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Golden Age of American Jewry May Be Ending, But Jews Thrive in Meritocracy
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
The headlines seem bleak for Jews: “The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending”; “Jewish Erasure From American Life”; “The Vanishing.” The articles tell a consistent story: “Suddenly, everywhere you look, the Jews are disappearing”; “Antisemitism on the right and left threatens to bring to a close an unprecedented period of safety and prosperity for Jewish Americans …”
The data seem to support this assessment. Universities are rejecting Jewish applicants in numbers reminiscent of the days of quotas. Jewish representation in public offices is decreasing. Jobs in many areas seem to be closed to Jews in favor of other, more favored, minorities.
Honorific positions in elite cultural institutions — such as museums and orchestras — are being offered to leaders of other groups; university presidencies and deanships, which had been closed to Jews until the 1960s and then opened up to them in the 1990s, once again seem closed.
Academic prizes, such as MacArther and Guggenheim awards, have far fewer Jewish winners than in the past. Book publishers are rejecting Jewish authors. Even Hollywood, which was largely invented by Jews, is imposing quotas on Jewish filmmakers and other artists.
This trend, supported by precise numbers, is documented in an article by Jacob Savage in Tablet, and confirmed by several others, including a cover story in The Atlantic by Franklin Foer.
The facts, though, tell only part of a more complex phenomenon. They tell the part in which success is judged by how others — institutions and individuals — select the winners. They don’t, though, tell the equally remarkable story of persistent Jewish accomplishments in areas where success is not dependent on being picked by others — where success is self-determined and self-proving, in an open and free-market economy, without barriers to entry.
Jews are thriving in areas in which success is based entirely on meritocratic criteria, such as creativity, innovation, talent, and hard work. There has been no discernible reduction in Jewish inventors, musicians, investors, entrepreneurs, groundbreaking scientists, or chess champions.
Jewish doctors are still saving lives. Jewish lawyers are winning cases. Jewish comedians are making people laugh. Jewish podcasters are attracting large audiences. As long as the criteria is objective and identity-blind, Jews thrive.
The same is generally true of Asian Americans. Jews are a tiny percentage of the American population — between 2 percent and 3 percent, depending on the criteria — and so when their numbers exceed that percentage, Jews are accused of being “overrepresented“ and taking the rightful places of larger minority groups.
This was the same argument made in czarist Russia and other nations that imposed the notorious “numerus clausus.”
There are course limits to the kind of success that can be achieved in the face of discrimination by others who get to pick applicants for routes to success. Reduced Jewish admission to universities, reduced publication opportunities for Jewish authors, reduced scientific honors will eventually have an impact even on self-determined Jewish success. This was certainly true in past eras of anti-Jewish quotas.
As long as the United States has a free-market economic system with few barriers to entry, Jews — and others — denied admission to restricted organizations will be able to achieve a modicum of success. That success will enable them to fight against other discriminatory measures, as wealthy, self-made Jewish contributors are now doing with regard to universities.
So the water in the Jewish glass is lower than it has been during our “golden age.” It is, though, half full. Not half empty. It will remain at least half full as long as our free-market economy allows discriminated-against individuals to thrive in areas where meritocracy is rewarded with success.
Today’s culture, though, is determined to destroy what is left of meritocracy, because it is seen as undercutting the identity-oriented diversity, equity, and inclusion criteria for selection and success.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and is the author of “Guilt by Accusation” and host of the “The Dershow” podcast. Follow Alan Dershowitz on Twitter (@AlanDersh) and on Facebook (@AlanMDershowitz). A version of this article was originally published by The New York Sun.
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Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War
The S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army’s deputy for operations.
During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.
“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi said.
Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press did not mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.
Following limited Israeli strikes against Iranian missile factories last October, Iran later displayed Russian-made air defenses in a military exercise to show it recovered from the attack.
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Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding
Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Residents reported calm in Syria’s Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signaled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.
With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said on Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, “paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate.”
Reuters images showed interior ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The Interior Ministry said late on Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.
US envoy Tom Barrack said the sides had “navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities”. “The next foundation stone on a path to inclusion, and lasting de-escalation, is a complete exchange of hostages and detainees, the logistics of which are in process,” he wrote on X.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city’s residents were struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.
Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed. “Houses are destroyed … The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital,” he said in a voice message to Reuters from Sweida.
The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organized by the Syrian Red Crescent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Israel sent urgent medical aid to the Druze in Sweida and the step was coordinated with Washington and Syria. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi’ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.
Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbours were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.
Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against “our Druze people.”
He has blamed the violence on “outlaw groups.”
While Sharaa has won US backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups.
COASTAL VIOLENCE
After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He also said Israel would protect the Druze.
The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.
A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.
On Sunday, Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria’s coastal region in March, where Reuters reported in June that Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority following attacks on security forces.
The presidency said it would review the inquiry’s conclusions and ensure steps to “bring about justice” and prevent the recurrence of “such violations.” It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings – if appropriate – as soon as possible.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on July 18 it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians, women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
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Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Pope Leo called for an end to the “barbarity of war” on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.
Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.
Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said.
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