How do I view the security of Jews? I figure that as long as Jews are alienated both in Israel and other countries it is a flashing red light. Why all this alienation? Perhaps we will never know and perhaps we will know better. But obviously there are some people who have resentment or envy about Jews. They don't open the doors to healthy relationships enough. And this can seem like a two way street, but it is not. We all want to live in a better world, therefore better relations would be desired by everyone. The current situation probably came by a desire to exploit the opportunity to wage their own war against Jews by joining with Hamas and calling themselves pro-Palestinian. These are profiteers or scallywags essentially. As a Marin guy who knew some of Gavin when I was a kid, thanks: SACRAMENTO, CA — This afternoon, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he was signing three of JPAC's top priority bills into law. These new laws counter campus antisemitism and expand Holocaust and genocide education in K-12 education. Governor Newsom Signs Major Campus Antisemitism & Holocaust Education Bills Into Law JPAC’s Top Priorities – AB 2925 (Friedman), SB 1287 (Glazer), and SB 1277 (Stern) – Will Take Effect January 1, 2025 September 28, 2024 SACRAMENTO, CA — This afternoon, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he was signing three of JPAC’s top priority bills into law. These new laws counter campus antisemitism and expand Holocaust and genocide education in K-12 education. This announcement comes just days ahead of the Governor’s September 30th deadline to sign or veto bills. AB 2925, authored by Assemblymembers Laura Friedman and Josh Lowenthal, will mandate that California’s college campuses include the five most targeted groups in their trainings to combat and address discrimination. Currently most campus trainings do not teach about antisemitism at all or cover it inadequately relative to its prevalence. With the Jewish community consistently among the most targeted groups, this law ensures that antisemitism is included in campus anti-discrimination or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) trainings. SB 1287 (by Senator Steve Glazer) requires college campuses to update and enforce provisions in their student codes to prevent instances of intimidation, harassment, and violence. The law also requires each system of higher education to develop training programs to educate students on civil discourse. SB 1277 (by Senator Henry Stern) makes the California Teachers Collaborative on Holocaust and Genocide Education an official state program. The Collaborative is led by the JFCS Holocaust Center in San Francisco and brings together 14 leading genocide education institutions across the state to create curriculum and training materials for K-12 teachers. It work will reach one million students by 2027, helping schools reach their Holocaust and genocide education mandates. All three of these bills faced fierce opposition from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). However, they passed out the legislature with overwhelming, bipartisan majorities in both houses. JPAC led advocacy efforts throughout the legislative process – building a coalition of over 40 Jewish organizations – and organized over 3,500 letters to the Governor. These bills were also top priorities for the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. Earlier this year, JPAC and the Jewish Caucus secured from the state budget $160 million ($80 million annually for two years) for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and $5 million to further the work of the Collaborative. “In a post October 7th world, our school and campus leaders need more tools to keep students safe and provide accessible educational opportunities for all,” said David Bocarsly, JPAC Executive Director. “This is true for both Jewish students and other targeted students. These bills meaningfully counter antisemitism and hate by creating greater empathy and understanding, and ensuring all students feel safe on their campus. We are incredibly grateful to our partners and champions in the Legislative Jewish Caucus, led by Assemblymember Gabriel and Senator Wiener, and we thank Governor Newsom for signing these bills into law.” JPAC is also supporting several dozen other bills. To date, 16 have been signed into law, and few others await his decision before Monday’s midnight deadline. Track the status of all of JPAC’s priority bills here. Unless stated otherwise in the bill, new laws take effect on January 1, 2025.
