“A Natural Alliance”: Alexander M. Schindler on Black–Jewish Relations

This paper will offer a historical analysis of two important documents that shed light on the tense nature of black-Jewish relations during the last decades of the 20th century. Both speeches were delivered by the prominent American Jewish leader, Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler (1925-2000). The first speech was delivered in 1987 at Central State University (CSU), a public historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. In this address, Schindler eloquently describes the ebb and flow of black Jewish relations that prevailed during those years.

In 1992, Schindler crafted a textured and thoughtful introduction for Rev. Jesse Jackson (b. 1941), a veteran American civil rights activist and former associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson had been invited to deliver a keynote address at a large conference on “Racism, Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and Other Forms of Intolerance,” sponsored by the World Jewish Congress. Schindler’s introduction was hardly pro forma, since Jackson had become a highly controversial figure in the American Jewish community when, in 1984, the Washington Post reported that the Civil Rights leader and Jackson, had referred to Jews as “Hymies” and New York City as “Hymietown” in a private conversation with news reporters.

In both speeches, Schindler examines why the collaborative relationship that flourished in the early 1960s had steadily deteriorated in last decades of the 20th century. Schindler’s real-time analysis of black-Jewish relations is noteworthy: he criticized both sides and emerged as an impassioned advocate for black-Jewish reconciliation. In doing so, he insisted that despite ongoing tensions and misunderstandings that would inevitably continue to foster hard feelings, blacks and Jews should consciously rise above the pettiness and “dream common dreams.” In 2022, three decades after these addresses were written, Schindler’s reflections on black-Jewish relations remain amazingly salient.