Growing up in the New Jersey suburbs in the 1980s, Steven Spielberg was a big part of my childhood: “Jaws,” “Close Encounters,” “Raiders,” “Poltergeist,” “E.T.” The list goes on and on.
As much as I loved (and still love) his movies, I loved the fact that Spielberg was Jewish even more. He was a source of immense pride for all of us in the Jewish community. He was one of us!
Then came “Schindler’s List” and the founding of the USC Shoah Foundation.
Spielberg not only used his skills as a filmmaker to deliver global awareness of the Holocaust, but also used the profits to record and share survivor testimonies to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust, as well as to build a future that rejected antisemitism.
These efforts were just the beginning of Spielberg’s subsequent multi-decade commitment to Jewish causes and philanthropy. I do not doubt that what the public knows of these efforts represents not even a speck of what he accomplished behind the scenes. He made a major impact, and his voice on issues affecting the Jewish community grew to carry significant weight.
But then came a plot twist.
Spielberg’s voice has been largely missing since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as there has been an explosion of antisemitism in virtually every aspect of American life. Yes, there has been a breadcrumb here and there, but where was (and is) the Spielberg who undoubtedly knows his history and sees the 1930s staring his fellow Jews in the face?
We have needed the Spielberg worthy of the standing the Jewish community has bestowed upon him to proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with us. To say he missed his mark is a profound understatement.
Compounding the situation, not only did Spielberg fail to speak before New York City went ahead and elected an unabashedly antisemitic mayor, but even quietly met with Zohran Mamdani shortly after the 34-year-old was inaugurated. Spielberg did this just days after Mamdani revoked the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.
Although the specific content of the conversation remains unknown, coming on the heels of the past few years, that private meeting with Mamdani felt like a gut punch. How could he do this to us?
In the age of cancel culture, the reflexive response would be to walk away from all things Spielberg—past, present and future (including his new film “Disclosure Day”)—and to do so loudly. Many of my peers have written Spielberg off in profound disappointment and concluded that he is a lost cause. They will never give him another box-office penny.
As for me, I cannot shut the door without making a final public plea—a final plea that he might recognize the peril facing his own people and stand in full-throated, unmistakable solidarity with all of us.
Here it is:
Mr. Spielberg, you have spent decades recording where the hatred we are seeing leads the Jewish community. Memorializing history serves little purpose if that same history starts to repeat itself in your own lifetime and you stay silent. Jews around the world have and continue to stand up and raise their voices because they know what is at stake. And they often do this at personal peril that extends far beyond ruffling a few feathers in Hollywood and among the political class.
The hour is late. The consequences are becoming irreparable. Please, Mr. Spielberg, put the challenge at hand center stage and phone home.
