For years, experts talked about the success of Jewish life in America, particularly in comparison to the long, sorry history of Jews in the diaspora.

At the same time, there were some who noted that things weren’t all that great and linked that perceived reality to a long history of antisemitism in America. 

For the former, what has transpired in the last decade was a shocking development. There were many who assumed that the progress that had been made was so significant that going back didn’t seem possible. At ADL, I actually had colleagues who said to me that they didn’t think antisemitism was any longer a problem.

On the other hand, for those who focused on deeply entrenched Jew hatred despite the easing of it for many years, the surge of antisemitism was not a surprise, though the intensity and breadth of it may still have been beyond what even these folks anticipated.

There’s no clear answer as to which view was the correct one. There is historical evidence on both sides. What it points to is that a simplistic view of America and the Jews doesn’t wash. Neither the notion that antisemitism was no longer a problem nor the idea that the golden age of Jews in America was a fantasy holds up under scrutiny. The progress was real but its permanence was never guaranteed.

So what has changed? What should have been predicted from the long history of antisemitism in America, what could we have expected, and how in particular did it go beyond anything that was projected? 

To address what has changed, one has to look at what were the positive factors that produced the golden age. Several factors immediately come to mind. America in the 1950s and 1960s opened up due to two major influences: that of World War II, in which like never before it was a war for freedom and against fascism and hate; and the Civil Rights Movement, which transformed America in........

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