Revealed here is the astonishing amount of senseless acts of violence and hostility— inane because they are not only based on false assumptions but disprove each community’s claim that they are not “anti-Semitic” or “racist.” The Lubavitchers cannot simply say it is not a race thing when Black Jews, some of whom moved to Crown Heights so that they can feel both racially and religiously included in their community, were often ostracized when met with White Lubavitchers’ discomfort. Lubavitchers who reached out to their fellow Jewish brethren on street corners claimed that they did not use clothing, hair, jewelry, skin color, or other physical features to assume one’s religion. Instead they claimed to rely on the presence of a person’s “neshoma” (Jewish soul), which radiates outwards. I find it hard to believe this was their sole method of detection when so man Black Jews, Rastafarians, and more secular White Jews were neglected (most likely because of wardrobe, hairstyle, and skin color).
While many were identified by their “Jewish” features, I’d bet just as many actual Jews were neglected or Gentiles were mislabeled. The assertion made early in the chapter that Jewish features are conspicuous in whatever country is the product of flawed thinking. Although Judaism is an ethnic group in some regards, as a religion it can be applied to people of different races and nationalities and thus different immutable physical appearances.
A Hasidic man had punched an African-American Orthodox Jew, but profusely apologized after discovering her religious affiliation stating, “I didn’t know she was Jewish.” How then, could the Lubavitch community claim that they did not see race? The girl was an honor student with Yeshiva University and Orthodox, however he still did not see her as Jewish. Regardless of whether her race was an intentional factor, I find the entire mentality troubling. He was only repentant after finding out her religion; did he see nothing wrong with his actions if she weren’t Jewish? Insularity would not be a problem if such an insider-outsider mentality didn’t contribute to such hostile attitudes (not just to a specific different race/group, but to everybody outside of your own group). As one Black man told his children “you have to look even more like a Jew” because it was a common assumption in the community that if you were Black you weren’t Jewish.
This, of course, goes both ways and Anthony Graziosi was killed because he ‘looked’ Jewish. Many Blacks also thought Jews were distinguishable by visual attributes, which (like the Hasidic man who attacked the African-American Orthodox Jew) led to faulty conclusions. Similarly, Yankel Rosenbaum was associated with the Lubavitch community because of his similar dress. Similarly, Black Gentiles often had a harder time identifying Jewish women because their requirement to wear modest skirts was less rigidly communal (in the sense that women of all races/religions can wear the same skirt) and less religious-specific since long skirts could be a fashion statement. The irony is that women’s adherence to skirts and tznius (modesty) were extremely scrutinized within the Jewish community.
The conclusion addresses multiculturalism and Goldschmidt asks about the space available for it, and about which forms of diversity we tend to celebrate and which we wish to deny. I’d rather ask whether or not multiculturalism could ever lead to an ideal and culturally sensitive society, when it is human nature to be defensive. While I don’t in any way justify the assumptions and actions made by Crown Heights’ residents, I think that whenever a group of people does something collectively (e.g. wear the same clothing) they are opening themselves up for assumptions, suspicions, and hostility. Similarly, those inside the group allow their own defensive natures to fuel these things (i.e. many Jewish residents of Crown Heights attributing anti-Semitism to ambiguous behavior and the belief that “non-Jews inherently hate Jews”). Diversity is inevitable and tolerance is expected, but ultimate integration seems to be realistically impossible.
