“There is a dramatic imbalance between the way Jews perceive themselves and the ways we are perceived by others”

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There is a dramatic imbalance between the way Jews perceive themselves and the ways we are perceived by others. We have become an empowered people. Israel is a regional military superpower and a significant economic power in a world of knowledge-based economies. And Jews in the United States are dramatically more powerful than we were a generation or two generations ago. We are perceived as Goliath, yet we perceive ourselves as David. We are perceived in Israel as the oppressor and not the oppressed. And yet we see ourselves as oppressed. Goliath does not generate much sympathy, but it is hard to view the Jews today as David with a slingshot.

Michael Berenbaum as quoted in Susan Freudenheim, “Michael Berenbaum Q&A: ‘I thought we would have done better’”, Jewish Journal (13-19 March 2015), 22.

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