As a student in Crown Heights Yeshiva in the late 40's ( in Brooklyn) I recall an episode ( that was repeated on a few occasions ) which now seems relevant.
As I exited the school bus, my mother who was waiting for me, was confronted by a small group of Jewish neighbors. They were upset with my parents for their decision to send me to an all-Jewish religious school." How can your son be a success in American society? they asked. They suggested I was being isolated from the "American Experience".
These individuals represented a generation of Jews who were not only afraid of being different but resented their coreligionists who " wanted to cling to the old ways of Europe" . Assimilation, whose results we witness today, was alive and well during and after WWII.
Freedom of religion is a double edge sword-it meant both the ability safely practice ones religion, or the ability to throw the prayer book and tefillin into the Hudson River as one approached Ellis Island.
Yet American post -Holocaust for the most part respected and were proud of the ability of those who sought to practice the tenets of their faith as full citizens of this great democracy.
I remember a meeting I had with a Catholic Chaplain in Vietnam after Passover 1968.I served as a volunteer Jewish Chaplain ( though I was a surgeon) and the Jewish Welfare Board had supplied us with more than ample wine matzos etc for the 2000 Jewish servicemen in combat. He had run out of wine for his needs. Without blinking an eye, I sent him kosher wine. We were comrades -in- arms, and an enemy rocket could not distinguish Christian from Jew.
SADLY SUCH AN EASY GOING RELATIONSHIP IS NOT ALAYS PALPABLE IN AMERICA IN 2018
Jews living in hi-rise buildings for example cannot live on high numbered floor if they are sabbath observers or infirmed --unless there is a " SHABBAT ELEVATOR" INSTALLED. This automatic pre-set elevator stops on every floor ( or alternate floors), thereby avoiding the need for riders to either press buttons (prohibited on the sabbath) or break invisible beams. Usually one elevator ( out of a bank of many lifts)in such a building is thus dedicated.
The problem==the protests of tenants =Usually assimilated Jews
"WE DON'T WANT TO ENCOURAGE MORE ORTHODOX JEWS TO MOVE IN" IS THE UNDERTONE OF THEIR COMPLAINTS
Never mind that the prospective tenants are upright citizens who can not only afford the rent, but add to the quality of the tenant mix Respect for people of faith-NOT IN MY BUILDING!.
PART 1 --TO BE CONTINUED
