JEWS AND MONEY

A stalwart in the long campaign against anti-Semitism presents rational arguments on the side of reason and understanding.

Indefatigable Anti-Defamation League director Foxman (The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control, 2007, etc.) applies common sense against entrenched hatred, challenging patent bigotry with plain truths about Jews and money. Before diving in to “The Bernie Madoff Moment,” the author reminds us of the virtuous owner of Malden Mills, who reacted heroically when his factory, where many townsfolk earned their livelihoods, was destroyed in 1995. That good man, like the criminal Madoff, was Jewish. Methodically, Foxman examines some causes of anti-Semitism, including charges of deicide and the belief in a cabal of usurers in a den of thieves. Certainly, some Jews are wealthy, but some are poor; some are tightfisted, others are remarkably philanthropic; some are capitalists, others communists. The author stresses that irrational bigotry isn’t past history, but rather current events—in fact, the old czarist forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is still published and marketed worldwide. Anti-Semitism has survived the days of Father Coughlin and Henry Ford to be found on Twitter and the Internet, and it is global, unfiltered and viral. In his discourse, Foxman skims sordid and dangerous examples of bigotry, including ethnic comedy—though showbiz criticism isn’t his strength. The author effectively marshals logic and fact, and he maintains a consistently calm, level tone.

A gentlemanly exhortation to communicate and get involved in the fight against an ancient evil.