No Group Identity is a Single, Uniform Experience
The truth is the whole only as the totality of the individual
Some writers have recently implied that Jews are fearful. Ruth Graham’s article on attacks heightening Jewish anxiety (“After Several Attacks Heightened Anxiety Among American Jews”) in The New York Times overlooks something essential: no group identity is a single, uniform experience. Jewish identity isn’t either. As a secular Jew, I don’t feel fearful or endangered — I feel misrepresented.
Theodor Adorno, a philosopher who fled Nazi Germany, warned against the dangers of reducing people to categories. When the media implies that “Jews feel anxious,” it transforms a wide range of experiences into one narrative. As Adorno wrote, “The whole is the false. The truth is the whole only as the totality of the individual.”
Jews hold a spectrum of beliefs, especially regarding the Middle East. To treat us as a bloc — unified in emotion or politics — invites misunderstanding and reinforces stereotypes.
Graham, R. (2025) After Several Attacks Heightened Anxiety Among American Jews. The New York Times.