US Jews talk identity, Holocaust after Goldberg’s remarks

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO, PETER SMITH and DAVID CRARY
Associated Press

The uproar over Whoopi Goldberg’s remarks about the Holocaust has catalyzed somber reflections by many American Jews, and not just about the Holocaust’s legacy. They also have recalled anti-Jewish discrimination in the United States and pondered the Jewish community’s sense of collective identity. Goldberg said this week on ABC’s “The View” that the Nazis’ genocide wasn’t about race. She soon apologized for failing to acknowledge that the Nazis considered Jews an inferior race. Jewish leaders are noting the complexity of describing how race fits into the concept of Jewish identity. They say it entails a mix of religion, nationality, ethnicity, culture and history.