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Alvin Roth
A Newark rabbi who leads his congregation in the Jewish Conservative moment, Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf is one of the novel’s major antagonists. In many ways, Bengelsdorf—a tall and genteel widower from South Carolina who talks with a thick Southern accent—is one of the most unknowable characters in the novel. As he throws his support behind Lindbergh’s isolationist and antiwar platform in the election of 1940, insisting that as an “American Jew” he owes his loyalty to America first rather than to the Jews of Europe in need of American aid, his motivations are unclear. Under Lindbergh’s administration, Bengelsdorf is selected to shore up the New Jersey branch of the Office of American Absorption (OAA), a program whose supposed aim is to integrate religious and ethnic minorities more deeply into the “fabric” of American society. In reality, the OAA’s programs are aimed at breaking up Jewish families and reducing the power of Jewish constituencies across America—yet Bengelsdorf himself seems to believe that Jews dwell too far “apart” from American life. Whether Bengelsdorf truly believes such things or is merely parroting the party line is never revealed—yet Herman, Bess, and many other Jews see Bengelsdorf’s words and actions as traitorous. When Bengelsdorf marries Aunt Evelyn, the Roths find themselves even more despairing of Bengelsdorf’s influence not just in their community, but in their own family. Charismatic, opaque, and opportunistic, Bengelsdorf later goes on to pen a memoir detailing the titular “plot against America,” citing the Nazis’ capture of Charles Lindbergh Jr. and their blackmail of the president and First Lady Anne Lindbergh into enacting the Third Reich’s agenda in America. Again, whether any of Bengelsdorf’s claims are to be believed is never really clear—but what is evident is that Bengelsdorf is a man drawn to the spectacle of power and envious of the social and political power wielded by the goyim around him.
Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf Quotes in The Plot Against America
The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf or refer to Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
“I am here,” Rabbi Bengelsdorf [said,] “to crush all doubt of the unadulterated loyalty of the American Jews to the United States of America. […] America is our beloved homeland. America is our only homeland. Our religion is independent of any piece of land other than this great country, to which, now as always, we commit our total devotion and allegiance as the proudest of citizens. I want Charles Lindbergh to be my president not in spite of my being a Jew but because I am a Jew—an American Jew.”
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Chapter 3 Quotes
“The Jews of America […] are unlike any other community of Jews in the history of the world. […] The Jews of America can participate fully in the national life of their country. They need no longer dwell apart, a pariah community separated from the rest.”
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Chapter 8 Quotes
I wept all the way to school. Our incomparable American childhood was ended. Soon my homeland would be nothing more than my birthplace.
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Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf Character Timeline in The Plot Against America
The timeline below shows where the character Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf appears in The Plot Against America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War
In October, Lindbergh flies to Newark, where a local rabbi, Lionel Bengelsdorf, is among the those who welcome him. Bengelsdorf is the prominent leader of a local...
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Bengelsdorf participates in another Lindbergh rally at Madison Square Garden several days later. As the Roths...
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Rattled by Bengelsdorf’s speech, Bess leaves the room on the verge of tears. Herman begins shouting obscenities about...
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Chapter 3: Following Christians
...chagrin. Bess’s younger sister, the boys’ aunt Evelyn, is now the executive assistant to Rabbi Bengelsdorf, the director of the OAA in New Jersey—it is she who has encouraged Sandy to...
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...several months after that dinner that Evelyn was, at the time, having an affair with Bengelsdorf as well—just six months later, the two would be engaged.
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Weeks later, Bess invites Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf to dinner to celebrate their engagement. Herman is strongly opposed to welcoming the rabbi for...
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One Thursday evening, Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf arrive for dinner. Bengelsdorf is charming, complimentary, warm, and he’s keenly interested in Sandy—the boy...
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Over dinner, Bengelsdorf launches into a pseudo-sermon in which he describes how American Jews have a unique chance...
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Over dessert, Bengelsdorf continues pontificating about the issues facing American Jews. He even brings up Alvin’s injury, lamenting...
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Bengelsdorf listens respectfully and thoughtfully as Herman rants. Evelyn, too, maintains her composure, even as Bess...
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...a length speech extolling Lindbergh for creating programs that help integrate Jews into American society, Bengelsdorf asks Herman if he has adequately addressed his fears. Herman flatly replies that the rabbi...
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Chapter 5: Never Before
...Many local Jews attribute Lindbergh’s even treatment of Jewish people to the influence of Rabbi Bengelsdorf—the man who is about to become an uncle by marriage to Sandy and Philip.
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...said before leaving home, has come to see Sandy, Aunt Evelyn, and the “great” Rabbi Bengelsdorf as opportunists. Philip believes that Sandy, having realized his unusual potential to be someone of...
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In March, Rabbi Bengelsdorf and Aunt Evelyn receive invitations to the White House’s dinner for von Ribbentrop. Bess and...
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...brought Evelyn home and put her to bed. She reports that she has spoken with Bengelsdorf on the phone—he has implied that he will never forget how Herman has treated Evelyn...
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...doesn’t tell his family about Shepsie’s decision—but he lambasts the smug, happy way Evelyn and Bengelsdorf looked in the footage from the White House’s dinner. He questions how such horrible things...
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...he watches the “horrors” on the news, he becomes frightened and disoriented. When Evelyn and Bengelsdorf at last appear on screen during the coverage of the dinner, Philip feels that they...
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Chapter 7: The Winchell Riots
...and attempts to “inflame and frighten his fellow Jews”—the latter quotation is attributed to Lionel Bengelsdorf, who writes an op-ed against Winchell in the Times. Winchell writes his own response in...
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In June, Bengelsdorf and Aunt Evelyn are married—the Roths are not invited. Bess is miserable to miss the...
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...meets with the mayor, the police and fire departments, and even the state legislature. Rabbi Bengelsdorf refuses to join the committee or participate in any of their meetings at the local,...
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Chapter 8: Bad Days
...sense, examines this German intel carefully with the help of several White House aides. When Bengelsdorf is seen arriving at the White House in the early evening, however, it becomes widely...
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...abandoned the search for Lindbergh, and that Canada has joined the search as well. Rabbi Bengelsdorf addresses reporters outside the White House that same evening and tells them that Anne Morrow...
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...on Lindbergh and reports that order has been restored to America after one terrible night. Bengelsdorf delivers his own address, reading a statement from the First Lady in which she discourages...
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On Thursday, October 15th, Rabbi Bengelsdorf is taken into FBI custody under suspicion of being “among the ringleaders of the Jewish...
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...hears about the truth of Lindbergh’s disappearance comes from Aunt Evelyn in the days following Bengelsdorf’s arrest—the story, she says, is straight from the First Lady. According to Bengelsdorf, the Nazis...
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...Nazis began applying pressure on Lindbergh to institute measures against American Jews—only then, according to Bengelsdorf, did Lindbergh resist, instituting “token programs” like Just Folks and Homestead 42 to appease the...
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Hours after Bengelsdorf’s arrest, Evelyn arrives at the house and conveys the above story to Bess and Philip....
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Chapter 9: Perpetual Fear
...in the house are tense. Fear is everywhere and, especially in the Roth household (given Bengelsdorf’s rise to prominence in the news), life has taken on a strange, eerie feeling. The...
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...Herman and Sandy have departed for Kentucky, the phone rings—it is Aunt Evelyn, announcing Rabbi Bengelsdorf’s arrest. That afternoon, Evelyn shows up at the Roths’ house looking and sounding crazed. She...
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