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2. JEWISH IDENTITY: EARLY 20TH CENTURY
BIBL-8031 | Jewish Identity & Continuity | Week 5

3. Jews as Semites in Europe

4. Fagin in “Oliver Twist”
Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice”
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
Depicted political cartoons

5. Jews Embrace Race
As Society secularized and
Jews were emancipated
Many Jews embraced Race
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England

6. Jews Embrace Race
Benjamin Disraeli presented himself
as racially superior because Judaism
is the roots of Christianity
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England

7. “All is race: there is no other truth”
Sidonia, the Jewish superwoman
speaking to a gathering of English
aristocrats.
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England
Disraeli, Tancred, 1847

8. All is race; there is no other truth, and every race must fall which carelessly
su
ff
ers its blood to become mixed.
Benjamin Disraeli, Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography, (1852): 331.

9. Jews used racial language as a positive way to self-identity…
Jews drew comfort from a racial self-de
fi
nition during the late
nineteenth century because it gave them a sense of stability at
a time when old distinctions of Jewish identity were
disappearing.
Eric Goldstein, “Di
ff
erent Blood Flows in Our Veins,” American Jewish History, 85 no. 1 (March, 1997): 29-55.

10. Early Zionism & Race

11. Zionists in Germany…England, Russia, and the United States employed the language
of science and academic research in the
fi
elds of anthropology, biology, medicine, and
sociology to a
ffi
rm the distinctiveness of the Jewish people.
Doron Avraham, “Reconstructing a Collective: Zionism and Race.” The Historical Journal 60, no. 2 (2017): 471–92. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26343366.

12. Racial Distinctions
Jews became categorized as Semites in Europe
Jews became categorized as Hebrews in America
Non-Jews were categorized as “Gentiles,” not “Christians”

13. Wilhelm Marr
1879
Coined the term Anti-Semitism
In contrast with Anti-Judaism
13

14. Jews as Hebrews in America

17. Immigration to US
1880 - 1924
In America
Jews were not white or black
Jews were Hebrew

18. Immigration to US
1880 - 1924
Rise of American Nativism
Fears of non-white immigrants
impacted Jewish immigration

19. Immigration Act 1924
Johnson Reed Act
Limited Jewish immigration into the
US to 2% of the total Jewish US
population

20. Jews as Jewish-Americans
Irving Berlin, 1942

21. Jewish Americans Before WWII
• Forsaking the Old Country
• Forsaking Yiddish
• Pressing children to be successful Americans
• Pressing children to identify as Jewish-Americans

22. Jews Proudly Served in World War II

23. Robert Oppenheimer’s Drive to Stop Hitler

25. How Jewish Hollywood de
fi
ned the white Christian American identity

26. Superman
• Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
• DC Comics, 1938
• First published in Action Comics

27. Superman
• Immigrant, Refugee from Krypton
• Birth name Kal-El (Voice of God)
• Tried to blend in by wearing glasses
• Clark Kent is “nebbish”
• He is pushed around & dismissed
• True Identity is strong hero
• Advocate for justice
• Supernatural Strength
• Loves America
• Fights to keep it just for all people

28. Truth, Justice, & the American Way
Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel used to say,
“On three things does the world stand:
Truth, Justice, and Peace; as it is said:
“execute the judgment of truth and peace
in your gates” (Zechariah 8:16)
Mishne Pirke Avot 1:18

29. Joe Schuster & Jerry Siegel creators of Superman (BBC, 1981)

30. Implications for Jewish Ministry

31. Implications for Jewish Ministry
1. Avoid Cultural or Racial Essentialism
31

32. Jewish people today are uncomfortable with racial identity
32

33. Racial essentialism is the belief that people of di
ff
erent "races"
have inherently di
ff
erent race-based identities
Ye Zhang Pogue, “The Importance of Recognizing Racial Essentialism”, (Psychology Today, 2022)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-identity/202207/the-importance-recognizing-racial-essentialism-in-psychotherapy

34. Jews are all smart because God blessed the Jews
Jews are all
fi
nancially successful because God blessed…
Jews are great deal makers
Ye Zhang Pogue, “The Importance of Recognizing Racial Essentialism”, (Psychology Today, 2022)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-identity/202207/the-importance-recognizing-racial-essentialism-in-psychotherapy

35. I’m a negotiator like you folks…Is there anyone in this room who
doesn’t know how to negotiate a deal?…This room can
negotiate deals! Perhaps [you guys] more than any other room
I’ve been in [nervous laughter in the crowd].
Trump addressing to a Republican Jewish Coalition
Jeremy Diamond, “Trump to Republican Jewish Coalition: ‘I’m a negotiator like you’, CNN, (3 December 2015)

36. Implications for Jewish Ministry
1. Avoid Cultural or Racial Essentialism
2. Avoid questioning American loyalty, or associating Zionism with American
Jews
36

37. American Jews are uncomfortable with Christians assuming that they are all Zionists,
and many feel it questions their American loyalties. Associating Jews with Israel and
calling it “your country” questions American loyalties
37

38. Backers of a series of pro-Israel bills forgot what country they represent.
Rashida Tlaib, Tweet, January, 2019
I want to talk about the political in
fl
uence in this country that says it is okay to push for
allegiance to a foreign country.
Ilhan Omar at Town Hall Meeting Feb, 2019
https://www.jta.org/2019/01/08/ideas/rashida-tlaib-should-at-least-learn-the-history-behind-the-dual-loyalty-canard
https://jewishinsider.com/2019/02/reps-omar-and-tlaib-anti-semitism-charges-shut-down-criticism-of-israel/