Poem: Holy Objects

On Yom HaShoah, we speak of six million who were murdered. But I also remember the nine million who lived. Nine million Jews who got up every morning, took their children to school, and strove every day to survive, because they believed in life.

Gratitude is greatly emphasized in much of Jewish observance, from blessings before and after meals, the celebration of holidays such as Passover, a festival that celebrates liberation from slavery, and in the psalms.

The playground in Jerusalem didn’t stop antisemitism, and renovating playgrounds in New York City is not likely to stop it there, either — because antisemitism in America today is not rooted in a lack of slides or swings.

America’s national derangement poses myriad challenges to those not yet caught up in it. The anomie is daunting enough for the general public — if that term still makes sense in this fragmented age — and it is virtually insurmountable for the defenders of Israel.

In contradistinction to those whose intact moral compass tells them that violently attacking another human being is immoral regardless of identity categories, the progressive imagination doesn’t find immorality in the act of violence at all. It locates morality in identity, not conduct.

Every generation decides – whether it will build something different – or become “Egypt” again

Terrorists terrorize. Governments are left with little choice but to respond in kind.

There really are no compelling substitutes in the secular world for communism, or its progressive 21st-century permutations, which is why it endures and attracts despite the best efforts at education.