Very true, but this was not confined only to Jewish immigrants. My grandparents, who arrived in South Africa in 1908, had a similar experience. They had a hard struggle, but we're able to raise their children to be hardworking and eventually prosperous members of the community. My parents also battled in the aftermath of WW2 to raise four children. But all of us understood that the world did not owe us a living. The modern idea of entitlement was foreign to us. The sooner we all get back to the right idea about work, the better.
My grandmother came from Ireland in 1904. My grandfather, orphaned at age 8, ended up homesteading out west in Canada and married her and brought my dad along right in time for the Great Depression. There were summers that they, as farmers, did not have enough money for seed and borrowed from relatives. As a child on our farm we had an outhouse, it did not kill us, I never felt deprived. I am shocked today at some of the recent immigrants, the gall to block traffic and pray in the streets. If someone can write a paper or if you can explain it to me Joshua, how can people leave a country to escape X and Y because X and Y have destroyed their country and than actively agitate for X and Y in their new country? Do they not know that the prosperity of Canada and the relative poverty and corruption of their Muslim backwater is because Canada did not pursue X and Y and created institutions that allowed people to slowly become better off? My Irish ancestors did not assert their right to fairy worship (many believed in fairies) and my Scottish ancestors did not demand Haggis in the school cafeterias. The strangest thing is that so many Muslims have this absurd and unearned sense of superiority that defies all rational explanation. Even the oil wealth in their nations came from Western drilling technology and if they were left alone the oil would be in the ground and they would still be herding goats. Humans have a number of incredible features outside the opposable thumb, and one of them is the ability to hold fast to self delusion - as if to claim it is a sunny day even in the midst of storms of reason and facts.
> In the United States, for instance, Jews were unapologetically barred from joining country
> clubs and often encountered discrimination in housing, employment, and education, with
> quotas limiting their access to certain universities and social institutions. Still, their strategy
> was multi-generational: Plant roots, grow them deep, and flourish over time, no matter how
> many decades it took.
Today, Jews are universally hated exactly because they pulled themselves up from nothing. It's envy. And as we speak, the educational, institutional and employment advantages so hard-won are being pulled out from under us, because we will always be Other, and we will always be considered undeserving. Always there will be a conspiracy theory to explain any success gained through sacrifice and hard work. We are being pushed out, expelled, to ensure that if we got successful, over the generations we don't stay that way. When the conspiracy theory that accompanies us everywhere says that Jews have all the money and all the power, it's very important to ensure that Jews don't get money or power.
I believe the situation is a little more complicated than "immigrants think they don't have to work." The narrative of virtue pegged to skin color and the Jews' Schroedinger's whiteness (white when it can be used against us, brown when it can be used against us) is more an explanation for today's attitudes of entitlement and extirpation.
Excellent analysis! Well said! We aren't saying that today's immigrants should be treated as badly as we were, nor that they are not willing to work hard and to sacrifice for the future. Perhaps, what is really going on is that the upper middle class anti-Jewish sentiment has gone viral as Marxism and critical theory have replaced the American Dream with conspiracy theories and entitlement.
There is some nuance to find here and I do not want to blame the victime here. The immigrants I have known have been hard working and dedicated. But have the far left and progressivism become just a revolutionary vanguard exploiting and manipulating immigrants for political power rather than helping them? Are they, just as they accuse conservatives of, now putting party above country and refusing to even talk with conservative friends and family members? Something crazy is going on, whether it is triggered by Trump or triggering support for Trump, or both.
Is this why Trump carried so much of the Mexican American vote? I have also heard from a growing number of Black Americans, especially men, who feel totally left out - not because they are entitled but because the political left is not giving them an even chance and is focused on manipulating them into continued symbols of victimhood rather than allowing them opportumity to assimilate into the larger society.
Again, thanks to Joshua Hoffman for digging deep into our political polarization and daring to point out the growing dysfunctionality of American culture, especially as it affects American and other Jewish people.
Assimilation is an interesting concept to champion. At one point, an “assimilated Jew” was synonymous with a Christian convert or secular Jew. I don’t think that is the sense in which the term is meant here. Of course, even solely within the Jewish community you have a spectrum of assimilation from the Seinfelds and Davids to the residents of Crown Heights. Certainly the former group seems to be doing better materially but then you’re faced with the awkward question of whether material success or adherence to law is more important.
