Miriam Adelson Helped Drive the American Jewish Establishment Off the Rails. No Wonder Trump Is Honoring Her.

Walking past the local Reform temple with my daughter this Shabbat, I felt a wave of fear that I haven’t felt since living in Israel during the height of the Second Intifada. There were no specific threats, but the temple is prominent, and outspoken in its liberalism—a prime target for another white supremacist, Trumpist, anti-Semitic attack. “Mainstream” American Jewish institutions, which are actually far to the right of the American Jewish mainstream, have abandoned American Jews in the wake of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh shooter was exquisitely clear about his intentions: He was a right-wing, anti-immigration zealot, enraged by right-wing hysteria over the so-called “migrant caravan” and the Tree of Life synagogue’s participation in a pro-refugee event run by HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.