BS”D
A Jewish child may find the most inspiring book he ever read was a biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player, or the story of Rosa Parks.
This is very, very sad as is the rest of the post it comes from.
When I read things like this I can only say: “ashreinu ma tov chelkeinu” about those of us who know better than to accept American post war values as if they were Torah.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe told Senator Moynihan that in essence he admired the Chinese in NY. But never once did he say that any JEW should emulate their ways (which include avoida zoro let alone eating tarfus), only that Senator Moynihan should look out for their well being because their quiet and self-reliant nature may have been impeding their ability to receive assistance in acclimating to the US.
Read books to find out about history – by all means. In the beis kisse where they belong. And make sure they’re clean even for in there. Otherwise, you start thinking that Jackie Robinson (or George Washington) was lehavdil Moshe Rabbeinu and Rosa Parks was chas vesholom Devora haNeviah.
In fact if I ever have daughters I will tell them the REAL story of Rosa Parks, a tired woman who just sat in the first available seat and then was used by all kinds of activists, to contrast her to real heroines like Chana or Devorah or Soroh Schenirer AH who did what they did out of conviction and as proud women of Torah.
However, I will make sure they read Amos Oz’s biography of Theodor Herzl OLBM as well as Perfidy by Ben Hecht and a book about Roosevelt YMS and his policy on refugees.
You forget that the American democracy is as much klipa and from the yetzer as the dictatorship of Ahmadinejad is, and that values like yours led to the spiritual Churban which took so many Jews away from Yiddishkeit in the US. There was of course the fire of the Shoah, but there was also the far more gentle water of American assimilation, that led us to lose so many over the past generations.