Jews get to define what antisemitism is

I love this line that you see increasingly on social media and in politics: “Jews get to decide what antisemitism is.” I won’t go through all the obvious problems with the claim. I’m more fascinated by idea that somehow it’s part of our inheritance, our heritage, our privilege, our right, our pleasure and our joy, as Jews, to get to decide what antisemitism is. It’s not that, as Jews, we get to worship God as we see fit, or we get to celebrate our holidays as we see fit (and even, as is the case in New York, have the government acknowledge our holidays as public holidays), or that we get to cherish and teach our authors and texts. No, […]