July 23, 2025

Last April, I visited Boston addressing the New Anti-Semitism, the Academic Intifada, and the Great Betrayal American Jews experienced as Woke U becoming Jew-Bashing U. One morning, I jogged to Harvard. Running along the Charles River, the heaviness of the wars against Israel and against the Jews lifted. Reaching Harvard Yard, I time-traveled. The decades separating me and today’s undergraduates – and some of the anger distancing me from some Harvard colleagues – vanished – at least temporarily.

I remembered my undergraduate years as a Harvard Crimson Key tour guide sharing Harvard lore. Here – Weld 32 — is where John Kennedy lived in 1936-1937. There — the Sever Hall basement bathroom — is where Marilyn French was inspired to write her feminist blockbuster The Women’s Room.   

The students looked unchanged: fresh-faced, enthusiastic, adults-in-the-making. You imagined all the brain-power churning. You could taste the wealth and power epitomized by the historic buildings, and some well-dressed, older, corporate types wandering the Yard, escorted by eager-beaver undergrads. You felt like harvesting the pheromones from the budding romances, as young couples arm-in-arm exited their dorms – or his or her dorm. And you remembered, beyond it all, how this universe was fueled by ideas, ideas, and more ideas.

In short, a year after the encampments, amid the confusion as Jews wondered how America’s president could be so illiberal yet so against anti-Semitism, the university’s forever-magic triumphed. Despite its problems, North America’s Higher Education system remains the most marvelous laboratory for instilling knowledge, nurturing ideas, generating innovations, and cultivating young minds invented since the Babylonian Yeshivas. That’s why so many of us oppose what’s happening on campus – while still encouraging students to enter what could be toxic environments.

“Look at me,” I tell students, “I’m a case of arrested development. I got to university and never left.” But many of us fear that the liberal-minded, critical, substantive university I fell in love with, left us.  

These then, are the clashing realities every thoughtful student, Jewish and non-Jewish, faces.

Just as David Ben-Gurion advised Zionists during World War II to fight the British as if there were no Nazis, while fighting with the British against the Nazis, modern students must live a paradox.  The Academic Intifada continues. Beyond demonizing Israel, Zionists, Jews, a small fanatic group of “hack-ademics” hijack the holy classroom podium. They turn it into a political platform obsessed with romanticizing “the oppressed” while targeting the “oppressors.” While it’s worse in elite social sciences and humanities faculties – my world — some medical schools teach “DeColonizing Anatomy,” not basic bone structure, and some mathematicians brand adding numbers correctly “white supremacist.”

Similarly, some overly-influential students practice an all-or-nothing politics of intolerance, orthodoxies, litmus tests and cancel culture. 

So, yes, dear students, as this series will teach, you must be ready to resist this academic intifada. But only a small minority of hyper-politicized faculty and students have ruined the atmosphere. Their toxicity varies from campus to campus, department to department, class to class. 

Beware, if you see it everywhere – you’ll learn nowhere; it’s much harder to learn, laugh, live, thrive, if you’re constantly tense or on the defensive.

The greater obstacles to good education include parents’ and students’ obsession with credentials, grades, and future jobs, combined with too many professors’ over-investment in research, not teaching.

Relax. Make sure to see the magic, seek the magic, and cultivate higher education’s forever-magic. Your parents, your society, your upbringing, have given you a mind-expanding, soul-stretching, character-building opportunity. Unlike in much of the rest of the world, most young Americans and Canadians don’t have to serve in the army or work so many hours that they cannot enjoy the four-year-gift of college, which nearly 40 percent extend to graduate school.  

Make sure to see the magic, seek the magic, and cultivate higher education’s forever-magic. 

Start a new ritual: on your first day of school, call – don’t text – the people in your life most responsible for this gift. A little gratitude goes a long way to helping you see the good around you not just the bad, and in this case, appreciate the structures of education that still work, beyond the misfires.

