Leonard Dinnerstein pt 1: Antisemitism in America

Описание: Leonard Dinnerstein interview, part 1

This interview with Leonard Dinnerstein took place at his home in 2010. He was the Director of the Judaic Studies department at the University of Arizona. He died in 2019. His research specialty was antisemitism, particularly in the United States. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most influential, pioneer scholars in this field, and antisemitism (and beyond!) was the subject of this interview. Among others, his books included ANTISEMITISM IN AMERICA, ETHNIC AMERICANS: A HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION, THE LEO FRANK CASE, and AMERICA AND THE SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST.

At Dinnerstein’s passing, fellow scholar David Gerber eulogized him, saying:

“The death early in 2019 of Leonard Dinnerstein marks the passing of the premier historian of American antisemitism. Others might have plumbed greater depths of complexity or been more interpretively venturesome. No one, however, has so completely made the subject their own, written with greater confidence, or discovered and made extensive use of a wider range of sources than Dinnerstein did in multiple essays and reviews, two significant monographs, and the crowning work of his career, Anti-Semitism in America (1994). That work remains one of only two one-volume surveys on the subject. Yet Anti-Semitism in America exposes unresolved tensions in Dinnerstein's thought, and in our understanding of American Jewish history, and by extension, our understanding of America itself.”

Among professor Dinnerstein’s observations:

Christianity as a root of Western antisemitism;
“the Jewish community started working against public antisemitism in the early 20th century … but it’s not until the end of World War II when the Jewish organizations unite to actively seek legislation … trying to make it illegal to be bigoted.”

Jewish activism in fighting antisemitism; Jewish activism in immigration laws; Antisemitism and African-Americans – high levels of antisemitism in the black community.

“Jews were the money-lenders in medieval Europe. It’s one of the occupations they were allowed. They charged interest. Nobody likes people they owe money to. The stereotype develops that Jews are money-hungry, Jews control the banks, Jews control economics. There is some evidence in the 19th and early 20th century that Jews were prominent in banking.”

“Adolf Hitler was very strong on Christianity” (“He was anti-everybody but for public purposes he embraced Jesus.”)

Shylock stereotype; Jewish influence in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); CORE (Congress for Racial Equality): “In 1966 a member of CORE got angry at a meeting one time and there were Jews present, and he said ‘Hitler should have made more lamp shades out of you.’ By 1969 the organization was defunct because when the Jews stopped supporting the organization, they didn’t have any money”; Black leaders who have made antisemitic statements include Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan.

Antisemitism, per Israel: “There is no ‘new” antisemitism. There is little antisemitism in the United States now than there has ever been … There are many people in this country, especially college students, who really embrace causes, who are not happy with Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians … They believe that Israel isn’t treating the Palestinians properly and that the Palestinians are subject to torture, or subject to restrictions. There you are. That’s the truth. They are.”

“I don’t know how many other countries base their foreign policy on Biblical prophecies but there is a certain segment of Jews who believe that”; “Should there be a Jewish state? Emotionally, I support it 100%. Intellectually, I have some problems. But most people don’t distinguish between morally and intellectually. Most people respond with their gut reaction.”

“Many Jews … owned businesses in Black neighborhoods. Blacks complained: the quality of the merchandise was not good. That was true. And that the price was higher. That was true. And therefore the Jews were robbing them. That is built on religious prejudice.”

Jewish housewives’ predominance in the so-called “Black Slave Trade” (hiring/exploiting Black women standing on streetcorners in Jewish neighborhoods looking for housework and such); “In Jewish culture, there is no respect for people who work with their hands … Gentiles work with their hands.”

The profound importance of the Holocaust and Israel starting in about 1967 (Israel’s war with neighboring Arab states).

“Jewish exceptionalism”: “The Jews that I know think they’re better than the Gentiles. Or most of the Jews I know. [There is a Yiddish] expression [goyishe kop], again, of what, translated … means ‘a head like a Gentile.’ In Yiddish, it means stupid. Really stupid. Like, ‘What can you expect? They’re Goyim.” I still use the expression. Some of my friends still use the expression … If you say they’re prejudicial, they’ll say ‘no, they’re not prejudicial.’” Etc.