Next Year in Jerusalem Has Arrived

Where are the old Yiddish-accented men when you need someone to cry, “volf”? That’s what these calamitous times demand, even if no one will listen.

Jews living in Europe, Canada and Australia, and most assuredly South Africa, must have given serious consideration to leaving their homes and emigrating to Israel, for good.

Antisemitism in the United States has spiked sharply during the same time period. It has so far been immune from the catastrophic epidemic that has so poisoned life in other parts of the world.

But we’re getting there.

President Trump had reasons to issue several Executive Orders combatting antisemitism. Secretary of State Rubio has been rescinding visas and revoking green cards precisely to throw America off the antisemitic course it is following. Hating Jews by proxy—as stand-ins for the state of Israel—has never been this fashionable in the United States.

And yet, how many American Jews have contemplated an exit strategy, reading tea leaves as if it was Talmud, and recognizing the very same warning signs that the diaspora has throughout history faced, no matter which country had offered them temporary sanctuary?

The first two days of Passover just passed over American Jewry. Those who attended seders and performed the ceremonial rituals in the Haggadah eventually arrived at the apocryphal coda: “Next Year in Jerusalem.”

The tradition of reciting that refrain began in the 15th century, long before anyone imagined that Jews might one day actually return to their ancestral homeland. No one seriously regarded “Next Year in Jerusalem” as anything more than wish fulfillment.

Even after Israel was resurrected in 1948 as a Jewish state, the collective return to Jerusalem was not an easy sell. Jews in the diaspora planted trees in Israel, lobbied their home governments to help the fledgling state, sent their children to a kibbutz for a month, and purchased Israeli bonds—all to jumpstart Jewish renewal in the biblical desert. But moving to Israel was scarcely appealing, even to immigrants in the hard-luck environs of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Near West Side of Chicago, the Laurier neighborhood of Montreal, and the le Marais district in Paris.

The heroic hardness of sunburned sabras—pitchforks in one hand; Uzis in the other—was of an entirely different breed than what was being cultivated in places like Great Neck, Shaker Heights and Miami Beach.

Remember, at the conclusion of “Fiddler on the Roof,” it is only Yenta the Matchmaker who announces that she is forsaking America for the Promised Land. Not even the dancing violinist on thatched roofs took the bait. Only a trader in loveless marriages would undertake such a foolhardy expedition.

Even the nearly one million Jews who lived for generations in Muslim countries all throughout the Middle East, Persian Gulf and North Africa did not sever their ties until life became unbearable. Only then did they learn Hebrew and link their fortunes to the Jewish state.

For centuries, returning to Jerusalem was nothing more than a state of mind. It was hardly ever a final destination for wandering Jews anchored in the Western world. Today a Jew’s itinerary is looking more likely to include Israel as last stop.

Next year in Jerusalem may be now! Yes, Israel is fighting a multifront battle. Iran is weeks away from realizing its nuclear ambitions. And yet with all its numerous challenges, Israel is preferable to the lurking hazards that plague Jews living elsewhere.

Almost one in five young people in France favor the idea of Jews being tossed from their country. (Of course, many are Muslims who have spent far too much time surfing Islamist chat rooms.) These attitudes are shared by those on both the far Left’s La France Insoumise and the far Right’s National Rally.

France is home to the largest population of Jews in Europe. Over the past several years, however, around 5,000 embark for Israel annually. Israeli restaurants and fashion trends have never before been this posh.

Most European countries have experienced similar deteriorating conditions for Jews, followed by increasing Jewish departures. On the continent, “Next Year in Jerusalem” is becoming a reality, an actual Exodus, without having to part the Mediterranean Sea.

The fate of American Jewry may not be too far behind.

Here’s a head scratcher, a sea change in attitudes among younger, better educated Americans: The endorsement of antisemitic tropes goes in descending order, with millennials leading the way, followed by Gen Z and Gen X, with Baby Boomers becoming the least antisemitic of all Americans.

A new Gallup Poll revealed that more than 23 percent of Americans report having friends and family who dislike Jews, and over 27 percent believe it is socially acceptable to support Hamas. More alarmingly, only 46 percent of Americans sympathize with Israelis while 33 percent favor Palestinians—the lowest level of support for the Jewish state in the 25 years Gallup has been tracking such opinions.

The American political party line on Israel has shifted dramatically, too. Approximately 83 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats currently view Israel favorably. The many decades of bipartisan support for Israel are now officially dead. A majority of Democratic voters, 60 percent, have a negative opinion of Israel. Israel can’t go looking for love among Independents, either. As many as 40 percent report having an “unfavorable” view of Israel.

The American Left has left Israel—possibly for good. Those who identify with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party love citing Charlottesville and the synagogue killings in Pittsburgh and Poway as examples of equal opportunity antisemitism between Left and Right.

But right-wing antisemitism is still a false flag. Israel-bashing on university campuses, in mainstream media, publishing, arts organizations and, of course, the growing Islamist presence in the United States, dominates the culture and possesses the critical mass. If you believe the fringes offset one another in their antisemitic agendas, you aren’t looking closely enough.

Right-wing antisemitism is still a false flag. Israel-bashing on university campuses, in mainstream media, publishing, arts organizations and, of course, the growing Islamist presence in the United States, dominates the culture and possesses the critical mass.

Of course, if you’re Jewish and believe that Elon Musk works out with “Heil Hitler!” calisthenics, and you regard Kanye West and Nick Fuentes as kingmakers, then your bags should already be packed—because then there is no hope at all.

AOC appears to be the likely Democratic standard bearer in 2028. Progressives are ascending and are as committed to antisemitism as they are to green energy, cancelled student debt, and DEI. Antisemitism is what unites their worst impulses. How else to explain the worshipping of Hamas baby-butchers and gang-rapers?

A Jewish-American Exodus? Ridiculous? Don’t bet against it.

A Jewish-American Exodus? Ridiculous? Don’t bet against it. Jews are well practiced in flight. Emancipated slaves were on the run from Egypt before their bread had a chance to rise. They have been eating this bread of affliction, as a reminder, every year since.

Jews are well practiced in flight. Emancipated slaves were on the run from Egypt before their bread had a chance to rise. They have been eating this bread of affliction, as a reminder, every year since.

Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is the legal analyst for CBS News Radio. His most recent book is titled “Saving Free Speech … From Itself,” and his forthcoming book is titled, “Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.”