The collective performance of mainline American Jewish leadership should be evaluated as an incentive toward reforms and improvements. In the absence of any mechanism to accomplish that task, a collective 'report card' based on the experiences and observations of some long time Jewish activists is presented. This evaluation is timely, and even urgent, because Israel is facing extreme danger, anti-Semitism is increasing globally, and we look to our Jewish leaders for competent guidance.

The report shows American Jewish leadership, over all and with a few exceptions, has failed badly.This report evaluates the leadership as a whole based on total results since the end of WWII. Some organizations, such as Chabad-Lubavitch with their over 2,000 centers and global outreach, have a remarkable record of accomplishment but they are an exception. Naturally every organization will emphasize their strengths and achievements which they showcase on their web sites. To have a complete picture we must also note the major failures which are not being publicized. We cannot turn back the clock but a thorough self-examination is essential to making necessary improvements.

This article is not intended to single out any particular organization for criticism but rather to cite areas where the collective Jewish leadership has failed to respond. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, comprising over 50 organizations, represents the bulk of organized Jewry in America. The issues listed below should be the responsibility of this umbrella organization.

These are the findings listing areas of major failure where the need for improvement is painfully evident.

There was never any serious effort to replace the Six Million that perished in the Holocaust. Following WWII there were about 6 million Jews in America. If they had simply increased at a modest 1.5% per year (the same growth rate as Israeli Jews) those 6 million, from 1945 to 2004, would have grown to become 14 million. That is without any additional effort to replace those lost in WWII.

From 1945 to 2004 American Jews received three waves of Jewish immigrants: Holocaust survivors, Immigration from Israel and later Jews from the former Soviet Union. During this period the small orthodox community was also growing in size. American Jewry is also more affluent than most Americans. Despite all these advantages we managed, during this time, to actually decline from about 6 million to about 5 million instead of growing to 14 million. (And some of those 5 million are only marginally Jewish at best.) We are therefore missing 9 million American Jews - fifty percent more than Hitler killed!

The bulk of American Jewry despite major advantages still shrank from 6 to 5 million. That means that the bulk of American Jewry shrank at a far faster rate, than just 6 to 5, during recent decades reflecting high assimilation and low birth rates. And now with no more waves of Jewish immigration in prospect, what additional shrinkage can we now anticipate? Is there any other ethnic group in America that is voluntarily committing cultural suicide in this manner? And although there is some awareness of this problem there is NO truly serious program now in place to arrest this trend, much less to reverse it.

After WWII there were about 12 million Jews surviving in the world with 6 million in the U.S. and 6 million outside the U.S. Most of those Jews outside America were in war-torn Europe, in the former Soviet Union, and in Arab countries, with most of them living under bad conditions. While American Jews, under favorable conditions, were declining from 6 to 5 million these other Jews, under bad conditions, were growing from 6 to 9 million during the same period - a 1.5% rate of annual increase. That is how we now account for the current world Jewish population of 14 million, i.e. 5 million in the U.S. plus 9 million elsewhere, including Israel. It is astonishing to contemplate the contrast. Six million America Jews, with all the advantages decline to 5 million while the other 6 million with all the disadvantages grow by 50% during the same time. Does that suggest that Jews can survive hard times much better than good times?

Had American Jews simply grown at 1.5% annually those additional 9 million Jews would, by now, be giving us a dramatically improved situation in America and in the world. This record is beyond disgraceful and the failed American Jewish leadership seems incapable of feeling either shame or embarrassment.

In general American Jewish leadership failed to respond in a timely and vigorous manner to press a reluctant U.S. government to intervene to save Jews. We have ample documentation in books such as: The Abandonment of the Jews - America and the Holocaust 1941-1945 by David S. Wyman; "While Six Million Died - A Chronicle of American Apathy" by Arthur D. Morse; and A Race Against Death" - Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust by David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff. Many of those Jews might have been saved if American Jews had campaigned more vigorously and if the Roosevelt Administration had been pressured to respond with a credible effort. It should be noted that Hitler initially wanted to just expel the Jews. It was only after noting the callous indifference to Jewish survival of America and England, that Hitler understood that no one cared, and he could now proceed to exterminate the Jews with impunity.

