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Galit Lev-Harir, in her recent commentary, “The writing is on the wall for Jews in America,” is following a well-traveled path. Un-addressed at the end of her piece is any specific direction for the endangered Jews of America to follow. Should we assume that aliyah is the next step? Is it time to pack up and leave for Israel?
In the earliest days of Israel Statehood, between 1948 and 1967, not many North American Jews were making aliyah. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, knew at that time that this would not change until the Jews of North America felt insecure. Israeli politicians, in those days, routinely reminded those Jews that they were but a few steps away from Nazi-like annihilation. They needed to make the move now, before it was too late. Lev-Harir follows in that path. She seems to believe that when the going gets tough for Jews in America, the Jews are supposed to just up and leave the problems to someone else.
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This is not our first rodeo. In the not-so-distant past, we have even had to endure American presidents caught on tape in the Oval Office disparaging Jews and surrendering to antisemitic stereotypes. Democracy and democratic governments are messy, inefficient, immoral, and frustrating. At times our politicians are incompetent and corrupt, intoxicated with the power of holding office. But this is not Nazi Germany in the 1930s. It is wrong to imply that America’s Jews are silent in the face of rising antisemitism or that our community institutions are powerless failures. We know full well that to keep the American political system between the guardrails of the Constitution requires huge investments of time and energy from all of us. Defending our community against antisemitism requires work, ingenuity and commitment. This is our work to do, but we do not do it alone. We have willing interfaith partners who understand the importance of standing together against hate. This community wide response does not happen by magic. In times like these, community leaders reach out to one another to establish bonds of mutual aid. We show up.
When antisemitic vandals desecrate the walls of a synagogue or gravestones in a cemetery, our response is not to abandon the synagogue or the cemetery and relocate. We grab solvent, buckets, and brushes and remove the desecration. When the handwriting is on the wall, perhaps we should spend our energies dealing with the root causes of the desecration rather than turning our backs and walking away.
