What Does Whiteness Do to Jewishness?

• In Event: Antisemitism in American Politics

Abstract

“What does Whiteness do to Jewishness?” I propose this question, first formulated by sociologist Cynthia Levine-Rasky, as an alternative to the far more popular “Are Jews White?” Questions over the relationship between Jews and Whiteness have lurked in the background (sometimes foreground) of a host of contemporary antisemitism controversies, from the alleged failure of DEI initiatives to include Jews, to claims regarding the status of Israel as a “colonial” or “White supremacist” state, to disputes over how universities or other public institutions are said to comparatively respond to claims of racism compared to antisemitism.

Yet the relationship of Jews and Whiteness will inevitably elude simply yes/no binaries. Asking instead what Whiteness does to Jewishness, by contrast, illuminates how Whiteness acts as a social force, whose effects vary based on place, time, and context.

A prominent account, for instance (found in works by Eric Goldstein and Karen Brodkin, among others), suggests that Whiteness has an assimilationist effect on Jews—to the extent Jews “become” (or are recognized as) White, they are thereby integrated into mainline American institutions; with the corollary that denying Jewish Whiteness is a mechanism by which Jewish subordination is constructed and entrenched. In the 21st century, however, a critical revisionist narrative has emerged alongside the traditional account, whereby acknowledging Jewish Whiteness works to categorizes Jews as part of a dominant or “oppressor” class, and denying Jewish Whiteness is a means of creating space for continued Jewish differentiation and multicultural inclusion.

While arguably these accounts are two sides of the same coin, they do generate some different hypothesis: under the traditional view, perceptions of Jewish “Whiteness” should be associated with decreased antisemitic sentiment (as Jews are incorporated into the favored in-group), whereas under the revisionist story, perceptions of Jewish “Whiteness” may be associated with increased antisemitic attitudes (as Jews are seen as exploiting unjust hierarchies). Data that might support one hypothesis over another is only just emerging, and it is likely that the manner in which perceived Jewish Whiteness modulates antisemitic sentiments will vary considerably based on both race and ideology.

Unfortunately, while folk renditions of the critical revisionist account are becoming increasingly popular, there has been little in the way of serious academic investigation into it. What interrogations have occurred have generally struggled to work past a binary account of Jewish Whiteness, whereby either Jews “are” or “are not” White and accordingly either are or are not included in dominant power structures and either do not or do endure antisemitism. On a more conservative telling, the categorization of Jews as White serves to deny the salience of historic and ongoing antisemitic oppression; therefore, Jews cannot be said to be White (this is sometimes framed as the “were we White when we were sent to Buchenwald?” argument). Such a claim unrealistically denies the obvious ways at least some Jews have benefited from being categorized as White—from being able to attend the “White” schools in the Jim Crow south to avoiding significant police profiling in contemporary America.

The more progressive iteration of the story recognizes the manner in which many Jews have accessed many prerogatives of White privilege, but struggles to tell a compelling story about the resilience of antisemitism. To the extent antisemitism is recognized at all, it is seen either as a sort of desperate rear-guard action by traditional White supremacists, or a prospective potential loss of hard-won “conditional Whiteness.” Both explanations fail to recognize how antisemitism can be accentuated, not just arrested, by perceived Jewish Whiteness. Particularly as endeavors to combat White supremacy and White privilege gain prestige in progressive circles, there is a risk that Jewish Whiteness will become a convenient site through which non-Jewish Whites can disassociate themselves from Whiteness—“we are not White insofar as we are not Jews.” Hence, while some writers (such as Megan Wachspress in a recent influential essay) have juxtaposed the risk of this dissociative move alongside Jews losing “contingent White” status, this may get things exactly backwards—a widespread progressive “flight from Whiteness” may depend on Jews being forcibly conscripted into the role of last White people standing. In this context, what Whiteness “does” to Jewishness is to freeze Jewish identity inside a prior racial topography so that non-Jews can claim to transcend it.

Author

• David Schraub, Lewis & Clark Law School