Throughout the next ten weeks, this column will advise learners of all ages – and their parents – to maximize the wonderful opportunities many take for granted. You want to take challenging, thought-provoking, classes from open-minded, rigorous professors and don’t just go for the “gut course” – easy grade. You want to learn how to be an effective educational consumer, advocating for your rights when necessary, but seizing great learning moments always. You want to taste what it’s like to live the life of ideas, staying up late arguing with friends about the meaning of life, who your role models are, and what is the best ice cream flavor.  And I hope you’ll have experiences that get you questioning some of your core assumptions, either to change them, or to dissect them, re-examine them, reaffirm them, and then defend them passionately.  

You want to taste what it’s like to live the life of ideas, staying up late arguing with friends about the meaning of life, who your role models are, and what is the best ice cream flavor.  

To model the kind of journey you might follow, applying eternal wisdom from great books, to how you learn, think, live, consider Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1. Ben Zoma said: “Who are wise? Those learning from everyone” – your peers have much to teach, along with your professors. 

“Who are mighty? Those subduing their evil inclinations….”  Life unsupervised easily degenerates into life undisciplined. Know who you are, what you want, and how to limit yourself to achieve your best self.

“Who are rich? Those rejoicing in their lot….” Universities are filled with smarty-pants superstars who can outdo you – alongside normies who find you intimidating. Spend less time competing with others, or feeling inadequate, and find your inner satisfaction, your balance, your happiness with who you are and what you have.

Finally: “Who gets honored? Those who honor others….” Ultimately, Woke U runs on disrespect. A small, self-righteous, overly-influential group dismisses open-ended inquiry and thoughtful disagreement. 

Go in the other direction. Cultivate respect for others, stay open-minded, self-controlled, and satisfied with who you are – and be grateful for the magnificent opportunities universities offer to flourish.

---

Gil Troy, a senior fellow in Zionist Thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian. His latest books, “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream” and “The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath” were just published. 

In all his timeless wisdom that touched the lives of children across multiple generations, Fred Rogers was able to reduce societal issues to their most essential root cause. With regard to the acute housing crisis that Los Angeles has experienced since the 1970’s, we can look to Mr. Rogers for guidance through his words that are just as relevant today as they were several decades ago: “ We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It is easy to say that it is not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem. Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

Los Angeles, a city defined by its dynamism and diversity, has long struggled with a paradox: a housing market both vibrant and inaccessible for many. Amid skyrocketing rents and an aging population, the need for both “missing middle” and senior housing has never been greater. As policymakers attempt to shift the collective mindset and policy orientation from that of scarcity to one of abundance as articulated by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson in their book Abundance (Avid Reader Press-2025)—and recent reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including those spearheaded by Governor Gavin Newsom in the latest state budget, we are presented with a once in a generation window of opportunity to reimagine Los Angeles’ housing future. For the first time since the 1970s, these reforms offer real hope for a new era of housing affordability in a city where 65% of residents have been priced out of homeownership due to a witch’s brew of bad policy and community obstruction.

In Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson challenge the notion of scarcity that has long dominated American policy debates, particularly around housing. He writes, “Scarcity is not just an economic concept—it is an organizing principle. It shapes our politics, our expectations, and our sense of what is possible.” Klein argues that America’s housing crisis is not inevitable, but rather the result of deliberate policy choices that have constrained supply, stifled innovation, and limited affordability. The theory of abundance is the belief that there are enough resources, opportunities, and success for everyone. In contrast to a scarcity mindset which assumes limited resources and that one person’s gain is another’s loss, an abundance mindset fosters optimism, generosity, and a belief in limitless possibilities. Klein’s vision is grounded in a proactive embrace of abundance: “We must move from a mindset of managing scarcity to one of creating abundance. That means building more, and building better, so that opportunity is not a zero-sum game, but something we can expand for all.” This philosophy resonates particularly in the context of Los Angeles, where the demand for housing—especially for those in the missing middle (households too wealthy for subsidies but too poor for market-rate homes) and for seniors—far outpaces supply.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), enacted in 1970, was designed to protect the state’s natural resources. However, over time, its procedural requirements have been weaponized to delay or block much-needed housing developments. Projects for multi-family developments, infill housing, or even senior living communities have often faced years-long delays due to litigation, environmental reviews, and local opposition. This is not a red or blue story of identity politics. Rather, this is a man-made crisis of what happens when the last people to make it through the door of homeownership slam it shut behind them creating a political economy that thrives on the perpetuation of scarcity. As Los Angeles grew more affluent through the myriad of industries that have defined its exceptionalism, so did it grow more exclusionary. In essence, housing scarcity, as perpetuated through the abuse of CEQA by NIMBY (not in my backyard) groups and financial competition is the result of trying to preserve one’s upward mobility by denying access to others through the endless petitions, lawsuits and review processes that all lead to the road of nowhere.

