Barack Obama's Election Heralds a Fresh Chapter in Jewish and African-American Relations, One Written by a New Generation of Leaders

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It was a hot July day on the Jersey Shore in 1970. I was riding waves on my raft a few blocks from my house when I noticed smoke rising from the nearby city of Asbury Park. Being a curious kid, I hopped on my bike and pedaled to its source. Peering around patrol cars and fire engines into the impoverished black business district, I saw burned-out buildings and looted shops. The city's reputation was marred, triggering a white exodus.

This riot was part of the great civil unrest sweeping the United States at the time. I knew little then about the pent-up frustrations of urban blacks or the complexities of race relations, but I was old enough to pick up on the ambivalence some Jews felt toward African-Americans.

They carefully avoided driving through black parts of town, …