2023: Another Year Like No Other

I always thought 2020 would go down as the most bewildering and eventful year of my lifetime. It was like experiencing four historic years in one, each quarter featuring a rare event: A presidential impeachment, a global pandemic, the biggest civil riots in half a century and a presidential election involving Donald Trump that many called the most consequential of our lifetime. 

In a column at the time, I called 2020, simply, “The Longest Year.” 

And then 2023 showed up.

For the Jewish community at least, it’s hard to recall a year that has triggered (and continues to trigger) as many emotions, especially for those of us who are close to Israel.

It’s easy to forget, in the wake of the Oct. 7 pogrom, that the first nine months of 2023 saw the worst civil crisis in Israel’s history. The coalition’s attempts to weaken the High Court became so divisive that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had to warn his nation it was approaching “a real civil war” and that “the abyss is within touching distance.”

With hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrating month after month, there was little doubt the unprecedented civil strife would be the signature event of Israel’s 75th year.

Who could have foreseen that one event would make everyone forget that crisis?

Oct. 7 didn’t just superimpose itself on the judicial crisis. It obliterated it. The minute we realized the scope of the massacre, that is all everyone in the Jewish community — in Israel and the Diaspora — could talk about. The shock, the agony, the grief, the rage, the fear — all our emotions simultaneously invaded our consciousness.

Those emotions haven’t gone anywhere. They just toggle in our hearts, taking turns renting space in our daily lives. 

Oct. 7 is such a mega event that every cover story of the Journal has since dealt with it, in one way or another. That’s also unprecedented. I don’t recall two consecutive cover stories on the same subject, let alone eight or nine.

There are many reasons why this story won’t go away anytime soon. Among other things, there is a violent ground war in Gaza, hostages who are still alive, more videos of the barbaric acts, tense moments with the Biden administration, and so on.

But there’s something else that has brought the story close to home: The alarming rise in Jew-hatred in a country that has seen the Jews thrive like nowhere else. It’s not just that the hatred increased but that it got angrier, nastier, uglier.

2023 is the year the volcano of Jew-hatred erupted, the year the masks came off.

We have published countless stories and analyses to help us make sense of this dangerous new chapter in our American story. The ones that are getting the most attention have to do with what is happening on college campuses, especially on the failure of universities to protect Jewish students under siege.

These stories are multiplying. As you’ll see in this year-end issue, if anything the problem is getting worse.

Yet with all that darkness, the year 2023 saw an extraordinary ray of light shine on the Jewish community: A renewed sense of unity and purpose. 

Yet with all that darkness, the year 2023 saw an extraordinary ray of light shine on the Jewish community: A renewed sense of unity and purpose. It’s hard to exaggerate the number of initiatives that have sprouted across the Jewish world to come to the aid of our brethren in Israel. Even Jews who were disconnected from their Jewish identity have stepped up to ask how they can help.

This feeling of peoplehood, at a time when anything “tribal” is out of a fashion, and in a community that considers disagreements a badge of honor, is quite an accomplishment. The team spirit in the Jewish community is usually found within political parties, not within the Jewish party.

This unity within the mainstream was reinforced by two sickening events: The horror of Oct. 7 followed the immediate reaction among Jew haters to blame Israel. This is why so many Jews lost their minds: They saw 1,200 Jews get massacred and it’s the Jewish students who were frightened on college campuses. Rather than a massive show of empathy, the Jews got pro-Hamas demonstrations calling to “globalize the Intifada.” That combination took the level of outrage to stratospheric levels.

Given that this is our last issue of 2023, we were looking for a way to do this bewildering year justice. We decided the best thing would be to give you an instant snapshot of the past year by displaying all our cover stories. In many ways, they speak for themselves.

Thank you for your loyal readership. You are also readers like no other.

See you in 2024.