Antisemitism and the Law: Jews’ Unfinished Quest for Liberation Through Law

The talk will discuss how American Jews and their allies have used the categories of U.S. law to cabin antisemitism and secure a measure of safety. For the two centuries after 1787, advocates sought to position Jews as white Judeo‑Christians: “free white persons” for purposes of citizenship and one of America’s three respectable religions for purposes of religious liberty. A second, more recent strategy re‑casts Jews as an ethnoreligious people, or ancestry/ethnic group, shifting the legal grounds for protection. Drawing on Judith Shklar’s “liberalism of fear,” Katz urges that we dispense with seeking one best account of Jewish identity and instead use legal categories instrumentally and choose whatever mix of religion, race, ethnicity, and nation best reduces antisemitic cruelty and fear. He will conclude with some observations about how American Jews morally connect to, and argue about, the state of Israel and Jewish nationalism.