Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
The post-war politics of American Jews were shaped more by Jewish experience than Jewish tradition.
Lawrence Fuchs argued that liberalism emerged ineluctably from Jewish values, which stressed the importance of charity and social justice.
Prior to the late nineteenth century, the Jewish political orientation in Europe and the Arab lands was passive. Jews feared the state and were detached from political involvement. Since the parties of the left in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries favored Jewish emancipation and opposed anti‑Semitism, Jews naturally supported the political left and distrusted the political establishment, which was often anti‑Semitic. In addition, the growth in Europe of an urban Jewish proletariat in the late nineteenth century encouraged Jews to look to various forms of socialism as panaceas for their economic and social difficulties
These liberal and leftist political impulses were reinforced when Jews migrated to America. The Forward, the most important Yiddish daily paper, was a socialist journal. It had on its masthead the slogan, “Workers of the World Unite.” The political left in America, particularly during the 1930s, identified itself with the interests of what were termed the “urban masses,” which included Jews. In addition, the fact that Franklin D. Roose*velt led America into war against Hitler intensified Jewish support for the liberal wing of the Democratic party. Jews, judge Jonah Goldstein jested, had three velts (worlds): die velt (this world), yene velt (the other world), and Roosevelt.
With good reason, Jews identified anti‑Semitism with the right. This accounted for their interpretation of Nazism as a right‑wing, reactionary movement, despite the fact that the word Nazism stood for National Socialism. In addition, they attributed the rise of Hitler to the economic and social dislocations caused by the Great Depression. A society that provided good housing, jobs, unemployment insurance, health care, and educational opportunities would, they believed, be less immune to anti‑Semitic demagogues. Liberalism was thus a bulwark against anti‑Semitism.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-and-liberal-politics/
Lawrence Fuchs argued that liberalism emerged ineluctably from Jewish values, which stressed the importance of charity and social justice.
Prior to the late nineteenth century, the Jewish political orientation in Europe and the Arab lands was passive. Jews feared the state and were detached from political involvement. Since the parties of the left in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries favored Jewish emancipation and opposed anti‑Semitism, Jews naturally supported the political left and distrusted the political establishment, which was often anti‑Semitic. In addition, the growth in Europe of an urban Jewish proletariat in the late nineteenth century encouraged Jews to look to various forms of socialism as panaceas for their economic and social difficulties
These liberal and leftist political impulses were reinforced when Jews migrated to America. The Forward, the most important Yiddish daily paper, was a socialist journal. It had on its masthead the slogan, “Workers of the World Unite.” The political left in America, particularly during the 1930s, identified itself with the interests of what were termed the “urban masses,” which included Jews. In addition, the fact that Franklin D. Roose*velt led America into war against Hitler intensified Jewish support for the liberal wing of the Democratic party. Jews, judge Jonah Goldstein jested, had three velts (worlds): die velt (this world), yene velt (the other world), and Roosevelt.
With good reason, Jews identified anti‑Semitism with the right. This accounted for their interpretation of Nazism as a right‑wing, reactionary movement, despite the fact that the word Nazism stood for National Socialism. In addition, they attributed the rise of Hitler to the economic and social dislocations caused by the Great Depression. A society that provided good housing, jobs, unemployment insurance, health care, and educational opportunities would, they believed, be less immune to anti‑Semitic demagogues. Liberalism was thus a bulwark against anti‑Semitism.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-and-liberal-politics/
