At Abraham Foxman’s funeral, an elegy for the last generation with direct ties to the Holocaust
As mourners gathered Tuesday for the funeral of Abraham Foxman, they were saying goodbye not only to one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the last half-century, but to one of the dwindling number…
Assessment
The funeral of Abraham Foxman marks a generational turning point for American Jewish institutional life. With his passing, the community loses a leader whose moral authority derived from direct Holocaust experience, a source of legitimacy that cannot be replicated. The question now is how organizations like the ADL will sustain their influence without that foundational authority, especially as younger leaders must navigate antisemitism without the same historical grounding.