For generations, American Jews have proudly stood at the vanguard of progressive causes—civil rights, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ equality, gun safety, immigration reform. Our commitment to tikkun olam—repairing the world—is not only a spiritual imperative but a historical instinct, forged through centuries of persecution and a yearning for justice.
But today, we face a crisis so grave, so existential, that our devotion to social issues must take a back seat to the only thing that matters now: Jewish survival.
This is not hyperbole. This is not fear-mongering. This is reality.
Oct. 7, 2023 represented not just a brutal massacre carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists in southern Israel; it was a wake-up call. That day reminded Jews everywhere that we are never more than one generation away from destruction. The Holocaust was not the final chapter in Jewish suffering; it was a warning unheeded by those who now minimize Jewish pain, erase Jewish identity and demonize the only Jewish state in the world.
Let’s be brutally honest: If Jews are exterminated, then it won’t matter where you stood on abortion. If Israel is annihilated, it won’t matter how progressive your climate policy is. There will be no one left to vote, to march, to organize. There will be no Jewish voice to advocate for others because we will have failed to advocate for ourselves. This is not a call to abandon morality. It is a call to prioritize survival.
Across America and the world, we are watching the foundations of Jewish safety and continuity crumble. Synagogues are under attack. Jewish students are assaulted and silenced on campuses. Rabbis are targeted. Neighborhoods where Jews once felt safe are now plastered with swastikas. University and college administrators, in addition to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) officers, refuse to denounce antisemitism unless forced. Major cultural figures demonize Jews with impunity. And perhaps most tragically, many Jews are still clinging to the hope that progressive allies will come to our defense. They will not.
The traditional liberal Jewish response—coalition-building, interfaith dialogue, writing op-eds and lobbying behind the scenes—is no longer sufficient. We are in a new era. One where Jews must learn, or relearn, what our ancestors always knew: Survival isn’t guaranteed, and that nobody else will protect us if we don’t first protect ourselves.
This is not a partisan call. It’s not a dismissal of empathy or compassion. It’s a demand for moral clarity and prioritization. The Jewish community must rally around a single organizing principle: continuity and survival. That means standing up unapologetically for Israel as the ultimate guarantor of Jewish safety. It means supporting Jewish students and institutions, arming ourselves with knowledge and, when necessary, self-defense. It means demanding accountability from the political, educational and cultural institutions that have failed to protect us. And yes, it means calling out antisemitism wherever it exists, even if it means confronting our longtime allies on the left.
This is not about abandoning the values of justice. It is about refusing to be useful idiots in causes that abandon us the moment we are no longer convenient. It is about waking up to the reality that too many people on both extremes of the political spectrum would be fine with a world without Jews or Israel. We cannot afford to waste time debating progressive purity tests while our community is being targeted, dehumanized and erased.
The survival of the Jewish people and the Jewish state must become the primary focus of our communal agenda. Everything else is secondary. That doesn’t mean we stop caring about other causes, but it does mean we stop sacrificing ourselves at the altar of movements that see us as expendable.
Let’s be clear: If Israel falls, Jews around the world will fall with it. The global backlash against Jews after Israel defends itself is a preview of what a world without a strong, sovereign Jewish state would look like. We saw it after Oct. 7. As Jews mourned their dead, the world mobilized … against us. That is the world we live in. That is the urgency we face.
Survival is not a passive act—it is active, relentless and often uncomfortable. It means confronting hard truths. It means uniting across denominational, political and generational divides. It means understanding that we are one people with one fate. Secular or religious, Republican or Democrat, Ashkenazi or Sephardic—none of it matters if we do not exist.
So let us come together. Let us invest in Jewish education, and in security and advocacy. Let us defend Israel without apology. Let us teach our children to be proud Jews, not diluted versions of whatever the culture demands we be. Let us remember that history is clear: Jews who forget their vulnerability do not last.
This is our moment of reckoning. We can no longer afford to pretend that business as usual will save us. Jewish survival is the issue. It is the only issue. Because if we survive, we can fight for justice. But if we disappear, then justice will not remember us. And history will not mourn what it never saw coming.
It’s time to wake up. It’s time to stand tall. It’s time to survive—and not just physically, but spiritually, nationally and communally.
That means supporting organizations that fight antisemitism, not those that excuse it. That means building political power, not forfeiting it out of fear of “rocking the boat.” That means funding Jewish institutions, not watching them decay while we donate elsewhere. That means holding our leaders accountable—rabbis, educators, philanthropists and elected officials—if they fail to prioritize Jewish safety and sovereignty.
We cannot outsource our future. We cannot rely on others to value our lives more than we do. We must be the architects of our destiny.
There are no guarantees. The world has shown, time and again, how quickly it can turn on the Jews. But there is one difference this time. We have a state. We have a voice. We have a history that teaches and a future that demands courage.
Jewish survival isn’t just an option, it’s our obligation.
Let’s remember what matters most. And let’s ensure that we, the Jewish people, not only survive but thrive. Because we don’t owe the world another cautionary tale. We owe our children a victory.
{Reposted from JNS}