How old were you when you moved into this country? Legitimate question actually to be able to compare. Have you actually faced prosecutions in your country of birth, not financial hardship? Are you grateful for possibility for your kids to grow up to be free people? For me it’s a RESOUNDING YES! That’s why I always thank this country for giving me all those opportunities and I do have an urge to( not literally) kiss the ground.
Actually, this essay could have been told from the perspective of the Italians, Irish, Chinese, Polish, German, Latino, Russian, Asian and others that are not readily coming to mind. They all came, had their share of hatred and obstacles to overcome and they all contributed so much to our history in so many ways. In the states it was a melting pot of assimilation and in Canada it was multiculturalism but always maintaining patriotism and love for their new home and always making the next generation better than the last.
I dont see the same happening with Muslims immigrating from Islamic countries. In fact, I see a desire not too assimilate, a patriotism not to their new home but a patriotism to Islam. Thats what i see is the difference. Islam is not just a religion, its a political movement as well. So instead of respecting and loving Western culture, it preaches the opposite. Of course, I am not speaking for all Muslims but I am speaking for what i believe is too large a minority. Look at what is going on in Europe, how Muslim immigration is tearing down the fabric of their societies.
We have to acknowledge the problem and until we can differentiate between a Muslim and an Islamist, I feel we should stop immigration from Muslim countries.
It hurts me to say it and I feel so dirty when i say it cuz I have always fought for liberal causes but I would feel worse if I did not tell it like i think it is. Frankly, I don't think this is being Islamophobic, it is not a senseless fear or hatred, it is a rational fear unfortunately,
You are absolutely correct. It just takes to read a bit from Quran to understand what a lot of Muslims are not even hiding. “We are the only ones who are worthy to dominate, others are ALL INFIDELS and deserve to die”. Die! If you tell them that they are the biggest colonialists than all western empires combined, sweeping from Arab peninsula to all Middle East, huge parts of Asia and Africa and even Europe (Spain) they will never admit to wrongdoing, will insist they deserve this and should and will take over western world simply because Allah gives them this right. Leftists “intellectuals” forbid to admit this because they are Marxists.
This was such a satisfying read, Joshua, and a beautiful reminder of what it used to mean to be an immigrant. Early on immigrants had to adapt to the US way of life, and now we are expected to adapt to the immigrants. Learn English? No, we are expected to learn their language. Follow our customs? We're expected to learn about theirs. They've been given so much, and many still denounce the US. While I have an appreciation for all cultures and have an interest in various languages, in my country, I am not the one that should be asked to adapt to incoming immigrants. I believe that DEI and the oppressor vs. oppressed ideology hasn't helped and neither has our government. As one example, New York city had been handing out $1,000 a month credit cards, providing shelters and hotels to live in for illegals. Where is the virtuous behavior to be found? The government provides benefits that some Veterans and others are denied. Anyone who truly needs some help deserves it, but to give it just because you're here is not the way to help people achieve their goals. In many ways, the college protestors have been raised without the virtues of, as you have said, "resilience, the power of delayed gratification, and the importance of generational sacrifice. Hence, the constant whining, crying, safe space, demanded and an offended generation, who extol the "martyrs" and "freedom fighters" because they have little else to fight for or achieve. Whatever they have, has been expected, given to them without even asking. For many, not all people, human nature demands of us a hunger to succeed, a drive that pushes us forward no matter the obstacles to make our lives better. When there's no skin in the game, there's stagnation. Our immigrant families did not suffer from inertia. One of their goals was a better life for their family, and they worked at many jobs to build that life. Unless it's spoken about in families and taught by example, the younger generation will not value the sacrifices made for the lives they are now living.
I'd also like to point out that we have lost the culture of meritocracy in the west. When you are in an "out" group, a meritocracy means that if you have some native ability and work your butt off, you can force people to deal with you because you become the best and provide necessary goods or services no one else can. If the measure of "good" wavers, then you're screwed. If everything becomes "good" based on feelings, then merit doesn't exist. Or if the definition of "good" changes, depending on who has created the work.
