Shearing the wolf: Judaism in America

By DONI KANDEL
I had the privilege of hearing my fellow JPost blogger, Shmuel Rosner, speak this week on the topic of the American Jewish community, and was perplexed by a point he raised, despite finding myself in complete agreement with him. He asserted that Jews are wildly popular in America.
As an individual who grew up in America I know this to be true. I experienced great excitement whenever a Jewish reference was made in pop-culture. If you found yourself grinning from ear to ear when a main character on House M.D. dropped “mah nishtana” into a conversation, or ever rocked out extra hard to the “lechayim” in Black Eyed Pea’s “I Gotta Feeling,” you know the feeling I am describing. However, after researching the new bill proposing a ban on circumcision in San Francisco and Santa Monica (a mere 15 minutes from where I grew up) a new feeling arose when contemplating these Hollywood nuggets of Yiddishkiet: dread. The bill has alleged constitutional pretenses but it bubbles with rampant anti-Semitic undertones. America may love Jewish culture, but I am not so sure it does not hate Judaism. Thus, it has become very clear to me that for the Jewish people, America is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The challenge of the exiled Jew (in or out of Israel) is to shear the wolf. Only an exposed wolf can be defeated so that the Jewish nation may live on. While our public enemies are great, our concealed ones are greater. Often they cloak themselves in wool so believable that we begin to doubt ourselves. They hide in the wool of international harmony (the UN) or brotherly love and Zionism (J Street), but we must be vigilant.
The story has been written in history over and over again yet the Jewish people remain illiterate in this regard. Many may feel the impending ban on Brit Milah is nothing more than an adaptation of “archaic” religious tradition, but I fear that it is far more serious. One of the main reasons the group proposing the ban, MGM Bill, gives for why one would cut off “such a valuable body part” is due to a “lucrative market for infant foreskins.” Is this not Shakespeare’s Shylock dressed in a new coat? Can we truly ignore the “Jews will do anything for money” refrain yet again?
While I do not mean to cause panic, I do feel a responsibility to raise these concerns with my readers. G-d blessed the Jewish people with keen intellect, but we must first know the facts if we are to process them correctly. In order for us to protect ourselves the wolf must be sheared clean and put out in the cold.