For decades after the Holocaust, civilized society agreed on one moral line that could never be crossed again: Jews would never again be treated as outsiders in the societies they helped build.

Today, that line is eroding before our eyes.

Across universities, workplaces, cultural institutions, and social media, an old and dangerous feeling is quietly returning the feeling that Jews do not fully belong.

History matters because societies forget far faster than they admit.

There was a time in America when Jews were openly excluded from universities, law firms, hospitals, neighborhoods, resorts, and country clubs. Ivy League schools imposed quotas because there were supposedly “too many Jews.” Hotels displayed signs reading “No Jews Allowed.” Restrictive housing covenants prevented Jewish families from buying homes in entire communities.

Antisemitism was not hidden at the fringes of society.

Industrialist Henry Ford helped spread antisemitic conspiracy theories through The International Jew. Radio priest Father Charles Coughlin broadcast anti-Jewish propaganda to millions of Americans during the 1930s.

Jewish Americans understood exactly what this hostility meant. Many changed their last names. Some concealed their identities. Others........

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