I started out training to be a writer, but because I was female all I got was "what's your typing speed honey" and the chance to fix men's writing. So I trained to become a software engineer, figuring either the code works or it doesn't, you can't argue with that. In software, I found if I got the code to work, the complaint would be, "I wouldn't have done it that way," negating any accomplishment. Or if I got code working that no one else had been able to get working, the accomplishment would be punctured by, "If you could do it, anyone could have." If you're not "one of us," then whatever you do can never be "good". I was a good engineer. I wasn't a great engineer. I wasn't talented, I was capable. That brings up the old saw that if you're in an "out" group, you have to be ten times better to be thought half as good, which means you have to be 20 times better to be considered a peer. It's not fair but it's a foot in the door.
Without the chance of breaking in through merit, you've got nothing.
If you want a fair shot and you're in an "out" group, you have to be so much better at what you do that everyone else is in a different league. Nowadays as all opportunities are ending for Jews, even the long shot of being accepted for being 20 times better is closing.
You can’t compare immigration before WWII and this Muslim invasion from Africa and Asian countries. Islam has a long period plan to conquer the world domination. They are not coming to work anything, they come after this western social security system that makes them get better conditions for living than native inhabitants. They are “ refugees “ but still they travel ( social welfare gives money for that ) to the countries they have left for having a holiday. What insane! Then they don’t get enough money from social welfare, they are making money themselves with selling drugs. EUROPE is lost , now they try to destroy America and Israel. This is the final battle of evil and good. We have to admit HASHEM Almighty has the control of everything everywhere all the time. Torah is True and all those promises HASHEM. The Third Temple and the Kingdom of Israel (Davidic Dynasty) are eternal and Sanhedrin will be also in the Third Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem Very Soon Baruch HASHEM. final peace will come only after Shechinah is dwelling in the Third Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem Very Soon Baruch HASHEM Almighty.
"my grandfather put in the work and bought into “the American way” — while still proudly holding onto his Jewish and Zionist identity"
Given that the essence of Judaism is God, Covenant and Israel, Jews have always identified their sense of self with Israel and yearned for the return to their homeland in every expulsion from the Babylonian period onward. This yearning is the essence of Zionism — the right to be ourselves in our ancestral lands. It therefore becomes a false dichotomy to separate Jewishness from Zionism as if these were two separate identities. Doesn't mean many "liberal" and so-called Progressive Jews don't do it. But then again, just because false dichotomy is an error in thinking does not mean people commit this fallacy all the time.
"for many recent immigrants in the West, nostalgia for the immigrant experience — the true grit, sacrifice, and gradual assimilation . . ."
Assimilation is very different from integration. Contrary to the claim "assimilation did not mean abandoning identity" assimilation requires one gives up any markers that separate one from the majority, such as one's language, names, dress, customs, rituals, cuisine, etc. Integration means one works within the larger community while still retaining one's distinctiveness, recognizing that that distinctiveness enriches the whole.
"Today, by and large, the immigrant experience is expected to yield immediate rewards, often without the burden of integration, adaptation, or even a nuanced understanding of the new country."
Immigrant communities by and large. have correctly read the implicit as well as explicit message of the Majority: "Convert to our ways if you wish to be accepted." Hannukah bushes anyone?
A just graduated PhD student was told by the department chair not to expect a job just because he had a PhD. because Jews were considered over represented in Academia.
"By climbing slowly, they knew that they were forging stronger foundations which could withstand the tests of prejudice, hardship, and cultural or societal resistance. This approach not only laid the groundwork for their success but also earned them the respect of their host societies, creating a unique and productive relationship that benefited everyone involved."
If this were actually so, we would not be witnessing the antisemitism that has so quickly sprung up because at best it had always merely lay dormant in the cultural soil.
Here is a hard truth. Immigrants live for their children. Their lives will be hard and sad. The children of immigrants break their back in school to enter the middle class. Entre into the middle class requires extraordinary virtue by 2 consecutive generations. Extraordinary virtue by 2 consecutive generations. Most immigrant families don’t make that leap in 2 generations. Jews are outliers in this respect. I grew up
Very true, but this was not confined only to Jewish immigrants. My grandparents, who arrived in South Africa in 1908, had a similar experience. They had a hard struggle, but we're able to raise their children to be hardworking and eventually prosperous members of the community. My parents also battled in the aftermath of WW2 to raise four children. But all of us understood that the world did not owe us a living. The modern idea of entitlement was foreign to us. The sooner we all get back to the right idea about work, the better.
