The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was recently listed by the Forward as one of America’s 50 most influential Jews. Well, Goldberg says, why shouldn’t there be a parallel list of Philo-Semites?
If the Forward can publish a list of the top 50 Jews, then Goldblog can publish a list of the top 50 philo-Semites. I don’t have a philosophical problem with this, by the way: I dissent from the line, first passed on to me by Frank Foer, who, tragically, is not a top-50 Jew (though his mother is!), that philo-Semites are anti-Semites who like Jews. So, a list, and one loyal readers can help me assemble.
Goldberg starts with five names: George Eliot, Barack Obama, Harry Truman, Emile Zola, Malcolm Gladwell.
A few thoughts… What was Harry Truman if not an anti-Semite who liked Jews (well, at least one Jew and the idea of a Jewish state)? Why Barack Obama and not Bill Clinton?
Here’s a few other possibilities: Jon Voight, George Will, John Hagee, David Gergen, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pope John Paul II.
Before we go on… I have a question for Goldberg: Would it help or hurt to stick to the Forward’s policy of limiting its list to living Americans?
