The saga continues at http://thebookofsparks.blogspot.com/

CONCLUSION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We have always loved America much more than America has loved us.  Therefore, total assimilation must be resisted if we are to remain Jews in America.  In order to facilitate a spiritual revival in Jewish America, and maintain a Jewish identity here, the continued rise of intermarriage must be opposed.

Complacency toward the United States government's reduction of support for Israeli policies of West Bank settlement, and the official reuniting of Jerusalem, must end to prevent the "surrender" of Jewish America's "collective self".  Jewish America, as the largest Jewish community in the world, must support Israel, and its relations with the Palestinians if we are to maintain a homeland at all.  The only viable alternative is a return to the ideals of Zionist thought - return to Israel.

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Thanks goes to the contributions from the following:  Alfonse D'Amato, Arthur Hertzberg, Irving Howe, Walter Laqueur, Arthur Morse, David Wyman.

JEWISH AMERICA'S POLITICS 1967-1973

Jewish America was overwhelmingly in support of Israel during the 6-Day War of 1967, raising $100,000,000 in emergency funding, and going to Israel to work in civilian jobs so Israelis could fight.  The emergence of the Jewish New Left, however, led by Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (who, I must admit, were humorous heroes in my late teen years), turned our views in a more conservative direction.  Although nearly nonexistent beforehand, awareness of the Jewish New Left caused an increase in anti-Semitism.  Following the 6-Day War, we began the "get-out-of-Vietnam" movement.  Jewish America's support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 was noticeably less than in 1967.

THE JEWISH EFFECT ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 1939-1988

The Jewish vote has had a significant effect on Presidential elections.  Our votes for Franklin Roosevelt increased with each reelection, bouyed by his domestic initiatives in spite of his immigration stance.  We were instrumental in the defeat of Richard Nixon in 1960, and were the only white ethnicity to vote against Ronald Reagan's reelection in 1984.  Only 30% of us voted for George H.W. Bush in 1988.

JEWISH SUPPORT OF LIBERAL CAUSES

We were the most liberal white ethnicity in America.  In the 1950s we helped champion the cause of African America, including the leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), until the emergence of Martin L. King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X, and others.  We defended civil liberties, fighting discrimination in the courts because it was counter to the United States Constitution.  Also, we were active in social legislation for the deprived.

EMIGRATION TO THE SUBURBS

Instead of emigrating to Israel, Jewish America emigrated to the suburbs, where living among non-Jews made us more aware of our Jewishness.  The effect of the "necessity" to assimilate caused many to believe our Jewishness was merely an "accident of birth".  Intermarriage (38% by 1987) caused many to ask, especially in Israel, "Who is a Jew?".  Suburban synagogues became nothing more than meeting-places, with figurehead rabbis and minimum educational facilities.  However, Jewish orthodoxy was reemerging, led by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson.  These new Orthodox Jews set out to "proselytize" the Conservative and Reform Jews (including me - I was raised Conservative and started on the Chabad path in 2001), and developed their own yeshivas.