In 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers placed a major emphasis on CEQA reform in the California budget bill. These new reforms are designed to further streamline the approval process for housing and infrastructure projects, with an explicit focus on addressing California’s acute housing shortage. Newsom’s CEQA package introduces faster timelines for judicial review, narrows the scope for lawsuits that can delay projects, and expands exemptions for dense infill housing, particularly around transit and in areas zoned for higher density. The reforms also reduce procedural barriers for adaptive reuse of existing buildings, which is crucial for both missing middle and senior housing.

For the first time since the 1970s, these sweeping reforms signal a genuine possibility that California—and Los Angeles in particular—can break the cycle of scarcity and high costs. As State Senator Scott Wiener, a leading advocate for housing reform, has stated, “We are finally turning the page on decades of housing dysfunction. CEQA reform gives us the tools to build the homes Californians desperately need.” Wiener emphasizes the significance of these changes: “For forty years, CEQA has too often served as a weapon against affordable housing. These reforms represent a new chapter—one where we can build responsibly, quickly, and with a sense of purpose.” By embedding these measures in the state’s budget, the Newsom administration aims to accelerate the delivery of housing across California, providing cities like Los Angeles with stronger tools to meet their residents’ needs. CEQA reformers hope to “clear the path for the kind of abundant, inclusive growth that cities like Los Angeles so desperately need,” echoing Klein’s call for abundance.

The missing middle—duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, and small-scale apartments—has been largely absent from Los Angeles’ housing landscape. Decades of zoning restrictions, community pushback, and CEQA-related procedural delays have made it nearly impossible to build this kind of housing in many neighborhoods. Klein notes in Abundance: “We are not suffering from a lack of space or resources, but from a lack of political will and imagination. The missing middle is a casualty of that failure.” The new CEQA reforms, reinforced by the latest budget provisions, specifically address this by granting categorical exemptions for projects that fit within existing zoning and meet rigorous environmental standards. This streamlining not only cuts years off the approval timeline but also reduces project costs, making it economically feasible for developers to build at a scale that matches local needs. Senator Wiener, reflecting on the impact for the missing middle, remarked, “When we make it easier for communities to add gentle density, we expand access to affordable homes for regular people—teachers, nurses, and young families. That’s how we keep our neighborhoods vibrant and inclusive.”

Los Angeles is also home to a rapidly growing senior population, with estimates suggesting that more than 20% of Angelenos will be over 65 by 2035. Yet, as Klein observes, “Our built environment lags far behind our demographic reality. Senior housing is often an afterthought, wedged into the margins or priced far out of reach.” Recent reforms, especially those included in Governor Newsom’s latest budget, incorporate expedited CEQA review for age-restricted projects, incentives for integrating accessibility and medical support, and carve-outs for retrofitting existing buildings. Developers are now empowered to pursue mixed-use senior communities, located near transit and amenities, without the specter of years-long legal challenges. “Housing for older adults shouldn’t be a luxury,” says senior advocate James Lin. “With CEQA reform, we’re finally seeing projects that prioritize accessibility, community, and dignity move forward.”