My grandmother came from Ireland in 1904. My grandfather, orphaned at age 8, ended up homesteading out west in Canada and married her and brought my dad along right in time for the Great Depression. There were summers that they, as farmers, did not have enough money for seed and borrowed from relatives. As a child on our farm we had an outhouse, it did not kill us, I never felt deprived. I am shocked today at some of the recent immigrants, the gall to block traffic and pray in the streets. If someone can write a paper or if you can explain it to me Joshua, how can people leave a country to escape X and Y because X and Y have destroyed their country and than actively agitate for X and Y in their new country? Do they not know that the prosperity of Canada and the relative poverty and corruption of their Muslim backwater is because Canada did not pursue X and Y and created institutions that allowed people to slowly become better off? My Irish ancestors did not assert their right to fairy worship (many believed in fairies) and my Scottish ancestors did not demand Haggis in the school cafeterias. The strangest thing is that so many Muslims have this absurd and unearned sense of superiority that defies all rational explanation. Even the oil wealth in their nations came from Western drilling technology and if they were left alone the oil would be in the ground and they would still be herding goats. Humans have a number of incredible features outside the opposable thumb, and one of them is the ability to hold fast to self delusion - as if to claim it is a sunny day even in the midst of storms of reason and facts.
> In the United States, for instance, Jews were unapologetically barred from joining country
> clubs and often encountered discrimination in housing, employment, and education, with
> quotas limiting their access to certain universities and social institutions. Still, their strategy
> was multi-generational: Plant roots, grow them deep, and flourish over time, no matter how
> many decades it took.
Today, Jews are universally hated exactly because they pulled themselves up from nothing. It's envy. And as we speak, the educational, institutional and employment advantages so hard-won are being pulled out from under us, because we will always be Other, and we will always be considered undeserving. Always there will be a conspiracy theory to explain any success gained through sacrifice and hard work. We are being pushed out, expelled, to ensure that if we got successful, over the generations we don't stay that way. When the conspiracy theory that accompanies us everywhere says that Jews have all the money and all the power, it's very important to ensure that Jews don't get money or power.
I believe the situation is a little more complicated than "immigrants think they don't have to work." The narrative of virtue pegged to skin color and the Jews' Schroedinger's whiteness (white when it can be used against us, brown when it can be used against us) is more an explanation for today's attitudes of entitlement and extirpation.
Excellent analysis! Well said! We aren't saying that today's immigrants should be treated as badly as we were, nor that they are not willing to work hard and to sacrifice for the future. Perhaps, what is really going on is that the upper middle class anti-Jewish sentiment has gone viral as Marxism and critical theory have replaced the American Dream with conspiracy theories and entitlement.
There is some nuance to find here and I do not want to blame the victime here. The immigrants I have known have been hard working and dedicated. But have the far left and progressivism become just a revolutionary vanguard exploiting and manipulating immigrants for political power rather than helping them? Are they, just as they accuse conservatives of, now putting party above country and refusing to even talk with conservative friends and family members? Something crazy is going on, whether it is triggered by Trump or triggering support for Trump, or both.
Is this why Trump carried so much of the Mexican American vote? I have also heard from a growing number of Black Americans, especially men, who feel totally left out - not because they are entitled but because the political left is not giving them an even chance and is focused on manipulating them into continued symbols of victimhood rather than allowing them opportumity to assimilate into the larger society.
Again, thanks to Joshua Hoffman for digging deep into our political polarization and daring to point out the growing dysfunctionality of American culture, especially as it affects American and other Jewish people.
Very well expressed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Thank you.
Invaders remembered what it means to be an invader.
Assimilation is an interesting concept to champion. At one point, an “assimilated Jew” was synonymous with a Christian convert or secular Jew. I don’t think that is the sense in which the term is meant here. Of course, even solely within the Jewish community you have a spectrum of assimilation from the Seinfelds and Davids to the residents of Crown Heights. Certainly the former group seems to be doing better materially but then you’re faced with the awkward question of whether material success or adherence to law is more important.
