Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Addresses Anti-Semitism in 2014

On April 2^nd in Koch Auditorium, students of Yeshiva University were privileged to hear the Hillel Rogoff Memorial Lecture delivered by Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. His address, entitled “Reflections on Current Events: Anti-Semitism in 2014,” concentrated on the biggest anti-Semitic challenges facing the American Jewish community today and what the future holds for the millennial generation.  Foxman has been with the ADL for forty-nine years and will be retiring next year after fifty years of work.

Founded in 1913, the Anti-Defamation League is the nation’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism. Before his lecture, Foxman privately talked with students of the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program, opening the floor to a wide array of questions. He spoke about his experience as a Holocaust survivor; he was saved and adopted by his Catholic nanny as a child and eventually reunited with his parents. He discussed how his savior acted “partially on instinct and partially on faith,” yet at the end of the day, there is no distinct pattern that determines whether someone is willing to risk his life to save another. He believes that someday we will be able to map DNA to establish if people will act in a certain way, because as of now, there is no rhyme or reason for the incidences of Righteous Gentiles or anti-Semitic acts. Oskar Schindler, for example, was known by his acquaintances to be a nasty man, yet he saved 1,200 Jews.

Regarding anti-Semitism in the United States today, Foxman asserted that globally, anti-Semitism is the worst it has been since World War II. Unsurprisingly, anti-Semitism is lowest in the United States, but he stressed to remember that although we are not faced with the same level of bigotry as Europeans are, we are not immune to anti-Semitic acts. When asked whether he believes a Holocaust can happen again in the United States, Foxman replied that like other Holocaust survivors, he cannot say that it will never happen again. He pointed out that of the books he authored, one is titled Never Again? not Never Again!

Despite the comparatively low anti-Semitism rate in the United States today Foxman emphasized three specific challenges that we, as American Jews, will face in the coming years:

1) Changing demographics. Within ten or twenty years, the largest caucus in Congress will be Hispanic. This caucus will decide how much money the United States gives to Israel each year and will have a significant impact on issues of church and state. According to ADL polls, foreign-born Latinos are 40-42% infected with anti-Semitism, most likely because of their strong Christian faith and their lack of education in this area. However, American-born Latinos are only 20% anti-Semitic. The ADL has therefore concentrated heavily on educating Latinos, publishing Spanish informational packets and sponsoring numerous groups of Hispanics to Israel each year.

2) Devoutly religious Americans. 60-70% of Americans say that they believe in God, and 50-60% believe that American culture is an enemy of religion. Foxman personally is not bothered by certain infringements of separation of church and state, such as the Mount Soledad Cross in San Diego, but “when the Governor of Texas calls a prayer rally for Jesus…when the US Air Force Academy requires church services, [we see] there is still a battle for the future. The issue of religious freedom and religious tolerance is still out there, and that’s something we need to stand up for.”

3) The Internet. In Foxman’s book Viral Hate, he discusses how the United States struggles with the first amendment right of free speech and civility. The Internet has already destroyed privacy, but it is also affecting civility. When people lose the ability to communicate, the level of anger and polarization of opinion is intensified. Before the Internet, the ADL was able to choose which issues to respond to and which to ignore. Nowadays, however, every incident becomes a major topic because these issues are picked up by bloggers and spread quickly. The ADL now battles groups on Facebook such as “The Third Intifada,” a pro-Palestinian and anti-Semitic page.

Foxman concluded with a story about one of the ADL’s biggest accomplishments in the last hundred years. The ADL succeeded in passing a 1954 law in Georgia that allowed the KKK to proclaim their bigotry, but required them to be unmasked; this greatly decreased racist acts. However, “fast forward fifty years and along comes the Internet; the mask is back on the bigot.” Although Foxman stressed the importance of being aware of the threats that the Internet poses, all hope is not lost. As Foxman vehemently maintains, “I am an optimist…I still believe in the good of human beings. I know that there are more good people than hateful and ugly people. I have seen changes in this country. Have we eliminated anti-Semitism? No. But the glass is half full.”