Every week in this newsletter, we focus on the seemingly endless wave of hate and violence directed at Jews. We consider what it says about the societies we live in, and how the West is changing in front of our eyes. It can feel overwhelming; that’s because, all too often, it is. But this week, we wanted to bring you a piece with a different perspective. Rabbi Joanna Samuels is the CEO of the largest Jewish Community Center in New York City, on the Upper West Side. She disagrees with the commonly held narrative that the Jewish community is more vulnerable than ever before, and in her piece today, she offers practical solutions that many of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, would do well to take with us into our increasingly fractious world.
—Josh Kaplan
A congressional candidate’s comments about imprisoning and castrating “American Zionists.” A stabbing in London. More than two dozen documented attacks or threats on Jewish institutions around the world within the past two months.
Antisemitism isn’t just rising. It is being normalized all around us.
At such a difficult time, there is something even more discouraging: Just when we need one another most, the world is telling us that the Jewish community is coming apart at the seams. Since October 7, media headlines and social media feeds have told a narrative of a fracture: synagogues divided internally, American Jews disavowing Israel, debate over the causes of the rise in antisemitism.
But I want to tell a different story.
