Under such radically new circumstances, they became Americanized and adept in navigating life in their new home. The Jews in America today are quite removed from the immigrant roots of their progenitors. We are very much a part of the American culture. Since we have always placed such strong emphasis on education, a disproportionate number of our people have risen to the upper levels of the corporate, academic, political and media worlds. The rights denied to Jews in Europe are enjoyed in America freely.
Life is good.
Herein lies a serious potential danger. Since the first major wave of Jewish immigration in the last two decades of previous century, the misery and oppression suffered at the hands of governments abroad have faded from memory. Rights freely extended and possessed by all are taken for granted, as if no other way of life could possibly exist. Sadly, similar bright periods in our years of exile have undergone a metamorphosis before anyone could realize what had transpired. Shifts in government policies, even diminution of public disposition toward the Jewish population, have turned previous Golden Ages into periods of vehement persecution.