During the current war with Iran, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with my phone. The cacophony of noises it produces takes on a new life. When it’s your first line of defense against rocket attacks, you get to know each sound intimately.

Political correctness may have begun with the goal of promoting civility. Yet when social norms begin to narrow the boundaries of acceptable debate too sharply, democratic discourse itself can suffer.

Accusations once directed at Jews as individuals are now directed at Jews as a nation.

Jews in the Diaspora fail to see that there are so many threats against the Jewish people that cannot be resolved by intellectual efforts.

We may be able to win this war – in Gaza, in Lebanon, and against Iran. But when we are surrounded by fundamentalist enemies that, like cancer cells, keep growing back, the promise of a “last war” is probably just wishful thinking.

Despite the UK government’s frequent ambivalence to the Jewish community, the government was quick to respond.

In this post-Oct. 7 moment, in which Jewish expression can be fraught with complications, to be a Big J or not to be a Big J is, indeed, the question.