In “A Time For Healing American Jewry Since World War II”, the author Edward S. Shapiro notes that After the World War II, in an era in which United States was rebuilding, the American Jews were confronted with additional new challenges such as the tragic loss of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and the need to help the survivors of the Holocaust to economically and socially integrate themselves. There was also the question of the continuity of the Jewish people, and the role of the Jewish people in the world. The majority of American Jews rejected the doctrine of despair and sought to build and rebuild the future of Yiddishkeit. Within this milieu, the American Jews sought to integrate themselves into the American society as American, to be acculturated, while preserving their Jewish identity.
Given that the Jews of Europe had been decimated, the Jewish community in America became “the most important Jewish community in the world. Nowhere else was there a Jewish community with its numbers, wealth, and intellectual resources”. They sought to support and provide for their brethren who survived the Holocaust and the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael. They also realized the need for a supportive environment for their children that would perpetuate their identity as Jews. In exchange, the author of this piece, Edward Shapiro notes that Allied Powers were not that preocupied with the fate of European Jewry, and they did not take the measures needed to end the slaughter of the Jews in the Nazi death camps. Moreover, Great Britain and US did not agree to admit Jewish refugees and England did not permit a larger number of Jewish refugees to go to Palestine. Even in the aftermath of World War II, the survivors did not have where to go as the opposition against allowing emigration remained. The movies and books that dealt with the theme of the Holocaust would not have an immediate effect in US until a decade later. Shapiro notes that the American attitudes towards immigration reflect trends of indifference from the American public in regards to the Holocaust, as the immigration policy in US was dominated by “nativism” and immigrants were regarded as undesirable. There were certain anti-Semitic sentiments present in US, such as that Jews were at least partially responsible for Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, and there were also anti-Semitic stereotypes present. Internally, these attitudes restricted the social and economic opportunities for Jews. There was also the image of the Jew as a warmonger, that is Americans believed that Jews wanted America to enter the War, because they wanted to look out for their own interests. There was also the belief that Jews in US were “too powerful”.
In terms of the process of acculturation, American Jews sought to integrate themselves in society in various ways. One way was their love for American sports, such as baseball. There were Jewish baseball fans and Jewish writers writing about baseball. There were also Jews who became famous in this field. One example is Hank Greenberg, an exemplary and famous Jewish baseball player who served in the military for four years, after which he made a comeback to the major league. He was the first Jew to be elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was proud in being Jewish, and so he earned the admiration of both non-Jew and Jews. The Jews admired him for choosing not to play on Yom Kippur. In 1945, the person who became Miss America was Bess Myerson, the daughter of Jewish immigrant workers, part of the left wing culture of US. She became ''the most famous contemporary Jewish woman'' (p.10). Her achievement was very remarkable because she was the child of poor, radical New York Jewish immigrants who succeeded at a time when there was much anti-Semitism and opposition to ''large scale immigration of Jewish immigration'' (p.10). Another way that Jews sought to integrate themselves was through their participation in the World War. Over half a million Jews served in the armed forces, 11000 Jewish soldiers dead, including Rabbi Alexander Goode, 24000 wounded, and 36000 decorated. This disproved the anti-Semitic accusations that Jews had tried to evade military service. Another way that Jews sought for acceptance is that they emerged determined to combat anti-Semitism. There were attempts to reassure the public that the Jews posed no threat, and they are assimilating into the American society. The American Jews feared that what happened in Germany with the rise of anti-Semitism could also take place in United States. In the media, the movies made during and after the war advocated for tolerance, emphasizing the heterogeneity of the military. The Great Depression movies sought not to put much emphasis on the Jewish identity of actors so as not to stir anti-Semitism. During the war, the Office of War Information encouraged the production of movies with Jewish characters because they thought it would help the war effort. There were movies made in the late 1940’s against religious discrimination and prejudice. The theme of a symbiosis between being American and being Jewish emerged in literature, in books and publications, and the media.
In the aftermath of the World War II, Shapiro notes that Jews learned that they had to fight for their own survival as they could not take their physical survival for granted. As the Six Day War of 1967 threatened to decimate nearly one quarter of the Jewish people, Jews remembered that they had encountered such threats before. Yet, in spite of the challenges they encountered, Jews in America believed that they will be able to contribute and succeed in the American society, and “Jewish survival became the most important Jewish imperative” (p. 27).