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In a modern sense this place was the garden of Eden. Calling Bolinas Lagoon a modern Garden of Eden is one of those descriptions that’s poetic but also strangely accurate. It tells me something essential about how Bill experienced that place — not just as scenery, but as a kind of origin point, a place that shaped his sense of the world before he ever stepped beyond it. Let me show you why that comparison works so well. 🌿 1. It’s a place where nature feels untouched, even when it isn’t Bolinas Lagoon has that rare quality where: the water is calm the birds move like they’ve been there forever the hills cradle the shoreline the fog softens everything It gives you the illusion — or maybe the truth — that you’re standing in a place that existed long before people and will exist long after. That’s very Garden‑of‑Eden energy. 🌊 2. It’s a place where a young person can feel both safe and infinite For someone like Bill, growing up there: the lagoon was freedom the lagoon was escape the lagoon was the one place that didn’t confine him It’s the kind of landscape that teaches a kid how to be alone without being lonely. That’s a foundational experience — the kind that echoes through a whole life. 🌱 3. It’s a place where the world feels right Not perfect — just right. The tides come in. The tides go out. The birds return every year. The water reflects the sky. There’s a rhythm to it that feels older than human problems. A place like that becomes a kind of internal compass. Even when he leaves — Crater Lake, Portland, Bangor — he’s always looking for that feeling again. 🌬️ 4. It’s a place that makes leaving bittersweet If Bolinas Lagoon was his Eden, then leaving Bolinas at eighteen wasn’t just rebellion or restlessness. It was exile in the emotional sense — stepping out of the protected world into something harsher, bigger, and more demanding. That’s why the Crater Lake years make sense. That’s why Portland, Maine makes sense. That’s why Bangor makes sense. He keeps finding landscapes that echo the lagoon in different ways: deep water quiet edges places shaped by weather places where a person can disappear into the natural world He’s not trying to go back. He’s trying to find the feeling again. 🌄 5. Calling it Eden gives his whole life a mythic undertone Not in a grandiose way — in a human way. It means: he began in a place of innocence he left because he had to he’s been wandering ever since every place he lives is a variation on that first landscape It gives his life a shape that feels both real and archetypal.
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You’ve put your finger on something many people are struggling to name: the sense that a long‑standing social equilibrium for Jews in the West is shifting, and no one is sure yet whether it’s a temporary turbulence or the beginning of a deeper realignment. Let me give you a clear, structured take on where things plausibly go from here, without catastrophizing and without minimizing the very real anxieties people are feeling. Is this a new phase of renewed friendship—or a worsening trend? The honest answer is that both trajectories are possible, and the outcome depends on forces that are still in motion. But we can map the pressures pushing in each direction. 1. Why the Trend Could Worsen Cultural and Ideological Drivers Identity-based political frameworks (oppressor/oppressed binaries) tend to flatten Jewish identity into “white-adjacent,” erasing Jewish vulnerability. Anti-Zionism as a moral litmus test has become a powerful social sorting mechanism in elite institutions. Social media ecosystems reward outrage, simplify narratives, and amplify fringe voices. Institutional Drift Universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions often adopt ideological frameworks faster than they interrogate them. Many of these frameworks treat Jewish particularism as incompatible with universalist ideals—exactly the dynamic you highlighted. Historical Precedent Periods of rising antisemitism rarely reverse on their own. They usually require: political leadership, cultural pushback, or a major external shock. None of those forces are yet clearly mobilized. 2. Why the Trend Could Enter a New Phase of Repair Despite the bleakness, there are countervailing forces that shouldn’t be ignored. Backlash Against Extremism We’re already seeing: progressive thinkers publicly questioning the rigidity of decolonial frameworks, journalists and academics calling out antisemitism within their own circles, donors and alumni pressuring universities to reform. These are early signals of a potential course correction. Re-emergence of Liberal Universalism Many people who once embraced ideological purity tests are rediscovering the value of: pluralism, nuance, and the idea that minority rights must apply to all minorities, including Jews. Jewish Agency Jews are not passive in this moment. Across the West: Jewish students are organizing, Jewish intellectuals are reframing the conversation, Jewish communities are building new alliances outside traditional political homes. This is often how new phases of Jewish–non-Jewish relations begin. 3. The Most Likely Short-Term Outlook In the near term, the trend probably gets worse before it gets better. Not because hatred is exploding, but because: institutions change slowly, ideological movements resist self-correction, and the Israel–Palestine conflict remains a flashpoint. The “betrayal” you describe—felt most acutely in progressive spaces—will likely continue until those institutions confront the internal contradictions in their frameworks. 4. The Longer-Term Outlook Long-term, I’m more optimistic. Historically, Western societies eventually recoil from ideological extremes. The pendulum tends to swing back toward: liberal pluralism, individual rights, and skepticism of purity politics. When that happens, Jews often regain their place as a valued minority within the broader liberal project. But that shift is not automatic. It requires: sustained Jewish advocacy, allies willing to speak up, and a cultural re-evaluation of simplistic identity binaries. 5. The Converso Analogy—Useful but Limited Your comparison is sharp: the pressure to “convert” ideologically is real. But the analogy breaks down in one crucial way: Today’s pressures are social, not coercive. That distinction matters. Social climates can change far more quickly than state machinery. So where are we headed? We’re in a transitional phase. The old model of Jewish–liberal alignment is cracking, but a new model hasn’t yet formed. Whether this becomes: a new era of estrangement, or a recalibrated, more honest friendship, depends on how institutions respond to the contradictions in their own moral frameworks—and how Jewish communities assert their identity without apology.
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