The tide is turning… fast

Peloni:  The war which was unleashed on October 7, 2023 was aimed at world Jewry, both those Jews inside Israel and those spread across the Diaspora.  During the course of these past nearly three years, we have all witnessed horrors which have caused us to seriously doubt the realities around us.  Of course, the source of stability in the Diaspora for Jews was always founded upon the equal application under the law, and while we Jews have been the target of the wave of antisemitism around the world, it has come at the cost of the application of democratic norms being cast aside in preference of the defense of radicalism and illiberality which if left unchecked will see the capitulation of any semblance of democracy values around the world with the isolation and targeting of Jews proving the long discussed metaphor of the Jews being the canary in the coalmine.  With the rapidly and nearly unopposed mobilization of violent antisemitic mobs around the world, the Golden Age of Jews, including in America where such a reality seemed impossible to contemplate, Jews have been placed under a state of siege, the ultimate cost of which are still yet to be decided.

European communities have been likely most affected with few having the capabilities with which to withstand such attacks.  In the believed to be enlightened and tolerant lands of Canada and Australia, the govts there have come to demonstrate a preference for defending Jew Hatred as something akin to a Human Right, even as Jews continue to be attacked with impunity and violence. American communities have greater capabilities than exist in these other nations due to their greater numbers as well as their successful local networking, so the open embrace and toleration for Jew Hatred there came as a greater shock.  Importantly, the thus far reluctance to ban the Muslim Brotherhood at the federal level looms large in grasping any rational for such tolerance of intolerance in what was once known to us all as the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.  Also, recent moves by Florida and Texas to support such bans still seem to be poorly enforced months after the state bans were first announced, with recent reports questioning if there is any real intent on seeing the Islamic radicals in America opposed at any level.  The image of antisemitic Squad in Congress alongside the antisemitic faux MAGA podcasters led by Tucker Carlson are both enforced by the recent election of an antisemitic NYC mayor where the largest concentration of Jews in America resides. And so, yes, as Steve Kramer asserts below, the tide is turning fast for Jewish communities, and faster for some than others.  We will see what success might be won for those communities in America from which the tide might be pushed back, but for many communities, such an outcome might seem as lost as the hope to see the Jewish communities across Arabia returned to their former state of existence and stability over the millennia.

by Steve Kramer 

I’m sitting comfortably in my apartment in Kfar Saba despite the fact that Israel has been at war against its enemies since October 7, 2023. The resilience of Israelis is well known and it is proven by the fact that our country still functions on a high level even in this period. The Israeli shekel is extremely strong, Israel’s stock market is outpacing the NYSE and Nasdaq, and innovative new companies continue to develop. While all this is happening, the toll on families, which include reservists in the IDF, are paying a high price, in deaths, injuries, and financial distress.

But what about the condition of American Jewry? Obviously, the decades in which I grew up, the ‘50s and ‘60s, are long gone. Also gone is the comfortable position which Jews enjoyed in those decades, nicknamed the “golden age” for American Jews. Many – but not all – in my generation didn’t observe or be affected by Jew-hatred. Jews had risen to prominence in almost every field and the financial position of most Jews was far above the average for American families. Exclusion from top colleges was not even on the radar, at least in the 1960s. If anyone had even mentioned that phenomenon, I would have been shocked.

Today, the above average financial position of many Jews continues but other aspects of normal life in American are deteriorating. This fact may not affect those who live in gated communities, but what about their grandchildren? Will they want to attend Harvard, Columbia, or NYU? Will they want to live in New York, where a Jew-hating mayor is eroding the position of Jews and their businesses?

Of course it’s not only in New York where Jewish life is being impacted. New York, California, and New Jersey are the states with the highest rates of antisemitic incidents in 2025, a report has found.. These progressive states are increasingly not a good climate for Jewish life. Can you safely wear a t-shirt with “Israel” imprinted on it,  wear a Jewish star necklace or a yarmulke, or have a mezuzah on your doorpost? There are locales in which one or all of the above are actually dangerous!

What’s my point? I’m not trying to convince those who reside in comfortable gated communities in Florida to move to Israel. Some might do so, but their numbers are not large. However, life in Israel for the grandchildren is something to be considered.

Michal and I know many people who have made Aliyah in the last few years to be near their children, where most of their grandchildren are growing up; sometimes its the children who initiate the move to Israel. You may know the old joke: a Zionist is one who supports someone else’s children moving to Israel. This might be the era when that joke loses its veracity.

Despite Israel’s bad neighborhood, it retains its “A” sovereign economic rating with a “Stable” outlook. The average age of Israelis is more than a decade lower than in the West. Longevity is among the world’s highest. The last generation’s problem of prejudice between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic populations is minimal in Israel’s younger generations. Skin color is mostly irrelevant. Because of Israel’s hopeful outlook, it is the only developed Western country that is optimistic enough to have a positive birth rate! The number of children in the average Israeli family is nearly three, the highest by far among Western countries. Think about that…

In this modern age of FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Zoom, families can still be connected even on different continents. That’s the position we’re in today, with our two sons residing in the US. Our hope is that the current tide against Jews, a global phenomenon, will recede. But if it does, or doesn’t, moving to the very vibrant land of Israel is a “definite possibility”.