Despite growing up in a very Jewish area, being Jewish can still feel isolating at times. We make up less than 1% of the world's population and only 2.2% of America's population. We have tight-knit families, foods and traditions to pass down and synagogues to go to with friends and family, but there are so few of us. And so many against us.
In a strange way, Trump being president has made it both scarier to be Jewish but also makes me feel more protected. During the 2016 election, I agreed with Clinton over Trump on nearly every issue but one-Israel. Trump historically has a good relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and said that he would work with Israel to try and achieve peace instead of just trying to stop settlements altogether and taking the side of the Palestinians.
Another issue that makes me feel isolated as a Jew is that particularly young Jews are split on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Up until recently, it was the opinion of most Jews that Israel was in the right because Palestinians usually started the violence and Israel was just defending themselves and that Israel was an important ally to the United States. I still hold this view.
Many non-Jewish people disagreed with this, but it used to be a common cause that Jews could unite over. However, now, some young liberal Jews share opinions similar to those of Bernie Sanders that the Palestinian people are being oppressed by Israel and that Israel is in the wrong.
Trump started out by agreeing with the traditional Jewish ideology of siding with Israel. However, now his opinion has become more convoluted. He says that maybe settlements aren't the best idea one week and the next week he has a meeting with Netanyahu.
When an Orthodox Jewish reporter asked Trump what he thought about all of the anti-Semitism happening today he first started talking about how he won the electoral vote and then when he finally got back to Judaism he just listed all of the members of his family that were Jewish. Not the most reassuring response from the leader of the free world in a country filled with turmoil, but it's the answer he gave. Trump also neglected to mention Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Whether this reflects his feelings about Judaism or just his complete and utter lack of tact is not clear but either way, as a Jew it certainly leaves me feeling cold.
No matter how much our President denies it, it's no secret that anti-Semitism is rampant today. In fact, there hasn't been this much of it since the 1930s according to the Anti-Defamation League. But despite all of the bomb threats at temples, the Swastika's painted on subway stations, the Neo-Nazi's coming out of the woodwork, there is hope for Judaism. Because people are finally starting to defend us.
There has been a movement lately, where people have been defending the underdog-African Americans who are being abused by cops, undocumented immigrants who are being threatened by Trump, etc. But for whatever reason Jews were left out of that entirely. Forgotten, left as always to defend ourselves even though there were so few of us.
But now that these blatantly awful anti-semitic things have started happening as a response to Trump's presidency, we are being defended. It took way too much and way too long, but people finally understand how big of an issue anti-Semitism is in America. People are speaking out about how horrible Neo-Nazis are, they are painting over Swastikas and other anti-Jewish symbols. People are finally fighting for us. This protection is not worth the violence or the Neo-Nazis or the bomb threats. But Jews no longer have to fight alone. America finally has our back.
