|
|
Jewish World Review /Jan. 14, 1998 /25 Teves, 5759
Jonathan Tobin
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Have American Jews finally arrived?
WHAT DO ARLEN SPECTER, STEVEN SPIELBERG, BILL GOLDBERG, HOWARD STERN AND
JONATHAN POLLARD HAVE IN COMMON?
This isn't a trick question. Other than
their common Jewish heritage, probably not a single thing. But when viewed
as a group, these five well-known personalities do give us an interesting
insight on the place of Jews in 1999 America.
Just when did a small religious minority group like the Jews go mainstream
in this country? A once-powerless immigrant group today stands at the
center of American political, cultural and business life.
I wonder if any of our immigrant grandparents could have imagined that on
the eve of the 21st century, Jews would comprise 11 percent of the United
States Senate, dominate the entertainment industry as never before, while
at the same time boasting the most popular professional wrestler as well as
the most notorious spy in the country? Whether you look at this development
from either the positive or negative point of view, it's still quite an
achievement.
A MINYAN, PLUS ONE, IN THE U.S. SENATE
And as Lieberman and filmmaker Spielberg have proven, it is now also
possible for prominent American Jews to go public with their dedication to
Jewish issues and values, something that the Jewish movie moguls of the
1930s, such as Louis B. Mayer, never felt they could afford to do.
Even on the less praiseworthy side of American culture, Jews are able to be
openly and even proudly Jewish. The celebrity of an openly Jewish
pro-wrestler like Goldberg is a case in point.
AIDING THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
So should we be happy that the most popular wrestler today is someone whom
Jewish kids can call a hero? This is, at best, a mixed blessing. But, at
least we can console ourselves that Goldberg is a "good guy" wrestler and
not one of the bad guys. Thank heaven for small favors. If he was, I don't
doubt that a portion of the Jewish community would be up in arms over the
"anti-Semitic" nature of the wrestling tour.
Sinking even farther down the scale of cultural evolution is another
prominent Jew. As far as I am concerned,
But even he isn't ashamed to occasionally speak up on Jewish issues.
A year ago, friends of mine who are fans of the "shock jock," called to
inform me of how Stern had criticized Palestinian foes of Israel. They felt
that this assertion of Jewish pride by the loathsome Stern should cause his
Jewish critics like me to ease up on him. Sorry. I still believe that
nothing good for the Jews or anyone else can come from "The Howard Stern
Show."
POLLARD: THE LAST BASTION OF JEWISH INSECURITY
Pollard, the former U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who spied for Israel,
and who has been behind bars since 1985, is being considered for clemency
again. And, predictably, the push to end his long prison ordeal, and the
reluctance of many Jews to join in appeals for his release on humanitarian
grounds, is once again stirring up strong emotions.
For some Jews, Pollard has always been seen as a hero of sorts. They see
his betrayal of his oath as trivial compared to the perfidy of American
refusals to share some vital intelligence with Israel. Other Jews see
Pollard as a special villain who undermines confidence in the loyalty of
American Jews to their country. Over the last decade, these camps have
slugged it out in Jewish forums. But the truth is, they are both wrong.
But contrary to those Jews who would be happy if he rotted in jail for the
rest of his life, Pollard ought not to inspire any feelings of insecurity
on the part of American Jews. As Louis Brandeis said, there is no
contradiction between American patriotism and love for Zion.
The bottom line is, Pollard's life sentence was disproportionate to his
crime of spying for an ally. And the special hostility that defense and
intelligence officials have for him has more to do with animosity for
Israel than the gravity of his offense, which they continue to exaggerate
in stories leaked to The New York Times. The same people who have done
their best to forestall any chance of Pollard's release, such as former
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, did far worse things than Pollard. It
was they who helped build up the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
during the same time that Pollard was illegally leaking information on Iraq
to Israel.
Though the spooks in the Pentagon insist that Israel betrayed American
secrets they learned from Pollard to the Soviets, they are carefully
forgetting to mention that the CIA official who did the official damage
assessment on Pollard's spying was none other than Soviet mole Aldrich Ames!
Though I believe that Pollard is more an Israeli responsibility than an
American Jewish one (and thus I think Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's
attempt to free Pollard at the recent peace talks was entirely justified),
his presence still lingers unhappily on the fringes of our general
prosperity.