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg recounted his personal experience. During WWII his father was rabbi of a congregation near Washington, D.C. In the midst of the war his father delivered a High Holiday sermon imploring his congregation to stand in front of the White House to demand that Roosevelt make direct efforts to rescue endangered Jews. After that sermon the synagogue's board of directors met and fired his father. Some had their own children employed in the Roosevelt administration and did not wish to do anything to jeopardize those jobs. Unfortunately this story is emblematic of the self-censoring attitudes of too many Jewish leaders at the time.

Following WWII ample documentation emerged to show the deliberate obstruction and deception of the Roosevelt administration in its reluctance to save Jews. There was sufficient opportunity in the years after WWII for the Jewish leadership to at least confront our government regarding its crime and to demand an honest accounting. In memory of the Six Million we must refute any U.S. government claim of innocence and that they 'tried their best' and replace it with the hard truth. No such action ever took place.

In 1981 The American Jewish Commission on the Holocaust was established with former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg as its chair. The following are edited excerpts from the Simon Wiesenthal Center web site where the full text can be read: http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/resources/books/annual3/chap12.html

"In June 1981 a group of Jews, headed by former United States Supreme Court justice Arthur Goldberg, formed an American Jewish Commission on the Holocaust. Composed of 33 members, including 10 rabbis, eight formerly elected or appointed political officials, a dozen or so Jewish community leaders, and one professor of history, the new commission set out "to record and publish the truth, as nearly as we would determine it, as to what American Jewish leaders did, and what indeed they might have been able to do in all of the circumstances to mitigate the massive evils of the Holocaust."

To that end a professional staff, headed by Ambassador Seymour Maxwell Finger, was put together and individual historians and journalists were asked to do scholarly research on the subject. Their collective findings are reported in Finger's summary and many appendices, which include the original research papers that were done and some miscellaneous material. Together this was printed in 1984 under the title "American Jewry During the Holocaust." Most members of the Commission refused to endorse the report, but that fact is buried in one of the bizarrely paginated appendices. ...

That American Jewish politics and personal prejudices affected the formation and ongoing work of the Commission seems certain. When Arthur Goldberg announced the Commission's formation, he indicated that the researchers would delve into the question of what the Jews in the United States knew about Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews and when they knew it, what American Jewish leaders and organizations did once they received that knowledge, and "could the persecution of Jews have been limited if American Jews had shown more concern for their coreligionists in Europe and exerted their influence on President Roosevelt and on Congress?"

The framing of the last question suggested that the answer would not reflect well on the actions of American Jewish leaders during World War II in regard to rescue. But in case anyone missed that point, Ambassador (as he likes to be called) Finger emphasized, before the research had even begun, that the findings would be 11 'potentially embarrassing' to some American Jewish groups and are 'likely to be controversial in any case.'" ...

The report also emphasized the difficulties faced by the Jewish leaders. Anti-Semitism in America was an obstacle to helping Jews plus Roosevelt was reluctant to stir up more political opposition by helping Jews. All of the excuses and difficulties were laid out to argue that Jewish leadership tried their best but the difficulties were too great. But what is missing is the story of the "Bergson group". Young Hillel Kook, under the name of Peter Bergson, came from Palestine to America on the eve of the war and worked feverishly to mobilize public opinion in support of help for the Jews of Europe. He and his few associates received little help from organized American Jewish leaders. They struck out on their own and were succeeding in mobilizing support among American political leaders, the media and other sections of society. Playwright Ben Hecht wrote powerful ads that were placed in the newspapers.

The true scandal is that the same Jewish leadership that failed to do their job found strength to oppose and sabotage the Bergson group when that tiny band was accomplishing what the Jewish establishment failed to do. That account is recorded in the book, A Race Against Death - Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust by David S. Wyman (Author of The Abandonment of the Jews) and Rafael Medoff. This dismal episode is something that deserves to be re-examined.

