To My Fellow Diaspora Jews — Let’s Be a New Kind of Jew

I recently saw a Reddit post titled, “Israel won the war; the diaspora lost it.” I was taken aback by the succinctness of this message and how much it encapsulated the way I had been feeling since the Oct. 7 attacks. Over the past two years, Israel has fully established itself to the world as a dominant and irrefutable force. It endured the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, successfully fought a multi-front war, and refused to bow down to the court of public opinion and online propaganda. It rescued 168 live hostages, reuniting them with their loved ones. Israel undoubtedly won the war, so why does it feel like diaspora Jews are left reeling?

Many of us diaspora Jews watched the initial footage of the Oct. 7 attacks with complete horror. But as the 24-hour news cycle quickly shifted away from these atrocities, we were left gutted and confused. How quickly the world turned a blind eye to the suffering of the Jewish people. In a matter of days, Israel and her people shifted from victim to villain. In the weeks and months that followed, antisemitism soared. Elite colleges and institutions became breeding grounds for Jew-hate. Oct. 7 marked as much of a turning point in the diaspora as it did in Israel. No longer did Jews have the luxury of fence-sitting. 

While these circumstances compelled many diaspora Jews to engage with their religious communities and their ties to Israel, some saw an opportunity to separate themselves from the Jewish people. We unfortunately saw diaspora Jews at pro-Hamas protests, encampments, and council meetings. We saw Jews don a tallit and kippah for the first time to call for a ceasefire, but not for the release of Israeli hostages. They took on the role of the “Good Jew” — the Jew who turns on his own people and their interests to be elevated in his personal circles. What the “Good Jew” does not realize is that they are tolerated only for their weakness, because it means their fate is not in their own hands. But they will never be able to fully absolve themselves of Jewishness. And their time will run out. 

Diaspora Jews must understand that both Israel as a state, and Israel as a state of mind, are the only way forward for the Jewish people. There is no future for the people Israel, separate from the State of Israel. My well-meaning liberal Jewish friends (with all of their millennial edginess) refuse to see this fact. As antisemitism — from both the American left and right — reaches new heights, they dig their heads further into the sand. They believe they are being intellectually honest every time they choose to criticize and disengage from their people, their culture, their state and their customs. This could not be further from reality. 

These Jews should recognize that they are given this illusion of choice because of the existence of the very state they disavow. The self-loathing, antizionist Jew can only persist because his brethren take on the burden of being the opposite. He can risk advocating against self-determination for his people because the State of Israel and those who uphold it are his insurance policy. Similarly, a modern-day parent can choose not to vaccinate their child and see no adverse effects. They are protected in this position only because their peers make the opposing choice. An unvaccinated American child is shielded from the risk of disease simply because the majority of people around him are vaccinated. The antizionist diaspora Jew is shielded from existential danger simply because an opposite kind of Jew exists. 

This Jew is one whose origins can be traced back to the early modern Zionist movement. The concept of muscular Judaism and the term “New Jew” were coined by early Zionist leaders to describe a strong, courageous, and self-reliant Jew. They imagined a Jew who sharply contrasted with the world’s long-held stereotypes. It was understood that continuing to be perceived as the accommodating, weak diaspora Jew was a failed strategy — one that ultimately proved deadly. Zionist Jews, particularly after the Holocaust, knew that our people needed a new future, a different future. The “New Jew” would build the modern State of Israel from the ground up. They would fight to protect it today. And they would be more successful than they ever dreamed. 

For centuries, what has been at stake for the diaspora Jew is survival. This survival has been precarious and unpredictable for just as long. Today, it is made less so exclusively because of the existence of a Jewish state. Throughout history, and before the existence of the modern State of Israel, there were some diaspora Jews who lived in safety and security. But many did not. In 1948, the “New Jew” chose to stop leaving their survival to chance and the goodwill of their neighbors. Oct. 7 and its aftermath have shown us that the diaspora Jew can also be a new kind of Jew. The kind of diaspora Jew who does more than just survive. If not, we will continue to lose the wars that Israel wins.

Sarah Ward is employed at the Gordon Jewish Community Center of Nashville, Tenn.