Anti-Semitism feels ubiquitous. There are times when I align with the great Jewish historian Salo Baron, who opposed what he called the “lachrymose conception of Jewish history.” He noted that “suffering is part of the destiny of the Jews but so is repeated joy, as well as ultimate redemption.” Baron made the argument that we ought not to define the Jewish experience merely with the fight against oppression, persecution, and anti-Semitism.
There are other times, however, during which I think Baron got it wrong: so much of Jewish histo...