The case against Israel is based primarily on the false allegation that Israel is occupying stolen Arab land. That is the main foundation for justifying all manner of ongoing murder and terrorism in the name of 'ending the occupation'. At the moment the term 'occupation' refers to all lands liberated in 1967. (Note that Arafat's maps, and all PLO stationery, consistently show a 'Palestine' in all of the land with no Israel at all - and who is protesting that?) Today, even many Jews accept the false notion that the territories are all 'occupied' 'Palestinian' lands which should be exchanged for peace, including even the re-division of Jerusalem. Without this false allegation of 'occupied' lands the entire case against Israel collapses, and even reverses, because it then becomes obvious that it is the Palestinians who are now occupying Jewish land.

Twenty years ago in 1984, author Joan Peters published her book, From Time Immemorial - The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine. Years of laborious research, including delving into British government archives, totally explode the myths of a 'Palestinian people' and of any legal or historical Arab claim to the land of Israel. She shows how the Palestinian myth was deliberately fabricated and the nefarious role of the British government throughout. "The reader comes away not only rethinking the middle east refugee problem, but also the extent to which propaganda can be swallowed whole for lack of information." - Los Angeles Times

This one book alone provided the silver bullet to totally demolish the deadly myth that has been the prime propaganda weapon used against Israel over all these years and resulting in so much needless death and suffering. Years of painstaking research went into its writing to produce this monumental work. That was twenty years ago and what did American Jewish leaders do with this silver bullet? Absolutely NOTHING! How many Jewish leaders even read that book? They themselves remain mostly ignorant along with much of the Jewish public. In all discussions today virtually everyone speaks of a 'Palestinian People' who deserve to have their own Palestinian state 'alongside' (but really inside) the state of Israel. That big lie has become firmly entrenched and it is our own fault.

It is essential to remember the historic and amicable Jewish-Arab agreement of 1919 between Chaim Weizmann and Emir Feisal. The Jews were then set to have a recognized national home as per the Balfour Declaration to include present day Jordan plus Israel along with all the current territories. Some 45,000 square miles for the Jews but comprising still less than 1% of the 5 million square miles of lands received by the Arabs after the dissolution of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. It wisely set the pattern for a peaceful and prosperous Middle East. That international agreement was duly ratified by the then League of Nations and is still legally binding despite the actions of England and later the U.N. to abrogate its spirit and its letter. How many Jewish leaders know about this agreement or even care?

These unfathomable failures suggests a lack of serious intellect combined with a lack of elementary courage. And why do we still commit to binding agreements when the other side always remains free to violate them with impunity? This is beyond stupidity. It constitutes criminal negligence on the part of a failed Jewish leadership! Just consider the consequences of Oslo which are still manifesting in endless conflict and misery. And some among these failed leaders might now argue that it is too late to insist on the truth because everyone now believes the Arab claims and we Jews will just have to make the best of it, even if it means trying to survive indefinitely inside a tiny state with 'Auschwitz borders', as Abba Eban once declared.

Another monstrous falsehood claims that America provides total and uncritical support for Israel and that is the main reason that the Arabs hate America. The truth is largely the opposite because American involvement with Israel is far more injurious than supportive. American 'support' resides mainly among the public and the Congress. However the real power for conducting foreign policy is firmly in the hands of the Administration, the State Department and the CIA where a secret war against Israel and Jews has been ongoing for many decades regardless of which party is in power.

In 1994, authors John Loftus and Mark Aarons published their book, The Secret War Against the Jews - How Western Intelligence Betrayed the Jewish People. The following quotes from the Introduction will indicate the main thrust of this research.

"The major powers of the world have repeatedly planned covert operations to bring about the partial or total destruction of Israel. Long before there even was a Jewish state in Palestine, Western spies already were out to wreck the Zionist dream. The savage extent of the secret wars against the Jews will horrify the western public. This chapter of espionage history, beginning in the 1920's, and continuing to the present day, has never been revealed before."

