Professor Dollinger: Jewish Community Centers Are 'The Embodiment of American Pluralist Democracy'

J WEEKLY -- In our editorial last week, we excoriated President Trump for his seeming evasion of an unequivocal denunciation of this wave of anti-Semitic hate. We were then pleased by the president’s statement in his February 28 address before Congress, in which he opened with the strong condemnation we had been waiting for. “We are united,” he said, “ in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.” That unity certainly embodies the American Jewish community, which, though unnerved, stands defiant in the face of that evil. In an op-ed earlier this week, San Francisco State University Professor Marc Dollinger describes the historic role played by Jewish community centers in this country, calling them “the embodiment of American pluralist democracy, a place where people can congregate and socialize while still respecting the import of their religious and cultural differences.”