March 17, 2016
I share columnist Charles Krauthammer's concern that too many American Jews view Holocaust memory as the substance of their Jewishness and agree that we need to base Jewish identity on positive Jewish content ("Identity and the Holocaust," Monday).
While the Holocaust happened in the past, the antisemitism that caused it is growing, so the lessons of the 1930s and '40s remain relevant.
That is why the American Jewish Committee, the global Jewish advocacy agency, has organized the largest protest against antisemitism in history, encouraging mayors in American and European cities to sign a statement denouncing antisemitism as incompatible with democratic values and committing to advance respectful coexistence in their own communities. To date, 310 mayors from 47 American states and 60 European mayors have signed.
Krauthammer is right: "Victimhood cannot be the foundation stone of Jewish identity." Standing up to hatred and bigotry is the way to prevent victimhood and enable Jewish life - full of positive Jewish content - to thrive.
|Marcia Bronstein, regional director, American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/South Jersey, Melrose Park, bronsteinm@ajc.org