When we moved to this country, we were told to kiss the ground in gratitude. I resented this sentiment then and still resent it now.
How old were you when you moved into this country? Legitimate question actually to be able to compare. Have you actually faced prosecutions in your country of birth, not financial hardship? Are you grateful for possibility for your kids to grow up to be free people? For me it’s a RESOUNDING YES! That’s why I always thank this country for giving me all those opportunities and I do have an urge to( not literally) kiss the ground.
Are you an immigrant?
Actually, this essay could have been told from the perspective of the Italians, Irish, Chinese, Polish, German, Latino, Russian, Asian and others that are not readily coming to mind. They all came, had their share of hatred and obstacles to overcome and they all contributed so much to our history in so many ways. In the states it was a melting pot of assimilation and in Canada it was multiculturalism but always maintaining patriotism and love for their new home and always making the next generation better than the last.
I dont see the same happening with Muslims immigrating from Islamic countries. In fact, I see a desire not too assimilate, a patriotism not to their new home but a patriotism to Islam. Thats what i see is the difference. Islam is not just a religion, its a political movement as well. So instead of respecting and loving Western culture, it preaches the opposite. Of course, I am not speaking for all Muslims but I am speaking for what i believe is too large a minority. Look at what is going on in Europe, how Muslim immigration is tearing down the fabric of their societies.
We have to acknowledge the problem and until we can differentiate between a Muslim and an Islamist, I feel we should stop immigration from Muslim countries.
It hurts me to say it and I feel so dirty when i say it cuz I have always fought for liberal causes but I would feel worse if I did not tell it like i think it is. Frankly, I don't think this is being Islamophobic, it is not a senseless fear or hatred, it is a rational fear unfortunately,
papa j
You are absolutely correct. It just takes to read a bit from Quran to understand what a lot of Muslims are not even hiding. “We are the only ones who are worthy to dominate, others are ALL INFIDELS and deserve to die”. Die! If you tell them that they are the biggest colonialists than all western empires combined, sweeping from Arab peninsula to all Middle East, huge parts of Asia and Africa and even Europe (Spain) they will never admit to wrongdoing, will insist they deserve this and should and will take over western world simply because Allah gives them this right. Leftists “intellectuals” forbid to admit this because they are Marxists.
You said it all very well my friend. all the best and keep up the good fight. papa j
This was such a satisfying read, Joshua, and a beautiful reminder of what it used to mean to be an immigrant. Early on immigrants had to adapt to the US way of life, and now we are expected to adapt to the immigrants. Learn English? No, we are expected to learn their language. Follow our customs? We're expected to learn about theirs. They've been given so much, and many still denounce the US. While I have an appreciation for all cultures and have an interest in various languages, in my country, I am not the one that should be asked to adapt to incoming immigrants. I believe that DEI and the oppressor vs. oppressed ideology hasn't helped and neither has our government. As one example, New York city had been handing out $1,000 a month credit cards, providing shelters and hotels to live in for illegals. Where is the virtuous behavior to be found? The government provides benefits that some Veterans and others are denied. Anyone who truly needs some help deserves it, but to give it just because you're here is not the way to help people achieve their goals. In many ways, the college protestors have been raised without the virtues of, as you have said, "resilience, the power of delayed gratification, and the importance of generational sacrifice. Hence, the constant whining, crying, safe space, demanded and an offended generation, who extol the "martyrs" and "freedom fighters" because they have little else to fight for or achieve. Whatever they have, has been expected, given to them without even asking. For many, not all people, human nature demands of us a hunger to succeed, a drive that pushes us forward no matter the obstacles to make our lives better. When there's no skin in the game, there's stagnation. Our immigrant families did not suffer from inertia. One of their goals was a better life for their family, and they worked at many jobs to build that life. Unless it's spoken about in families and taught by example, the younger generation will not value the sacrifices made for the lives they are now living.
I'd also like to point out that we have lost the culture of meritocracy in the west. When you are in an "out" group, a meritocracy means that if you have some native ability and work your butt off, you can force people to deal with you because you become the best and provide necessary goods or services no one else can. If the measure of "good" wavers, then you're screwed. If everything becomes "good" based on feelings, then merit doesn't exist. Or if the definition of "good" changes, depending on who has created the work.