For all of our success, perhaps the day Jonathan Pollard is released -- thus
finally ending the worry about dual loyalty -- we will have truly arrived.
May that day come soon, both for his sake and
Political milestones such as the current makeup of the Senate are no longer
considered big news. After you've already had 10 Jewish members of the
100-person body, gaining an 11th in last year's elections (Charles Schumer
of New York) is generally considered no big deal. And it's not as if Sen.
Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the Senate's only observant Jew, is counting on
the other 10 for a minyan.
The point is, American Jews, even those who reach the top, are judged as
individuals, not as representatives of the Jewish people. Though
anti-Semitism is far from dead it is not a factor in
determining how high any American Jew can rise.
Lieberman
No one should ever mention Goldberg in the same breath as genuine Jewish
sports heroes like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax. Professional wrestling
is not a sport, it is theater. Nor, despite its popularity, do I find it to
be a particularly attractive aspect of our popular culture. If, as writer
George Will has said, football (a sport I do like) combines the two worst
aspects of American life - violence and committees - then how much worse is
pro wrestling, which combines violence and vulgarity.
Sure, some nice people enjoy it (even, it is rumored, some unnamed
individuals on the staff of the Jewish Exponent), but the rise to
prominence of pro wrestling has to be counted among the indicators that
pessimistic philosopher Oswald Spengler really was right: The West is
declining.
radio host Howard Stern represents
the thin edge of the wedge of the decline of Western civilization. Stern is
emblematic of the vulgarization and dumbing down of American pop culture.
Stern
But for all of our acceptance, the Jonathan Pollard story represents the
last bastion of Jewish insecurity.
Pollard is no hero. At best, he can be considered a victim of unscrupulous
Israeli intelligence agents (and their government) who exploited his naive
sympathy for Zionism. His crimes were serious and deserved punishment.
Pollard
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
01/06/99 Israel: The Millennial Theme Park
12/30/98 Memo to Bubba: Israel ain't Monica, keep yer hands off!
12/22/98 Calling Things by Their Right Names
12/12/98 Good news...and bad news
11/05/98 What price free-speech?
10/30/98: Haunted by the past
10/23/98: American Jewry: Ethnicity or faith?
10/15/98: Converts, saints and Jews:
Confronting the story of Edith Stein
10/02/98: Bibi: No Messiah, just a politician
9/11/98: Politics ‘98: By their enemies shall ye know them
9/04/98: Pro-terror groups' cry of discrimination rings hollow
8/28/98: Defending the undefendable;Or, the AJCongress should stop wasting Jewish resources
8/21/98: Is 'Jewish journalism' an oxymoron?
8/14/98: Holding on to our heroes
8/07/98: Three strikes, but they continue to play
7/23/98: Zionist vs Zionist
7/17/98: Summer news stories: Large and small
7/13/98: A step closer to school choice
6/26/98: The Holocaust Museum and Mort Klein
6/12/98: What price Jewish education?
6/5/98:
Ten books for a long, hot summer:
A serious vacation reading list for Jewish history lovers
5/29/98:
Double standards here and there:
Hypocrisy raises its ugly head in Israel and the U.S.
5/26/98: Hartford Seminary tangle points to bigger issues
5/22/98:The importance of being Bibi
5/14/98:
The ‘dream palace' of the anti-Zionists:
Hartford Seminary controversy has historic roots
4/26/98: All-rightniks versus the alarmists:
Focussing on the Jewish bottom line
4/13/98:Of ends and means and victims
4/5/98: Hang up on Albright
3/29/98: Bigshots or activists?: Clinton's three clerics return from China
3/27/98: Will American Jews help Clinton push Israel into a corner?
3/22/98: Anti-Semitism then and now
3/15/98: Still searching for Jews at the opera
3/11/98: Remembering Eric Breindel
3/8/98: Getting lost in history
3/5/98: Follow the money to Hamas
2/22/98: Re-writing "Anne Frank" - A distorted legacy
2/15/98: Religious persecution is still a Jewish issue
2/6/98: A lost cause remembered (the failure of the Bund)
2/1/98: Economic aid is not in Israel's interest
1/25/98: Jews are news, and a fair shake for Israel is hard to find
