Identity/Crisis America Betrays the Stranger
Feb 3, 2026
A probing look at how American attitudes toward immigrants have shifted from welcome to normalized cruelty. Conversations link historical symbols of refuge to modern policy and political silence. The discussion compares democratic responsibilities in the U.S. and Israel and urges a moral boundary between cruelty and compassion.
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Lazarus As American And Jewish Symbol
- Emma Lazarus's poem became both an American civic symbol and a Jewish story of immigrant gratitude.
- Yehuda Kurtzer ties that legacy to Jewish moral obligations toward strangers.
Nativism Targets Jewish Pro-Immigrant History
- Anti-immigrant, white nationalist movements weaponize Jewish pro-immigrant history to attack Jews.
- Kurtzer links modern nativism directly to threats like Charlottesville and Pittsburgh.
Normalization Of Intentional Cruelty
- Kurtzer describes a new normalization of achzariyut, intentional cruelty, in U.S. immigration enforcement.
- He catalogs tactics that signal institutional cruelty and erosion of norms.