Thanks for the response on

Thanks for the response on Jews in Minnesota, Rocket Man. You make what I think is an essential point — the absence, as of now, of meaningful bias against Jews in America’s heartland. Of course many on the left don’t see this as refuting the notion that America is a land of bigotry and prejudice because they see Jews as part of the “oppressor class.” But what of the Jews themselves? It never ceases to amaze me when my fellow eastern urban Jews rail against the Christian Right and worry about anti-semitism in the nation’s heartland. They lack any appreciation of the historically unprecedented manner in which Christians have embraced Jews in this country or of the fact that religious awakenings here generally do not produce a rise in anti-semitism as they do elsewhere. Perhaps most disturbingly, liberal Jews seem oblivious to the fact that the most virulent anti-semitism in this country is to be found among core Democratic constituencies. It is reasonable for Jews to avoid complacency even as to the attitudes of their friends. But surely we must also be able to figure out where future trouble is most likely to come from.