinion

The Fourth of July is an annual celebration of democracy. In the modern era, democracies have supplanted oppressive forms of government, protected individual rights, and liberated the human spirit. Affording every citizen political and economic freedom, democracy has unleashed immense human potential, generating a modern world of progress and expansion.

The US is the greatest democracy of the modern era. It began as a “city on a hill” meant to showcase democratic principles of government. Not only did the US launch this experiment, but in the 20th century it courageously defended democracy against the threat of totalitarianism and Communism.

Though the Fourth of July is an American holiday, in a larger sense it celebrates the general spread of democracy.

American Jews in particular have a lot to celebrate. Jewish life in America has blossomed with unprecedented vigor. For the first time in our exile, we don’t inhabit the margins of society as strangers but have become deeply and organically incorporated within the fabric of the country in which we live. Jewish success in America is not to be taken for granted, and the Fourth of July commemorates these historic achievements and offers an opportunity to express gratitude to America.

The Fourth of July is also a day to consider the failings of modern democracy and the perils for religion and for religious values. By stressing the individual over the collective, modern society has glorified personal choice and personal expression. National, communal, or collective identities that preach traditional values have become disregarded. Without strong communal or national identity, traditional values such as family and morality erode. America’s cultural melting pot encourages people to quietly disappear into a faceless suburban landscape.

The Fourth of July is a day to appreciate democracy, celebrate Jewish life in America, and also ponder the moral challenges that democracy poses.

A moment

This year, though, the Fourth of July is different. It is an inflection point for the American Jewish community.

Oct. 7 and the ensuing eight to nine months shattered previously held notions of Jewish life in America, transforming a once confident community into one grappling with renewed vulnerability. A community that had felt embraced and embedded faced resurgent and rabid antisemitism which cast them as outsiders, challenging their sense of acceptance and security in a land they once viewed as their home. American society had appeared to be tolerant and respectful, but it became quickly evident that antisemitism had always simmered beneath the surface. The landscape has shifted for American Jews.

For many, this has been a devastating blow, one that ruptured their identity. For many Jews, the crusade for social justice is a keystone of Jewish identity. Many American Jews viewed themselves as equal partners in this lofty calling to craft a better society of equality and tolerance. Watching so many of their presumed partners turn their backs on the Jews shattered their conceptions of American society.

Other Jews, who were more culturally insulated, felt less betrayed by the surfacing of antisemitism. Their Jewish identity was less centered on a partnership with the broader society, as they viewed themselves as less integrated within the general culture.

Either way, for American Jews across the ideological spectrum, Oct. 7 marked a seismic shift in how they perceive Jewish life in America.

This is a cognitive moment for American Jews. It is a moment of collective awakening and of shifting identity. It is difficult to predict the future. At some point, as it has been in every country we lived in throughout history, the American Jewish experience will come to a close. The terminus for the Jewish people is our collective homeland.

Some Israelis wish that life in America becomes less secure for Jews, to encourage more rapid aliyah. I am uncomfortable wishing unease or antisemitism upon any of my fellow Jews, regardless of where they live and independent of whether it inspires their return to Israel. Such calculations are better left to God.

Previous moments in Jewish history

But this year has certainly been a turning point. Throughout Jewish history there were similar turning points, during which it became evident that we were no longer fully welcome in our host countries.

The 1391 Massacre in Spain had a profound and devastating impact on Jewish life and foreshadowed our tragic expulsion a hundred years later. The violent pogroms against Russian Jews in the 1880s awakened us to our own helplessness and launched the first stages of what would become mass immigration to the West. Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the Nuremberg Laws enacted in 1935 signaled that Berlin wasn’t little Jerusalem. These were similar cognitive moments in Jewish history when we realized that our life in exile would no longer be peaceful.

The US of 2024 stands somewhat apart from these. Though Jews face vitriol and hate, by and large antisemitism hasn’t infiltrated the government. It is very easy to draw comparisons with Germany, but the situation in America is still very different, and we hope it remains that way. Despite our valuing of aliyah, every Jew should wish well-being for other Jews, no matter where they live. The war and its aftermath highlighted just how co-dependent Israel and the American Jewish community are. Hopefully, life in America remains tranquil and successful.

It is undeniable, though, that the war and the outbreak of antisemitism have forced American Jews to reconsider their attitudes toward Israel. This recalibration is healthy and important. It is fair to say that some American Jews had become too comfortable in America, took Israel for granted, and didn’t properly incorporate Israel into their Jewish identity. The past year has reminded every Jew that no Jew will ever be fully safe without the Jewish state.

For American Jews, this year’s Fourth of July is a day to adjust their relationship with America, a country that has offered us so much but can never be called “home.”

Spreading prosperity

While pondering the American Jewish experience, it is also crucial to appreciate the impact and influence of Jews on America. Over the past 150 years, Jews have helped to propel the US to prominence as a world leader. In diverse fields ranging from academia and medicine to business and the arts, Jews have left an indelible mark on the fabric of American society, contributing profoundly to its intellectual, cultural, and economic vitality.

This is our legacy – to bring prosperity and welfare to humanity. This has also been our history. Almost every country that warmly embraced Jews experienced growth and progress. After expelling us, countries suffered steep declines.

Jews helped advance Europe to its golden age in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tragically, Hitler brought a murderous end to mass Jewish presence in Central Europe, and this region has never recovered its past glory. A similar fate befell Russia. Twice in a span of a century, Russia hounded the Jews. The tsarist regimes of the 19th century institutionalized a series of discriminatory decrees meant to harass and persecute us. In the 20th century, through mass executions and forced deportations, Stalin attempted to purge Communist Russia of its Jews. Russia still hasn’t recovered.

God told Abraham that he will be a blessing for other nations, and we have dutifully served this mission, supporting and praying for local governments while improving the surrounding society. We have brought values, spirit, and innovation to the American experiment, and we should be proud of this accomplishment. We hope, though, that America won’t suffer the fate of other countries that ousted their Jews.

Until every Jew returns home, we continue to bring prosperity to all those who will accept it and embrace us. 

The writer is a rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion/Gush, a hesder yeshiva, with ordination from Yeshiva University and a master’s in English literature from CUNY. He is the author of Dark Clouds Above, Faith Below (Kodesh Press), which provides religious responses to Oct. 7.