... "The main thesis of this book is that the secret bias of Western governments against the Jews was, and is, the single largest obstacle to peace in the Middle East. We present a shameful history of racism, greed, and secret betrayal that is so sickening that it will be difficult for many Western readers to accept. On the other hand the evidence is particularly hard to ignore."

Following publication of this 658 page indictment of America's secret war, John Loftus spoke frequently on radio interviews and before various groups. If Jewish leadership took serious notice there was little evidence of that. This book provided a hundred 'smoking guns' documenting American criminality that should have enraged the Jewish community and generated a long needed confrontation with those officials perpetrating this betrayal that cost so many Jewish lives. In addition A Concubine in the Middle East by Professor Ezra Sohar was published in 1999. It adds much additional information with extensive references to supplement and re-enforce the case presented in The Secret War Against the Jews. [Editor's note: See Think-Israel book review: http://www.think-israel.org/lipkin.soharreview.html]

All this arduous and meticulous research went for naught because the Jewish leadership remained ever inert. Those who betrayed the Jewish people must have been amazed at the moral paralysis of the Jewish leadership and even of the larger community.

Israel's opponents often cite the roughly three billion in annual aid to Israel. They complain that Israel is the largest recipient, receives too much, and is a burden upon U.S. taxpayers. Jewish leaders meekly mumble that Israel is the mid East's only democracy and our friend. Most people care little about that argument. Our leaders fail to mention the following important points:

• Aid to our Israeli ally logically belongs in our defense budget along with our immensely larger expenditures for NATO, Japan and Korea and not in the foreign aid budget where it easily becomes a political football.

• Aid to Israel is largely offset by massive U.S. military aid to Egypt and our arming of Saudi Arabia, both of which remain a potential threat to Israel requiring Israel to shoulder heavy additional defense expenditures to deter attack.

• Ignored in all this discussion is the immense help America receives from Israel. Israel helped us in major ways to win the cold war and is now fighting and bleeding on the front line in our joint war against terror. Jewish leadership failed to compile that story, widely publicize it, and then demand full public recognition from the administration.

• It can also be demonstrated that America has received far more help from Israel, in comparable value, than the cost of aid to Israel.

Both American and Israeli leaders have totally failed to educate the public and our government to the truth and have thus allowed damaging falsehoods to take root by default.

American Jews are far too reticent and fearful to speak out bluntly to our government on issues concerning Israel's legitimate security needs. Other interest groups routinely speak out boldly in support of their own issues. But we Jews barely whisper when we have completely legitimate complaints and should be boldly speaking truth to power. The U.S. administration certainly does not hesitate to publicly chastise Israel, invoking their own double standard, whenever they deem it expedient to appease the Arabs.

From the very beginning it was obvious that Oslo was clearly defective and one-sided and some did sound early warnings. Further, Oslo was created in secret and presented to the Israeli public with no opportunity for open democratic debate in the Knesset and among the public. It soon became obvious that Arafat was cynically violating the 'no more violence' pledge and Israel was paying the price in blood. American Jewish leaders, with only a few courageous exceptions, remained in blind support long after the rising Israeli death toll demonstrated that this was a road to war and not to peace.

For many years Jewish education was too low a priority. Today we see the tragic results in high assimilation based on ignorance of our rich heritage. Remarkably, the less affluent orthodox community finds it possible to both have more children and to provide a better Jewish education. That proves it is primarily a matter of values rather than of money alone. It is also noteworthy that the Hasidic community, and especially the Lubavitch community, has set an exemplary example for all of us including their outreach to all Jews and their 2,000 Chabad centers around the world.

There is also a three-fold failure to properly present the Jewish religion to the larger society.

1. Too many gentiles have a confused understanding of the Jewish religion. We would benefit if we moved to vigorously educate our fellow Americans about Judaism and Jewish history. Having college courses and web sites is not enough. There should be much greater public outreach.

2. A greater public outreach would also attract some converts who would likely be of high human quality to invigorate our anemic Jewish ranks.

