Book Review: “Polarized: Why American Jews Are Polarized And What To Do About It”

By Roberta Rosenthal Kwall. Published by Bloomsbury Academic.  256 pages

An “old saw” laments that everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it. The same seems true of political polarization among American Jews.

In fact, there are efforts to promote civility and cooperation in our community. It is just that the countervailing forces are daunting: social media, zero-sum politics, the knee-jerk replacing the contemplative, and the ever-rising stakes for our community, country, and Jewish world.

This internal Jewish acrimony did not germinate within us. For most of American history, Jewish politics were largely immune to American partisanship. Today, we too are infected by the polarization disease.

It is a super-spreader among our organizations and, painfully, our families.

In her persuasive new book, Polarized: Why American Jews Are Polarized And What To Do About It, Roberta Rosenthal Kwall diagnoses these ailments. Her prescription would alleviate several of our symptoms. Likely, many........

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