How Anti-Semitism and a Lack of Jewish Self-Confidence Slowed the Birth of Jewish Studies in America https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/history-ideas/2018/10/how-anti-semitism-and-a-lack-of-jewish-self-confidence-slowed-the-birth-of-jewish-studies-in-america/

As a graduate student at the University of Michigan in the 1960s, Robert Rockaway was surprised to find how many of his Jewish colleagues and professors were reticent about—or even ashamed of—the fact that they were Jews. His efforts, along with a handful of other students, to start a Jewish-studies program brought these feelings to the fore:

[O]ver three months, we met with Jewish professors in the history, political-science, philosophy, and Near Eastern-studies departments. The result was that only one professor . . . openly supported our efforts. [Likewise], when we first approached the Detroit Jewish Federation for money to fund a Jewish-studies program at Michigan, we got the same answer the professors gave: “It’s not a credible academic field.” . . .

As I reflect on those years, I now appreciate [the reasons behind] all the hesitation to express one’s Jewish identity openly: the concern about anti-Semitism. In the city of Detroit in the 1960s, the Detroit Athletic Club barred Jews from membership. Private golf courses restricted their membership to non-Jews. Certain neighborhoods, such as the affluent suburb of Grosse Pointe, maintained “gentlemen’s agreements” of not selling homes to Jews. And the Detroit Edison company and other firms did not hire Jews. . . .

But the memories of hard-core anti-Semitism, however scary, did not adequately account for the hesitancy to express any Jewish identity on the part of my Jewish peers and faculty members at the university. Abandoning or hiding from your heritage in order to be accepted has never worked. It did not work in Europe and it does not work in America. . . .

Once upon a time, persecution was the glue that held non-religious Jews together, but it no longer appears to play a significant role in Jewish survival in America. However, surveys and journalistic pieces in the general and Jewish press point to a resurgence of overt anti-Jewish sentiment in the United States, perhaps especially on college campuses and among academics. I can only wonder what impact this new turn of the wheel will have on the future of Jewish-American identity and attitudes, and on American Jewish life.

Read more on Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/272687/anti-semitism-jewish-studies-1960s