3. Along the way we would also reach and recover some of the alienated and assimilated Jews who are being lost under present conditions.

American Jewish life remains heavily dependant on 'schnoring', i.e. begging for donations all the way from the big givers and on down to local rummage sales, raffles, etc. Israel Bonds is a commendable and very successful program in helping Israel but we never moved beyond that to the next level, and into solid economic Jewish enterprise. Israeli exports provided a major missed opportunity. Department stores selling a full range of Israeli products should have been established 40 years ago in major U.S. Jewish communities. In addition there are about 2,000 Jewish institutions (i.e. synagogues, Jewish centers, day schools, etc.) in the U.S. and Canada many of which could have begun locally to also carry Israeli products. Earlier I investigated this concept and found that with a shoestring investment and a few shelves, any synagogue or Jewish center, could begin operating with a small initial inventory and expand from there. More recently this concept was proposed to the national Jewish leadership. Their response was to ignore the whole idea without even investigating. Israel has a huge export industry that we could have augmented while also earning a substantial and growing income for local Jewish needs. Shifting existing buying patterns is potentially much easier than repeatedly soliciting outright donations.

Meanwhile there has been a sharp decline in Jewish giving among Jewish philanthropists. It was reported that 50 years ago they averaged about 50% to Jewish causes and today only 20% of their total giving supports Jewish causes. And Jewish philanthropists can also unduly influence the policies of the recipient organizations in an undemocratic manner. By now Jewish enterprise based on Israeli exports could have provided a large, dependable, and growing income stream so we would be less dependent on charity, generate more self-respect, and be more democratic.

We remain trapped with too many overlapping Jewish organizations all competing for donations and which confuses the Jewish public and wastes valuable resources. Personal egos and entrenched thinking prevent a much needed restructuring and streamlining to prepare for the future.

Too many Jews accepted the false, self-serving, versions by our government and media, about Jonathan Pollard and were all too quick to denounce him while fearing the old accusations of 'double loyalty'. Pollard was a whistle blower who discovered a dangerous betrayal of Israel by U.S. intelligence which was acting in violation of Ronald Reagan's Presidential agreement of 1983 to share intelligence. Pollard discovered that the Israel's enemies were acquiring weapons of mass destruction and also that his superiors at U.S. Naval intelligence were deliberately, and illegally, withholding that essential intelligence information. He gave Israel what they should have received automatically but his superiors had their own agenda and then wanted to punish him for foiling their plans. There is extensive documentation on www.jonathanpollard.org and further exoneration on http://www.john-loftus.com and click on link: "The Truth About Jonathan Pollard."

Jonathan now begins his 19th year in prison for passing secrets to an ally which usually carries a sentence of 2-4 years as happened in all other cases with non-Jews and with other countries. What is sought here is NOT a favor but TRUTH and JUSTICE and yet again the Jewish leadership has run away from its moral duty in a show of near total cowardice. (They issued a few feeble and ineffectual letters politely asking for his release.) All this makes it extremely easy for our enemies to fabricate lies and use those lies to attack Israel and by extension Jews in general.

Unfortunately this problem remains too low a priority within the Jewish leadership. It is not all that rare or unusual for Jews to encounter a certain coldness within the community which serves to undermine the building of a strong sense of belonging and solidarity. Singles have a tougher time than married couples, lower income non-professionals are less welcome than higher income professionals, etc. Egos and cliques operate to make certain Jews feel less welcome and one result is that some will eventually drift away from the community or even end up joining other religions where the welcome is much warmer.

Years ago, at a synagogue, there was a lecture by a female editor of a Jewish woman's magazine. She recounted experiences at a public college where Jewish men went out of their way to embarrass and ridicule Jewish women in public. At a college football game they shouted insults, they posted 'JAP' ridicule messages on the dorm doors of Jewish women and even wore 'JAP' insults on their 'T' shirts (JAP means Jewish American Princess and is not a compliment) - all in the name of rollicking fun. This was a measure of Jewish self-hatred by Jewish men who obviously lacked a proper upbringing. Even among Jews with high intelligence we can still find frequent instances of crude and low class behavior. Where is the teaching of basic social skills and proper etiquette that is even part of our religion? We cannot afford this type of ignorance and this should be recognized and confronted. Although that congregation responded with interest and concern, the synagogue leadership never followed up on this issue.

