"Every organization that fights #antisemitism has its own list of action items.

The question remains: With all these groups fighting the same general problem, why is the problem getting alarmingly worse?

It’s too facile to counter that things might be even worse without those efforts. Even if that were true, it’d be like saying that very bad is better than very very bad. Lame consolation.

Maybe that’s why #BretStephens struck a nerve with his much-discussed “State of World #Jewry” address, when he called the fight against antisemitism a “well-meaning but mostly wasted effort.”

We can debate whether that was an exaggeration (as I have), but we can’t deny that #Stephens put his finger on the most uncomfortable question in #philanthropy: Is my money making a difference?

To put it more delicately, if we assume that we all want the same thing– reduce antisemitism while building a thriving #Jewish future—what is the best way to allocate resources?"

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/editors-note/386982/bret-stephens-has-kicked-off-a-long-overdue-debate-are-jews-fighting-the-right-way/

"#BretStephens, in his “State of World #Jewry” address at the 92nd Street Y on Feb. 1, was right about something fundamental: #Jewish strength begins with #Jewishidentity. A people that does not know who it is cannot endure. Identity anchors continuity, belonging and resilience, and strengthening Jewish knowledge, pride and peoplehood is indispensable work.

But where his argument becomes incomplete is in treating internal fortification as a sufficient response to modern #antisemitism. It is not. #Jewishcontinuity depends not only on internal strength, but also on how #Jews are perceived in the societies in which they live. Ignoring that second dimension is not principled restraint — it is strategic exposure.

The consequences are not abstract. When moral legitimacy erodes, the effects surface in daily life and geopolitical reality."

https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/identity-is-essential-but-ignoring-reputation-repair-is-an-existential-risk/

Least shocking headline or leastest shocking headline? 😆

"The Centre for #PublicOpinion #Research (#CBOS), a #Polish state research firm, found that #antisemitism toward #Jews in #Poland rose to 40 percent, up eight percentage points from the previous year. The climate in Poland has not been favorable to Jews since the Golden Age of Polish #Jewry ended in the 17th century with the 1648–49 massacres. However, that hatred has waxed and waned, and now it appears to be waxing once again."

https://jewishbreakingnews.com/poll-finds-antisemitism-rising-again-in-poland/

Pretty soon we can write the Jews out of the story altogether! 

"On the occasion of International #Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Center for the Study of #European #Jewry at Tel Aviv University on Tuesday published a new report examining how the Holocaust has been commemorated worldwide in recent decades. The findings point to a clear global trend: an increasing number of countries are placing the story of the Righteous Among the Nations at the center of Holocaust remembrance.

The 104-page report, titled For a Noble Cause, has received wide international attention. Its central article argues that over the past two decades, a trend that intensified in the past year, Holocaust commemoration has increasingly focused on museums and exhibitions dedicated to non-#Jews who risked their lives, and often those of their families, to save Jews from extermination."

https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rkxoyzil11l

"There’s an old British expression, “a curate’s egg.” The story goes that a couple once hosted their vicar for dinner and served him an egg, not realizing that it wasn’t very fresh. When they asked him how he liked it, the vicar, a tactful person, said: “Parts of it were excellent.”

The 1936 #Yiddish #film #AlKhet (I Have Sinned), digitally restored by the National Center for #Jewish #Film and screened this week at the #NewYork Jewish #FilmFestival, is a curate’s egg.

On the one hand, it’s incredibly primitive, and not because of its age. Its #story, about the ill-starred romance of a Jewish military officer and what happens 20 years later, is nothing with nothing; the second half is shamelessly melodramatic, and the pace is slow, too.

On the other hand, the legendary comic duo Dzigan and Schumacher, in their film debut, are superb; the rich #Polish Yiddish is delicious, and as a snapshot of mid-1930’s Polish #Jewry, it’s extraordinary."

https://forward.com/yiddish-world/799839/restored-yiddish-film-i-have-sinned-pre-war-polish-jewry-holocaust-shtetl/

"Attacks on #synagogues are treated as part of a broader problem, but all too often, attacks on #Jewish-owned, #kosher, and #Israeli #restaurants are treated as isolated incidents.

Unlike synagogues, #schools, and #communitycenters, Jewish or Israeli-related restaurants and #cafes have no protection. They are no less visible targets, representing #Jewry in broader society, but lack the armed guards or police protection that have become ubiquitous across #Europe and #NorthAmerica. Private citizens are left to bear the cost, having their dreams crushed by constant #protests and #vandalism."

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-883154

"From a distance, the men in those fur hats look like representatives of #Satmar, the largest #Hasidic community in the world. Their cadence, clothing, borrowed quotations and posturing suggest it.

The truth lives elsewhere. #NetureiKarta is not Satmar. Neturei Karta is a distortion of Satmar, a parody wearing its costume. This distinction matters. A community with deep roots and complex thought is being slandered in #London streets by men who share nothing with it except a wardrobe.

To explain that, I needed to give [my daughter] the outline of the man whose name they exploit, #Rabbi #JoelTeitelbaum.

Rabbi #Teitelbaum never operated as a political actor in the modern sense. He survived the collapse of #European #Jewry. He rebuilt communities from nothing and shaped a Hasidic world that regained strength after devastation. His philosophy rested on one conviction: #Jews must not force redemption through political sovereignty before the #messianicera."

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/386192/the-hasid-in-a-keffiyeh/

Fedistralia is going to be up in arms this week.

"#Australia’s peak #Jewish organisations have welcomed the federal government’s decision to establish a #CommonwealthRoyalCommission into #antisemitism and the circumstances leading to the #BondiBeach #terrorist attack. They described the move as a necessary national response to unprecedented levels of hatred directed at Jewish #Australians.

The president of the Executive Council of #Australian #Jewry, #DanielAghion, said the government had “made the right decision” in heeding sustained calls from the Jewish community, victims’ families and a broad cross section of Australian society.

"We are especially grateful to the eminent artists, lawyers, business leaders, sporting legends, political figures, women’s organisations and other groups who added their powerful voices to this call,” Aghion said."

https://www.jwire.com.au/jewish-community-welcomes-announcement-of-royal-commission-into-antisemitism/