The Mobilization of Elite Opinion: Rabbi Perceptions of and Responses to Anti‐Semitism

Abstract

One of the persistent problems facing the Jewish community is anti-Semitism, which has a long, tragic history in the United States and abroad. At the same time, anti-Semitic acts are probably at their lowest ebb in American history. Using a sample of more than 400 rabbis drawn from the four great movements of American Judaism, we investigate rabbi perceptions of anti-Semitism in the United States, as well as their attitudinal and behavioral reactions to it. We test and find evidence for the notions that Orthodox rabbis, as well as those connected to and mobilized by Jewish advocacy organizations, perceive anti-Semitism as a greater problem and concern themselves with the issue more often in their public speech.

The framing of atrocities: Documenting and exploring wide variation in aversion to Germans and German-related activities among Holocaust survivors.

“…Jewish dogma clearly states that certain offenses are unforgivable, which may serve to encourage both aversion and avoidance of reminders of the offense (Cohen, Malka, Rozin, & Cherfas, in press;Dorff, 1998). Djupe and Sokhey (2003) found that Orthodox rabbis are more likely to perceive anti-Semitism as a threat and speak about it more often to their congregations because of a need to maintain unity within their communities and barriers between their communities and the outside world. Our respondents high on religiosity were mostly Orthodox Jews; of the 7 respondents who rated their religiosity as "very" or "deeply" (the highest rankings on the 6-point scale), 6 self-identified as Orthodox and 1 as Conservative in denomination (conversely, of the 14 who rated their religiosity as "not at all" or "a little" none described themselves as Orthodox).…”

Rabbi Engagement with the Peace Process in the Middle East*

“…As such, they command the respect and attention of policymakers and community members. Rabbis have a rather lukewarm relationship with the JAOs, preferring to keep their distance from the organizations while supporting many of the same causes through other avenues (Djupe and Sokhey, 2003a). Still, we suspect that rabbis' public engagement with U.S. policy toward Israel will be driven by JAO mobilization, and test this notion with an index capturing how closely rabbis feel to the three major JAOs.…”

“…Rabbi concern with foreign policy may also be structured by other external factors, most prominently mobilization efforts of the Jewish advocacy organizations (Djupe and Sokhey, 2003a). The JAOs have been called the first line of defense for the Jewish community and search diligently for issues that might concern Jewish security.…”

“…Since Israel and the peace process occupy a near permanent place on the agendas of American Jews, it is not surprising that organizations dedicated to keeping these issues hot can periodically ignite discussion. However, the JAOs are limited in the effect that they have on these opinion leaders, since their efficacy rests on the openness of rabbis to their efforts, and relatively few rabbis are so open (Djupe and Sokhey, 2003a).…”

Perceptions of Anti-Semitism among American Jews, 2000-05, A Survey Analysis

“…First, it looks at a question rarely studied, American Jewish perceptions of anti‐Semitism. Existing studies on this question either are restricted to local communities (Tobin & Sassler, 1988), do not try to explain variation across individuals instead focusing on frequencies or levels of anti‐Semitic perceptions (Blakeslee, 2000; Rabb, 1995), or study a Jewish elite, rabbis (Djupe & Sohkey, 2003), not mass attitudes. Second, this study explores a puzzle: Why should a group as successful as American Jews perceive such high levels of anti‐Semitism as displayed in these survey data?…”