{"id":640977,"date":"2026-10-09T07:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/640977\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T07:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:42:26","slug":"jewish-resilience-since-october-7-commentary-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/640977\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Resilience Since October 7 \u2013 Commentary Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s tempting to look at each year\u2019s outpouring of Jew-hatred on October 7 and feel isolated. But moments like these should inspire a deep sense of pride at the way Jewish peoplehood keeps getting stronger despite the societies around it\u2014especially in the West\u2014weakening at an alarming pace.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s evidence for Jewish re-dedication all around us. Last year\u2019s Jewish Federations of North America survey<\/a> found that 31 percent of U.S. Jewish adults \u201cqualified as part of the surge\u201d in Jewish communal engagement, i.e. increased engagement with Judaism or Jewish institutions after October 7.<\/p>\n

In the UK, a report<\/a> released just two days ago found that \u201cMore British Jews identified as Zionist following October 7, rising from 59 % in late 2022 to 66% in June 2025. The proportion identifying as anti-Zionist remained broadly unchanged at around 10%.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now compare that with another finding from the same survey: \u201cConcern about antisemitism increased dramatically, from 17% describing it as \u2018a very big problem\u2019 in the UK in May 2023, rising to 50% by June 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeelings of safety as Jews in the UK have seen a significant and ongoing decline since October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

So as anti-Semitism, often expressed as anti-Zionism, increased, British Jews chose the path of peoplehood and communal solidarity despite the dangers inherent in doing so.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal has a story<\/a> today about the American Jews who went to Israel after the attacks. Many stayed there, such as Yocheved Ruttenberg of Texas, who founded the Sword of Iron Volunteer Network. Others, like Yuval Padel, returned to Jewish service in the States after spending two years in the IDF. Education is part of the story, too. As the Journal notes, \u201cInternational undergraduate enrollment at Israeli research universities roughly doubled between 2021-22 and 2023-24.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-Semitism purportedly \u201cin response\u201d to the war initiated by Hamas is an indication of the opposite trend. American Jews\u2019 patriotism doesn\u2019t waver just because they increase their connection to their faith or community. But anti-Semites\u2019 belief in Jews\u2019 Americanness\u2014or Britishness, or Francit\u00e9\u2014does take a hit when the Jews are in the news.<\/p>\n

And that just reveals the weakness of the anti-Semites\u2019 own patriotism. The scholar Flora Cassen describes this phenomenon well in her book Stained Glass: A Reflective History of Antisemitism<\/a>. Cassen writes of the Western European public\u2019s reaction to the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Antwerp, an elderly Jewish woman in medical distress was told by the on-call doctor in the middle of the night that he would not see her and that she should \u2018just go to Gaza\u2019 for medical care. In a store, a cashier refused to serve a woman because she was Jewish. Later, the cashier told a Jewish community official who recorded the conversation on his phone that her boss forbids her to sell to Jews. In Paris and other large French cities, anti-war protesters chanted, \u2018Death to the Jews,\u2019 \u2018Jews, France is not yours,\u2019 and \u2018All Jews are terrorists.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassen points out that when there is a mass shooting in these countries, it is cause for national reflection and days of public mourning. When the victims of such a shooting are Jews, however\u2014such as the one at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in 2014\u2014it is not society\u2019s problem but a \u201cJewish\u201d problem. If the claimed motive has anything to do with Israel and the Palestinians, it is treated as a foreign problem entirely. Over time, anti-Semitism itself becomes customarily treated this way: some kind of Middle Eastern incident, a clash between outsiders. And since the perpetrator of the 2014 shooting was Muslim, Belgian society decided its hands were clean: \u201cthese were neither our victims, nor our crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think of how small the world of an anti-Semite is. His love of country is conditional, his feeling of national solidarity and community is thin as a reed. But to the Jews, every fellow citizen is our countryman and every Jew anywhere is a kindred spirit. Our cup overfloweth. This, more than anything, has been revealed by the Jewish world\u2019s response to October 7.<\/p>\n

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