Klein’s argument in Abundance is ultimately about believing in the capacity to do better. “Abundance is a political project,” he writes. “It asks us to commit to a future where everyone has enough, where our cities are places of possibility rather than battlegrounds over scraps.” CEQA reform, though not a panacea, represents a concrete step toward that future. By accelerating the approval process and lowering barriers to entry, the reforms—especially those advanced by Governor Newsom in the budget bill—promise a wave of new housing that can fill the gaps for both the missing middle and seniors. Yet, challenges remain. Local opposition, rising construction costs, and persistent NIMBY sentiment continue to threaten progress. As Klein warns, “Abundance will always have enemies. It threatens the comfort of those who benefit from keeping others out.” Still, as Senator Wiener puts it, “This is our chance to show that California can lead—not just in innovation, but in compassion, in inclusion, and in giving every resident a shot at a decent, affordable home.”

For Los Angeles, the intersection of Klein’s vision and CEQA reform is a chance to rewrite the city’s housing story. The shift from scarcity to abundance requires sustained effort, vigilant oversight, and community buy-in. It demands not only legislative change but also a cultural transformation: the willingness to welcome new neighbors, to imagine new possibilities, and to build for the future. Los Angeles stands at a crossroads. In a recent interview with California Insider, land use attorney David Rand articulates that what has been more insidious than single developments that have been stopped due to frivolous CEQA lawsuits  has been “all of the great projects that never went forward at all since the developer and their investors knew that if they had proposed a particular project in a particular location, that they would have likely been sued and therefore made a business decision to take a pass and develop somewhere else.” Lauding Governor Newsom’s bold stance on transformative housing reform, Rand further states that he feels “emboldened by the incredibly consequential reforms” and while the tangible effects in the macro sense will take a few years in their implementation, we are already starting to feel the practical effects of this legislation where projects in progress are now pivoting to this more expedited route.

The lessons of Abundance and the promise of CEQA reform—now bolstered by decisive action in the state budget—offer a blueprint for meeting the needs of today’s Angelenos and generations to come. For the first time in nearly half a century, there is hope that the obstacles to housing affordability can be meaningfully overcome. By embracing abundance, removing barriers, and building the housing that communities need—especially for the missing middle and seniors—the city can live up to its potential as a place of opportunity, inclusion, and hope. “We can have cities where people of all ages and incomes can live well,” Klein urges, “It just takes the courage to say yes—to abundance, to opportunity, and to each other.” I think Mr. Rogers would concur with that statement and that speaks volumes.

---

Lisa Ansell is the Associate Director of the USC Casden Institute and Lecturer of Hebrew Language at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Los Angeles.

I’ve felt a train speeding down the tracks since I was a kid. Felt the ground trembling beneath my feet — not always audible — but always present. Today, it’s not just a feeling. The train is real.

Swastikas carved into desks. Drawn on lockers in thick black marker. Jewish kids slammed into lockers while the others — the non-Jews — walked by untouched. I saw it. I heard it, too: “Himmelman, you’re one of the good Jews. Not like those other f—ing kikes.”

This essay is about more than antisemitism. But it begins with that deathless, shape-shifting depravity. There is a new form of Jew-hatred rising, and like every other form before it, it wears the mask of moral clarity.

“You know who the Jews are. The same ones behind the slave trade, the banks, the media …” — Ice Cube, 2020

There’s always a reason. The Jew is too poor, or too rich. Too much of a capitalist, too much of a communist. Too distant, too embedded. Too degraded, too powerful. A one-size-fits-all animus that never disappears — only burrows beneath the surface and waits. And when societies begin to crack, when people grow desperate or disoriented, it crawls out again.

Clearly, that’s the time we’re living in now.

And who do we blame? Not the Seminole Indians, of course — that wouldn’t make any sense; there are so few of them. The Jews? They’re statistically inconsequential too. Just 0.2% of the global population. But they “run the world, right? Isn’t that what we’re hearing now—from the far left and the far right?

And their state, that Jewish state — that “ethno-state,” that “colonial oppressor,” that “Nazi regime.” That’s the one that must be condemned.

Surely we’ve evolved past this, haven’t we?

Apparently not.

We don’t scrutinize the ethno-nationalism of France or England. We don’t question why dozens of Muslim-majority countries identify openly with Islam, or why countries like Belgium and Greece still maintain official state religions. But we fixate on Israel.

