Every day that goes by comes more evidence that anti-Semitism isn’t a thing of the past. It still grips modern-day America, and a deadly domino effect is pushing its way through the nation leaving Jewish blood in its wake. Indeed, the recent Chabad synagogue shooting in San Diego left three attendants injured and one dead. Disturbingly, the 19-year-old gunman left an online manifesto citing the Pittsburgh and New Zealand shootings as his inspiration.
While the shooters in this harrowing string of attacks on religious minorities all claim to be coming to the defense of their nation, there is nothing so un-American as merciless violence against innocent synagogue worshipers.
The lingering hate for Judaism is a surprise for many Jews. “Even back home, we never feared getting killed,” a Russian-Jewish relative of mine said while watching the news. Like the rest of my family, she escaped religious persecution in the Soviet Union. She was one of millions who fled bullying, discrimination, and even physical abuse because of her Jewish heritage. But neither she nor any of the Russian Jews with whom I’ve spoken could recall anyone they knew being murdered for their Jewish faith. Now, halfway around the world, all that has changed.
After decades of persecution under the USSR, it was ironically in America, the land of the free, that my family first lost people we knew to anti-Semitism in the Pittsburgh synagogue attack. “This is not the America we fought so hard to get to,” my father said. “We didn’t come all this way to fear our children getting shot.” Meanwhile, in this latest California synagogue, a family of Iranian Jewish refugees overcame unimaginable hardships to come to the U.S. just to stare murder in the face.
Anti-Semitism has a long and painful history around the world, and America has long been seen as something of an exception. No longer. The painful stereotypes that perpetuated violence against Jews overseas are rearing their ugly heads here.
For example, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., have both espoused anti-Semitic tropes. King was caught meeting with a far-right Austrian with Nazi ties, while Omar had joked on Twitter “it’s all about Benjamins,” implying a secretive, financial undercurrent for America’s support for Israel. In Russia, that same logic was espoused by the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated text that suggested Jews were trying to “buy power and influence,” inspiring violent pogroms. Such stereotypes against Jews, founded in racist and socialist ideology, seem especially out of place in the United States, a nation of immigrants and the defender of capitalism.
In the long and painful history of anti-Semitism, there were times when America admitted millions of Jews fleeing persecution, and dark chapters when we turned refugees away to their deaths.
But those Jewish refugees who were offered safe haven gave back in return, helping to found many of the largest U.S. companies, from Google to Warner Brothers, which employ thousands of Americans. In fact, Jews have played an integral part in American history dating all the way back to the revolution. So anyone who imagines America would be more “American” without Jews, like the Pittsburgh and San Diego shooters, is gravely mistaken.
My Jewish parents were astounded by the complete lack of persecution and fear they felt when they arrived in America. It blew their minds that Jews would wander the streets in kippas, or openly admit their Judaism to others. They were likewise astounded by how seamlessly they could integrate with the rest of society.
Few people asked or cared about your religion or ethnicity. You were judged based on your skills, not your name or your curly hair. This was the American dream.
Today, many of us see that dream fading — not just for Jews, but Muslim and Christian worshipers too. Some in my community say they are fearful to attend synagogue again.
The United States and other democratic Western nations were built upon shared values such as freedom of religion, assembly, and expression. Ours is a nation of immigrants, accepting people of all creeds and aware of the value of diversity. The wave of Russian Jews such as my family was a wave of scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, and innovators who, like previous waves of immigrants, shaped America into what it is today.
There can be no United States without religious freedom for Jews, Muslims, Christians, and any other group that may feel threatened. I can think of nothing more un-American than depriving innocent worshipers of their life, liberty, and piece of mind.
Adam Barsouk is a medical student, cancer researcher, Young Voices contributor, and author.
