What are jews doing about antisemitism Jewish communities and organizations are actively addressing antisemitism through a multifaceted approach, driven by the recent surge in incidents, particularly since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023. Here are key actions being taken, based on current information: Education and Awareness: Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) are promoting education to combat antisemitism. The ADL’s “Antisemitism Uncovered” guide provides historical context and contemporary examples to raise awareness, while AJC’s “Translate Hate” initiative helps identify antisemitic rhetoric online. Educational institutions are also integrating antisemitism into curricula, with programs like UNESCO’s teacher training and UC Davis’s speaker series on topics like “Defining Antisemitism” and “Antisemitism and Islamophobia” to foster dialogue and understanding. Advocacy and Policy Engagement: Jewish leaders are pushing for stronger legal and policy measures. The ADL and others advocate for the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism by governments, universities, and corporations to standardize identification of antisemitic acts. In the U.S., Jewish senators and community leaders have called for federal actions, such as enhanced security for Jewish institutions and better hate crime reporting. The White House’s 2023 National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism outlines over 100 actions, including improving security and raising awareness, informed by input from over 1,000 Jewish leaders. Community Support and Security: In response to violent incidents, such as the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting and recent attacks like the 2025 Boulder march bombing, Jewish communities are bolstering security. Chabad, for instance, organized volunteers to ensure safety for Jewish fans during a wave of anti-Jewish violence in Amsterdam in 2024. Jewish federations and organizations like Hillel are also providing resources and support to help communities cope with rising threats, including funding for security at synagogues and community centers. Intercommunity Solidarity and Allyship: Jewish groups are building coalitions with other religious, ethnic, and civil rights communities to combat hate broadly. Initiatives like UC Davis’s programming on Jewish-Muslim convergence and environmental peacebuilding in Israel-Palestine aim to bridge divides. Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Eliana Fischel, emphasize allyship, expressing frustration when support from progressive allies is lacking, as noted in NPR discussions about the 2021 Israel-Gaza conflict’s aftermath. Challenging Online Hate: With 90% of Jews in Europe reporting encountering online antisemitism in 2023, organizations are pressing social media companies to remove hateful content per the EU’s Digital Services Act. Project Shema trains Jewish communities to address antisemitism in progressive spaces, particularly online, where coded forms of hate are prevalent. The ADL also works to monitor and moderate antisemitic content, training AI tools to detect it. Promoting Jewish Education: Some Jewish leaders argue that strengthening Jewish identity through affordable, high-quality education is a long-term strategy to counter antisemitism. A post on X from Chabad leadership emphasized redirecting resources from Jewish nonprofits to education to empower future generations. Public Condemnation and Dialogue: Jewish organizations are vocal in condemning antisemitic acts, urging influencers, celebrities, and politicians to denounce hate clearly. For example, after Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks in 2022, Jewish leaders called for stronger responses from public figures. Community forums, like those at UC Davis, encourage open dialogue to address biases and foster understanding. Despite these efforts, challenges persist. Some Jewish voices, like Dara Horn, argue that Holocaust-focused education may not address subtler modern antisemitism, advocating instead for curiosity-driven learning. Others, including Jewish senators, criticize policies that blur pro-Palestinian activism with antisemitism, complicating efforts to address genuine hate without stifling free speech. Additionally, 56% of American Jews reported altering behaviors due to fear of antisemitism in 2024, reflecting the emotional toll. These actions show a proactive, resilient response, though many Jews feel the broader societal response remains insufficient, particularly when antisemitism is normalized or lacks clear condemnation from allies. 36 posts 15 web pages
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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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