Why? Well, you may have your reasons. But I’ll tell you up front. I’m not buying them.

Here’s mine:

It’s because Israel is Jewish. And because Jews are never allowed the same dignity as everyone else.

Israel has become a global scapegoat — a moral punching bag for the weak and the weak-minded. No longer just the “apartheid state.” It’s worse. It’s the new Nazi Germany. Its soldiers are the new SS. Its mission, we’re told, is genocide.

Nazis? Never mind that the Jews of Europe didn’t launch wars or invade sovereign nations. Never mind that they didn’t kidnap, burn or rape. Those facts are inconvenient.

And if you’ve heard there’s a genocide, it must be true.

“The Jewish usury and banking systems caused the Holocaust.” — Mahmoud Abbas

If you’ve heard it from Qatari-funded news outlets, from wise, chin-scratching professors, from famous actors, musicians, and self-proclaimed humanitarians, or from the United Nations — which, between 2015 and 2023, passed 154 General Assembly resolutions against Israel, compared to just 71 for the rest of the world combined, including North Korea, China, Syria and Iran — well, it must be true.

And we dare not examine the facts. Gaza’s population has been growing — even during the war. In 2012, it was 1.64 million. By 2023, it had reached over 2.2 million. Even after Oct. 7, and even amid an ongoing war, the population has continued to rise.

Yes, the war that Hamas began has created many horrible, many tragic deaths, deaths of civilians. It’s also a war that could end tomorrow morning with the release of every hostage, the living and the dead, along with Hamas’ surrender.

“The Day of Judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews and kill them …”  — Hamas Charter, Article 7

But that doesn’t matter. I know this because I don’t hear a loud, clear cry against Hamas, except from people whose sense of right and wrong hasn’t been hijacked. What matters most is outrage. What matters is purity of moral posturing. What matters is declaring:

Not Iran, where homosexuals are hanged from cranes.

Not China, where Uyghurs are enslaved.

Not Sudan, where Black Christians are massacred by Muslims in the tens of thousands.

Not Hamas. Whose charter calls for the deaths of Jews everywhere — and who has shown on 10/7/2023, just what that looks like.

Not Hezbollah, who until they were neutered by the singular brilliance of the IDF, had served as the Iranian regime’s chief weapon of terror against the Jewish State.

But Israel. The sole democracy in the Middle East, the sole nation of the Jewish people.

“Black people are the true Hebrews. Jewish people have stolen our identity.” — Nick Cannon

Let me take you back — not all the way to the Bible — but to a foundational idea that Judaism gave the world. An idea that has been appropriated, distorted, and universalized beyond recognition.

Judaism taught:

• “So God created man in His own image…” (Genesis 1:27)

• “You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)

• “Do not pervert justice … Judge your neighbor fairly.” (Leviticus 19:15)

These were radical declarations for their time: that all human beings carry divine dignity, that strangers deserve compassion, and that justice must not be partial. All of it true. Then, as now.

“Rothschild Zionists … are a secret cabal of Jews controlling world events.” — David Icke

But hundreds of years later, a man named Paul took these Jewish principles and gave them a new context. Perhaps he believed in them. Perhaps he saw an opportunity to enlarge his flock. Either way, he flattened them into a new doctrine: universal love. We are to love everyone equally. No hierarchy, no divisions.

But the very notion of universal love is false. It has never once been practiced by any nation or human being. Love, which is rooted in particularity — in real families, in real tribes, in real history and in real individuals with names and faces — was suddenly meant to be all-encompassing. A love with no borders, no loyalty, no distinction.

It may sound beautiful. But it’s a lie. And as we’ve seen throughout history — even, and especially, from its most ardent purveyors — it was never practiced. Certainly not as it pertained to the Jews, whose slaughter was commonplace and unspeakably horrific, right through the 20th century.

Real love cannot be universal. Its nature is fiercely specific.

I have two sons. And I love my sons more than I love your sons. That’s not wrong, that’s not exclusionary. That’s human. That is where I come to know how to extend my love to others outside my sphere of particularity.

