Antisemitism

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

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The year was 1990 and I was a fourth grade student who attended Kadima Hebrew Academy day school. As I awoke one Friday morning to get ready for another day of Hebrew lessons, biblical stories and religious rituals, I had no clue that I would soon encounter my first first-hand experience of anti-Semitism. As my close friends and I sat in the auditorium reciting prayers as we did every Friday afternoon, our principal, Malka, entered the hall with an angry and disappointed look on her face. As she stood there with tears now running down her cheeks, she unfolded a poster that revealed a red swastika accompanied with the words ?Fuck You Jew.? Needless to say, I was shocked and infuriated by this experience, since I had expected that at this time in this country all people were readily accepted for their true identities. However, I realize now that such ideals are fantasy and exist only in dreamland, not here in the United States nor anywhere else in the world.

Indeed it is true that American acceptance of Jews has soared throughout the past fifty years to a current point where anti-Semitism is almost nonexistent. Jewish prestige in almost all areas of upper education, as demonstrated through their disproportionate achievement of Nobel Prize awards in areas of mathematics, science, and the arts. However, despite the modern trend towards Jewish acceptance, Jews are still very diligent to hide their success and limit the amount of exposure gained by their success. Consequently, J.J. Goldberg?s ?Jewish Power,? in title alone, is a book that has broken new grounds with open discussion of traditionally taboo topics. Throughout history Jews have been persecuted for their beliefs, practice, laws, appearance and thereby having endured the world?s greatest hatred. The age-old fear of antisemitism Goldberg argues,