By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO –I’m sure that many Jews of my so-called “Baby Boomer” generation will recognize the way in which my late mother Alice would have reacted to two stories in Tuesday’s San Diego Union-Tribune. One story told about how movie mogul Harvey Weinstein may be facing life imprisonment for rape and the other sexual crimes of which he is accused. The other article told how attorney Michael Cohen, the subject of various federal investigations, may “flip” on President Donald J. Trump to save his own skin.
My mother would have winced reading both these articles because those accused of misdeeds have very obvious Jewish names. Whenever someone in the news did something terrible, mother’s immediate prayer was “please, don’t let him be Jewish.” You can imagine how distraught she was when the fellow who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, thus impeding the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, turned out to be Jack Ruby, who was Jewish. I can just see mom now putting hands to her head and shaking it slowly back and forth, “No! No! No!”
Mom had two reasons for feeling the way she did. First, having been born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1912, she was all too familiar with the anti-Semitism in the United States that saw its vilest expression in some of the local citizenry voicing support for the Nazi regime of Adolph Hitler. Whenever a Jew did something bad, mom believed that it gave ammunition to homegrown Nazis and other bigots. In Yiddish-English, she would inveigh against committing a Shonda (disgrace) in front of the goyim (the people of other nations).
There was a second reason, which, to my way of thinking, really was more important than the first. She fervently believed that a Jew should conduct himself or herself with dignity, and be an upstanding member of our American society. We should vote, pay taxes uncomplainingly, give charitable donations, volunteer for good causes, and be a “light unto the nations.” Back in New Rochelle, mom was a block captain for the Community Chest. After moving to San Diego, she became active in Congregation Beth Israel’s program to assist Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union. When she had the opportunity to help a refugee named “Dora,” tears flooded mom’s eyes. Her own mother “Dora” had been helped by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society when she immigrated during the late 19th century to the United States. Now my mother had the opportunity, in essence, to return the favor.
Although their names were in smaller print, mom would have been happy to see that two other Jews mentioned in Tuesday’s edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune were playing seemingly positive roles in American society. One was attorney Alan Dershowitz, a well-regarded legal scholar, who was quoted in the story about Cohen that there were several possibilities that might arise in Cohen’s situation and keep him out of jail. President Trump might pardon Cohen, who had once been his personal lawyer. Or, special prosecutor Robert Mueller might grant him immunity in return for testimony concerning any Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election.
The other mention which would have pleased mother came in a story about the various candidates President Trump is considering to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The article quoted Senator Chuck Schumer, D- New York, who is the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate, explaining that Appeals Court Judge Coney Barrett may run into opposition for her perceived support for overturning the nation’s abortion laws. Schumer said Barrett “will be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and to strike down preexisting conditions protections in the ACA. (Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama Care).” I can’t recall ever discussing the controversy over the nation’s abortion laws with my mother, so I can’t say for certain on what side of the issue she would have landed. But, regardless of that, I have a feeling that she’d be very proud that Schumer, a fellow Jew, had risen to the high position of U.S. Senate Minority Leader. And she certainly would have kvelled that three members of the U.S. Supreme Court – Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan—are also Jews.
In many ways, I am my mother’s son. I take pride in Jewish achievement and I feel terrible when my fellow Jews behave badly. Unlike my mother, I don’t worry that the Nazis will suddenly take power in the United States or that anti-Semitism will someday become the norm in this country. I believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans—regardless of their political party—are warm and welcoming to American Jews, even if they find some of our customs strange.
On what do I base such an opinion? For five years during my adulthood, I continuously wore a kippah, taking it off only to shower or to go to bed. I wanted to know what I would encounter as a fully identified Jew in American society. Would I run into bigots? Would I be shunned? No, it was quite the reverse. Non-Jews often would come up to me to ask questions about Judaism, the most frequent question being about the rules of kashrut. Fellow Jews likewise would greet me warmly, letting me know that they too are “Members of the Tribe.”
So, why don’t I wear a kippah today? Because it implies a religiosity I do not feel. Those who met me assumed I was Orthodox, which I am not. Our family worships at a Conservative congregation. Further, as one who eats out fairly often, I felt that wearing the kippah in restaurants might falsely signal to passersby that the restaurant was kosher. There are almost no strictly kosher, public eating places in San Diego, although the growing number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants give options to observant Jews. Figuring that five years had been a more than adequate time to test the American populace’s reaction to an easily identifiable Jew, I stopped wearing the kippah continuously, I concluded that the reaction of my fellow American citizens indeed had been positive.
If only my mother, who died in 1987, had lived long enough to see it!
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Yes, it is embarrassing that many of the men accused of sexual harassment/harassment were Jewish. I wish I could have met your mother. Interesting about the kippah.