Universal love, when it becomes dogma, leads not to compassion — but to abstraction. And abstraction can be brutal.

“The Jews are a base, whoring people … their synagogues should be set on fire.” — Martin Luther

The Jews never bought the myth of universalism. They remained stubbornly particular. Even under pain of death, they did not accept Jesus. They did not accept Muhammad. And so, they became heretics. Outsiders. Dangerous. Fair game for pogroms.

This has long been true of those who demanded submission to a universal ideal — first from the Church, then from the State. That tension never went away. And today’s secular progressives — as we’ve witnessed on university campuses — have inherited the same Paulist, universalist theology, even while rejecting religion itself. They preach universal compassion — but not for the Jews. Never for the Jews.

Dangerously, the most radical ends of the ideological spectrum now appear to be marching in lockstep.

“I’m not anti-Semite, I’m anti-Termite. The Jews are my enemy.” —Louis Farrakhan

Because the Jew is still particularist.

Still a profound Peoplehood, a family.

Still inconvenient.

And Israel — the world’s only Jewish state — is the ultimate embodiment of that refusal to blend in. It is unapologetically Jewish. It defends borders that make up its ancestral homeland. It mourns its dead. It loves its own. Just like everyone else does.

But unlike everyone else, it must be punished.

I know people who are disturbed by my support for Israel. They can’t understand why I won’t use the word “genocide” in reference to Gaza. They speak with such certainty, such righteousness.

But genocide is not merely a descriptor. It’s a death sentence.

If Israel is committing genocide, then Israel must be destroyed.

If Jews support genocide, then Jews must be stopped.

This language — this canard, this blood libel dressed up as moral concern — is not neutral. It is a weapon. And it places a target on every Jewish back.

“Why can’t Israel just sit down with Hamas and hash it out?,” they say.

“What does war ever solve? Why can’t those Israelis just stop the fighting?”

“The Jews are an ignorant and barbarous people, who have long united the most sordid avarice with the most detestable superstition.” — Voltaire

Because war sometimes does solve something — when your daughters are raped, your babies beheaded, your people dragged into tunnels. Because war becomes the only path when your enemies are awake underground, plotting the next massacre.

But safe in LA, in Minneapolis, in Boulder, one needn’t be too concerned. And if a conditionally pacifist-minded person felt threatened, he or she would simply dial 911, knowing that the police would wage a potentially deadly little war on their behalf.

Here are my questions:

Why are so few people calling on Hamas to release the hostages?

Why aren’t more voices demanding that Egypt open its sealed-tight border with Gaza — that it take responsibility for its role in creating the so-called “open-air prison”?

And while Netanyahu is being excoriated — and perhaps he deserves some of it — no one seems to offer an alternative for dealing with Hamas. The unspoken answer is chilling in its passivity: Israel should simply learn to live with them intact.

“The Jews were responsible for bringing Negroes into the Rhineland with the clear aim of ruining the white race.” —Adolf Hitler

Would you live with a monster under your bed?

Would you be content leaving a terrorist army — bent on your death, and your family’s — entrenched underground and still capable of murder, a mile from your home?

War is horrific. It always is. The deaths of innocents are tragic beyond words.

And war, at times, is also defense. War is what happens when love is particular enough—powerful enough — to fight for. Deep enough to want to live for.

If you believe that all ideologies are the same —  that deep down, all of them are good—you will find it impossible to comprehend Oct. 7. You will only understand war when its violence comes banging on your door, as it has for the Jews, both historically and today. And only if your moral compass hasn’t been warped will you recognize this truth: evil is not an abstraction to be wished away.

“It’s about time we had an intifada in this country.” — Hatem Bazian (UC Berkeley)

In 1935, the writer Ben Hecht stood in New York and warned of what was coming:

“Of the 16,000,000 Jews in the world, more than half are trapped inside Europe. They are facing death, and no one sees the train coming down the track.”

I see that train too.

And this time, I refuse to pretend it isn’t real.

---

Peter Himmelman is a Grammy and Emmy nominated performer, songwriter, film composer, visual artist and award-winning author.