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.
While disappointment over not being in Israel was real, the experience quickly evolved into something deeper: an exploration of what it means to be a Jew in America.
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.
There are moments in my own life that I would not have overcome without what my father gave me. His resilience became mine. His mindset became my foundation.
While I continue to personally believe that a two-state solution is preferable to sacrificing Israel’s Jewish or democratic foundations, I would never attempt to impose my priorities from 7,500 miles away.
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.
Maybe it’s because our 250th birthday is right around the corner. Or maybe it’s a statement of defiance, a way of telling Jew-haters I’m giving them the very opposite of what they want.
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?
Israelis seem to have a special affinity for that electric energy of the here and now. Maybe that is how the country has made it this far— millions and millions of “What do we do now?”
