That was quite a demarche in the Senate on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. It began with a group of Republicans, including the majority leader, Senator Frist, who rose to say that on the eve of the Jewish new year he wanted his colleagues to reflect “on the rise of intolerance toward the Jewish people.” He announced that a number of senators will be speaking on the topic and urged his colleagues to “follow this issue closely.” Then he rattled off a list of recent incidents, from one in which anti-Semitic inscriptions were found stamped into a dozen books in the main library in Paris, France, to one in New Zealand, where a small synagogue was recently burned down.

We were struck by the sophistication of the senators who spoke, including Senator Bond of Missouri, who quoted historian Robert Wistrich caricaturing anti-Semitism as “the longest hatred.” He spoke of college campuses here in America, “where anti-Israel rallies become forums with chants that disintegrate into cries of ‘Death to the Jews.'” From the floor of the Senate he remarked on “the recent attacks on Doug Feith and other neo-conservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle charging Jewish DoD officials with manipulating U.S. intelligence in order to ‘force’ the United States to take out Saddam in Iraq contain familiar anti-Semitic overtones.” Said Mr. Bond: “The fact is the Senate Intelligence Committee, after an exhaustive review of pre-war U.S. intelligence, found absolutely no evidence of pressure being put on intelligence analysts to change their assessments by any administration official.”

Senator Voinovich of Ohio spoke on, among other points, the conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was addressed by Secretary Powell. He noted that the 55 participating states pledged to take action on anti-Semitism. Senator Coleman was so moved by Mr. Voinovich’s remarks that he likened the Ohioan to the “righteous gentiles” memorialized at Yad Vashem. Senator Smith of Oregon spoke of the phenomenon of “state-sponsored anti-Semitism,” citing examples from, among other states, Saudi Arabia. Senator Santorum gave a long and exceptionally thoughtful presentation, stressing the importance of freedom of religion. Senator Brownback weighed in.

The demarche was initiated by Republicans. The party has come a long way from the GOP of several generations ago. The Democrats quickly joined, starting with the minority leader, Senator Daschle, who spoke of being introduced to Rosh Hashanah by three Jewish families his family was close to when he was growing up. He spoke of the 350th anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in America. He noted that he and Senator Dodd are calling for an investigation into why 10 years after the bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, none of the terrorists responsible has been brought to justice. He also spoke of the centennial of the birth of I.B. Singer and told the senate a story of Singer’s and how the search for God that Singer wrote of “connects us all.” Fine words in the Senate do not always translate into laws and action, but it was an encouraging moment, making it clear that there are those prepared to address the problem of the new anti-Semitism in a direct way. Many will be watching in hopes that the senators stick with it.