One reason that many Jews marry non-Jews without even expecting the non-Jewish partner to convert to Judaism is the lack of proper upbringing. There is a lack of early conditioning to maintain the Jewish community, a lack of teaching social graces and a lack of sufficient opportunities for single Jews to meet comfortably in a dignified manner within a Jewish atmosphere. What opportunities do exist are often commercial, exploitive and demeaning or else very inept when offered by Jewish institutions. Despite the high number of Jewish professionals in the fields of psychology, counseling, social sciences and in the human potential movement, it is truly ironic that we still suffer from so much social dysfunction inside our own community.

From earliest times there have been those of Jewish ancestry who have acted to undermine the security, and even the survival, of the Jewish People. Today, as before, these people again make common cause with our most dangerous enemies. They readily tell any lie to further incite our enemies to even greater levels of murderous hatred. Most of these are on the political left and are usually non-religious. However there is also the fanatic Netura Karta religious extremists who deny the right of Israel to even exist prior to the coming of the Messiah. They are so extreme that they align with the PLO and other murderers of innocent Jews. Enemies of the Jewish People are only too eager to cite these Jews as evidence of how evil Israel is and by extension the Jewish People as well.

In the face of all this the Jewish leadership has been ineffective. In America the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has consistently failed to educate the Jewish public about this and to publicly expose and denounce these traitorous and self-hating Jews. Their crime of silence allows these evil ones of Jewish birth a free hand to spread their poison far and wide.

Jewish intellectuals are active participants in every area of our secular society and Jewish scholars do report on the problems within the Jewish community. However, a true Jewish think tank is needed. It would be charged with coming up with creative, innovative, viable, solutions to major problems and not just observing and documenting them. And we also need to invite the Jewish public to offer constructive ideas for the general welfare.

Enlightened companies, for example, have long had suggestion programs where employees can submit ideas and have them seriously evaluated and possibly implemented. The same Jews who enthusiastically work hard to succeed in secular endeavors exhibit contrasting attitudes of apathy when it comes to bringing the same creativity to Jewish affairs. Being Jewish in America today urgently needs to be re-defined to a higher and more meaningful level.

The disengagement plan of Prime Minister Sharon will have immense consequences for the future of Israel. It not only involves Israel's security but would permanently cede land that was an integral part of our biblical inheritance that came with instructions to never divide the land. This is thus a major issue that affects all of the Jewish People. In Israel this plan was sprung by Sharon and imposed on his Likud party. Calls for a national referendum in Israel have been rebuffed while Sharon abruptly reverses his own prior and long standing policies. He refuses to answer serious objections concerning consequences of his actions and remains determined to impose his plan on a sharply divided country. And with such an important issue facing all Jews the American Jewish leadership has meekly acquiesced with no open, democratic debate to inform the public and air all views. .

 
The failures listed above are certainly not meant to be comprehensive but rather to illustrate the vast extent of the shortcomings. These criticisms are certainly harsh because the failures are numerous and severe. Perhaps the biggest criticism of all is the ongoing failure of Jewish leadership to honestly evaluate itself and institute much needed reforms. There is also the problem of huge egos that become obstacles to reform and to progress.

We Jews have made many mistakes throughout our long history and even our bible recounts many of them together with warnings of consequences. In the past few years the Jews of Israel, and also in the Diaspora, are becoming painfully aware that we face severe dangers and we must mobilize all of our strength and wisdom to face them. We have not yet recovered numerically from the Holocaust and we now face new dangers.

Will our leadership fail us again or finally rise to the challenge?

 
Rachel Neuwirth is a Los Angeles-based analyst on the board of directors of the West Coast Region of the American Jewish Congress and the chairperson of the organization's Middle East committee. Nov. 2, 2004

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