Privately declining the invitation was not enough. Einstein also felt compelled to write a public attack on those who tried to fit in by talking “about religious faith instead of tribal affiliation.”* In particular, he scorned what he called “the assimilatory” approach that sought “to overcome anti-Semitism by dropping nearly everything Jewish.” This never worked; indeed, it “appears somewhat comical to a non-Jew,” because the Jews are a people set apart from others. “The psychological root of anti-Semitism lies in the fact that the Jews are a group of people unto themselves,” he wrote. “Their
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