Curses become blessings: Recognizing the challenges but also our strengths - opinion

The time has come to take the hard steps needed for healing and to come together stronger than ever before. Let us take the necessary steps to confront our new reality, to cleanse our wounds, and to stand united with the people who are truly our allies. In doing this, it is imperative to help reeducate well-intentioned people who have been misled by half-truths and lies. Let us take the experiences of the curse of antisemitism and turn them into the blessings of understanding and common decency.

In a recent conversation on Honestly with Bari Weiss, Shabbos Kestenbaum shared a personal story that resonates deeply with the Jewish community. He described how he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and even marched alongside them, believing he was standing for justice. He described how he was an advocate and supporter of Bernie Sanders in 2016 and then also in 2020.

His credentials for the progressive movement were unmatched, and he assumed that those he stood with would support him and his community in their time of crisis.

What befuddled him, and ultimately woke many people up, was discovering that justice applies to all except for the Jewish people. An example of this was that Israeli women’s experiences of being sexually abused were not initially believed. This surprised him, as it surprised many people who otherwise believed that they were in complete alignment with the progressive side of the Democratic Party.

Similarly, David Harris, the former head of the American Jewish Committee, delivered a speech in Westchester, New York, where he expressed shock that in the past 40 years, he had been building bridges and supporting a gamut of different causes – including women’s causes, LGBTQ causes, children’s causes, interfaith causes, and many more.

He found it unconscionable that these organizations, which have received the support of the Jewish community for decades, remained silent in the face of the extreme violence perpetrated against the civilian population in southern Israel. There is a recognition that something went very wrong along the way, where an ideology was promoted (and then reinforced) that allowed for the dehumanization of Jewish people.

As a tiny minority, we must attempt to seek unity. However, true unity cannot exist if we do not agree on certain fundamental facts. One of the most basic – and urgent – questions we must ask ourselves is: Who stands with us, and who stands against us? This is a truth that is painful to confront but necessary to move forward. Liberty, yes; justice, yes; equality, yes – selective justice, no; subjective truth, no; hierarchy of the oppressed, no.

As Jews, we are heirs to a tradition that emphasizes introspection and moral clarity. Our tradition of teshuva – repentance – is not just about returning to God; it’s about returning to our core values. One of these is the value of self-preservation (survival). This journey starts with reflection and intellectual honesty. It requires us to admit difficult truths, first to ourselves, and then to others. We must be willing to do the hard work of partaking in teshuva – for ourselves and for our children.

In the wake of the October 7 attacks, many people have been shocked by the resurgence of antisemitism, both overt and subtle. It’s made many Jews feel vulnerable, in ways they haven’t felt in decades.

Despite challenges, the US remains a democratic safeguard 

Some have compared the current climate to 1930s Germany, but this comparison is flawed. The United States, despite its challenges, remains a liberal democracy with a long history of equality and freedom. This is something Weimar Germany, with its brief and unstable democracy, never had.

Moreover, we now have the State of Israel, a homeland for the Jewish people, which didn’t exist in the 1930s. This alone marks a fundamental difference between then and now. In today’s world, there is a country that will intervene on behalf of worldwide Jewry in the event of an existential threat. It’s simply incorrect to equate today’s environment with that of Nazi Germany.

While we can recognize that we do have many challenges in front of us, we should also know that it’s never been a better time to be Jewish when taking into account the arc of history. History has taught us that blessings can become curses and curses can become blessings. We will emerge stronger than before once we retrench and reeducate ourselves, as well as other people of good will.

A co-founder and chairman of Minds and Hearts, the writer is responsible for setting the strategic direction of a new effort to fight antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment online, through rallies, protests, and mass letter-writing campaigns, which have been reported on in various publications, including the New York Post, New York Sun, Village Voice, and Jewish publications.