The problem is not Jewish joy itself. The problem is the growing belief that Jewish joy can replace the difficult work of protecting the conditions that make Jewish flourishing possible in the first place.

Nothing about the Jewish story—with its revolutionary insistence that there is one God, its history of relentless suffering, its triumphant return to the land it was expelled from millennia ago—is normal, and we shouldn’t try claiming it is.

Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman wants to be mayor of Los Angeles, but after her actions earlier this month, many Jewish Angelenos are left wondering whether her vision for the city truly includes all of us.

The one community that should have shown unwavering solidarity with Israel after October 7 was the Park Slope Food Coop. Unless they were tripping out on antisemitism last week, what could possibly have drawn them to the side of carnivorous barbarians?