I started out training to be a writer, but because I was female all I got was "what's your typing speed honey" and the chance to fix men's writing. So I trained to become a software engineer, figuring either the code works or it doesn't, you can't argue with that. In software, I found if I got the code to work, the complaint would be, "I wouldn't have done it that way," negating any accomplishment. Or if I got code working that no one else had been able to get working, the accomplishment would be punctured by, "If you could do it, anyone could have." If you're not "one of us," then whatever you do can never be "good". I was a good engineer. I wasn't a great engineer. I wasn't talented, I was capable. That brings up the old saw that if you're in an "out" group, you have to be ten times better to be thought half as good, which means you have to be 20 times better to be considered a peer. It's not fair but it's a foot in the door.
Without the chance of breaking in through merit, you've got nothing.
If you want a fair shot and you're in an "out" group, you have to be so much better at what you do that everyone else is in a different league. Nowadays as all opportunities are ending for Jews, even the long shot of being accepted for being 20 times better is closing.
You can’t compare immigration before WWII and this Muslim invasion from Africa and Asian countries. Islam has a long period plan to conquer the world domination. They are not coming to work anything, they come after this western social security system that makes them get better conditions for living than native inhabitants. They are “ refugees “ but still they travel ( social welfare gives money for that ) to the countries they have left for having a holiday. What insane! Then they don’t get enough money from social welfare, they are making money themselves with selling drugs. EUROPE is lost , now they try to destroy America and Israel. This is the final battle of evil and good. We have to admit HASHEM Almighty has the control of everything everywhere all the time. Torah is True and all those promises HASHEM. The Third Temple and the Kingdom of Israel (Davidic Dynasty) are eternal and Sanhedrin will be also in the Third Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem Very Soon Baruch HASHEM. final peace will come only after Shechinah is dwelling in the Third Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem Very Soon Baruch HASHEM Almighty.
A couple of observations:
"my grandfather put in the work and bought into “the American way” — while still proudly holding onto his Jewish and Zionist identity"
Given that the essence of Judaism is God, Covenant and Israel, Jews have always identified their sense of self with Israel and yearned for the return to their homeland in every expulsion from the Babylonian period onward. This yearning is the essence of Zionism — the right to be ourselves in our ancestral lands. It therefore becomes a false dichotomy to separate Jewishness from Zionism as if these were two separate identities. Doesn't mean many "liberal" and so-called Progressive Jews don't do it. But then again, just because false dichotomy is an error in thinking does not mean people commit this fallacy all the time.
"for many recent immigrants in the West, nostalgia for the immigrant experience — the true grit, sacrifice, and gradual assimilation . . ."
Assimilation is very different from integration. Contrary to the claim "assimilation did not mean abandoning identity" assimilation requires one gives up any markers that separate one from the majority, such as one's language, names, dress, customs, rituals, cuisine, etc. Integration means one works within the larger community while still retaining one's distinctiveness, recognizing that that distinctiveness enriches the whole.
"Today, by and large, the immigrant experience is expected to yield immediate rewards, often without the burden of integration, adaptation, or even a nuanced understanding of the new country."
Immigrant communities by and large. have correctly read the implicit as well as explicit message of the Majority: "Convert to our ways if you wish to be accepted." Hannukah bushes anyone?
A just graduated PhD student was told by the department chair not to expect a job just because he had a PhD. because Jews were considered over represented in Academia.
"By climbing slowly, they knew that they were forging stronger foundations which could withstand the tests of prejudice, hardship, and cultural or societal resistance. This approach not only laid the groundwork for their success but also earned them the respect of their host societies, creating a unique and productive relationship that benefited everyone involved."
If this were actually so, we would not be witnessing the antisemitism that has so quickly sprung up because at best it had always merely lay dormant in the cultural soil.
Here is a hard truth. Immigrants live for their children. Their lives will be hard and sad. The children of immigrants break their back in school to enter the middle class. Entre into the middle class requires extraordinary virtue by 2 consecutive generations. Extraordinary virtue by 2 consecutive generations. Most immigrant families don’t make that leap in 2 generations. Jews are outliers in this respect. I grew up
in an immigrant community. I know