"There have always been grumblings and mumblings and rumblings about the efficacy of the #Jewish community’s efforts to combat #antisemitism. But over the past two-plus years, in the wake of the wave of antisemitism that has swept the globe since the #Oct7 terror attacks in #Israel and Israel’s war against #Hamas in #Gaza, those disagreements over tactics, policies and strategies have reached a fever pitch, particularly this week.

This comes in light of two nominally distinct events: one being a speech by #NewYorkTimes columnist and Jewish thought-leader #BretStephens at the #92ndStreetY in which he called to “dismantle the #AntiDefamationLeague”; and the other being the release of a new commercial from #RobertKraft’s #BlueSquareAlliance aimed at combating antisemitism, which has, perhaps unsurprisingly, drawn fierce criticism."

https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/a-reckoning-for-combating-antisemitism-complex-has-been-coming-for-a-long-time/

"Most people would accept the claim that #Oct7 was an inflection point in #Jewish history. But fewer realize that it was also an inflection point for #university 'professors of #Jewishhistory, particularly those who are themselves Jewish.

I once wryly told an Israeli ambassador that my job is to teach Jewish history, not to defend the State of Israel. But what about defending Jewish #students? I am not a diplomat, nor a politician. I am a #historian and a mother. I also happen to be Jewish, which, given my field of study and my name, is impossible to hide. It is something I have therefore chosen to publicly embrace, for better or for worse.

The consequence is that I have found myself taking on a #pastoral role, something for which I have no formal training and a responsibility that feels daunting."

https://www.jta.org/2026/01/30/ideas/im-a-jewish-studies-professor-i-wasnt-trained-to-give-pastoral-care-but-my-students-desperately-need-it

"The #Hanukkah attack did not come out of nowhere. #Antisemitism in #Australia was never abstract to me; it was visible and real. As a child, I remember #yeshiva students being harassed while walking down the street wearing #kippot, and car-bombing scares near a #Jewish institution in #Melbourne. Even when I didn’t fully grasp their seriousness, these incidents became part of the background noise of growing up Jewish in Australia.

#Oct7 marked a turning point, when the intensifying antisemitism across the country reached a fever pitch that has not abated. My mother and one of my brothers live within walking distance of Adass Israel #Synagogue, which was set on fire in 2024. In a separate incident that same year, East Melbourne #Hebrew Congregation was also set on fire during a Friday night gathering. These attacks were not distant news stories; they struck close to the places and people I know and love."

https://stljewishlight.org/opinion/commentary/the-australia-i-knew-and-the-one-we-face-today/

From Svivah:
This Shabbat in particular, I have Romi Gonen on my mind. Romi was returned from captivity last January after 471 days in Gaza. She was recently featured in a two-part Israeli news program in which she disclosed her horrible experiences in captivity as a female hostage. She is beautiful, and brave, and working so hard to heal what has been broken.

Link here to watch Part One with English subtitles: https://svivah.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f10525e6114197e4187260747&id=234a4e3a40&e=9995d0012b

This feels especially poignant since Romi’s story, and the abuses experienced by many of the returning hostages, have not had the public stage they deserve. We know...this global silence is incredibly painful. For all of us as Jewish women and — particularly — for the survivors among us. Traumatic invalidation is all too real — and we are feeling its effects.

#Mazeldon #Oct7 #Hostages

"After a year in which #Israel, #antisemitism and #political #polarization scrambled long-standing alliances, the #American #Jewish political map is heading into 2026 unusually unsettled.

From #NewYork #CityHall to #swingstate #governors’ mansions to some of the most crowded #Democratic #primaries in memory, the coming #election cycle will test how much Jewish #voters still cohere as a political bloc — and whether the issues that have dominated Jewish life since #Oct7 will continue to shape the ballot box. The rise of outspoken pro-#Palestinian #candidates, fractures inside both parties over Israel, and the growing visibility of #antisemitism on the left and the right have turned races that might once have seemed parochial into national bellwethers."

https://www.jta.org/2025/12/31/politics/how-jewish-politics-are-shaping-the-2026-election-map-from-coast-to-coast

"#Jews around the world were already reeling after nearly two years of #war and death in #Gaza and the grim confirmation that many #hostages hadn’t survived the #Oct7, 2023, attacks or two years of captivity. Then came news of the shootings in #Sydney, #Australia, where 15 people were gunned down during a #Chanukah celebration on #BondiBeach.

Despite its grief, the #Jewish world also took time to celebrate the lives lived by a constellation of figures who made lasting contributions to #film, #architecture, #politics and Jewish #scholarship and letters.

In chronological order, here are #obituaries of 18 notable Jews who died in 2025."

https://jhvonline.com/notable-jews-we-lost-in-p35783-98.htm

"On her Uber app, Sivan’s name is Alexandra. Noa tells people her name is Nina. Michal goes by Micky in car services and when ordering coffee.

These days, some #NewYorkers with #Jewish-sounding names are providing fake names when they interact with strangers. They say the motivation is to feel safer around town, given the spike in #antisemitism in #NewYorkCity and elsewhere after #Oct7. Most wish they didn’t have to hide an important part of themselves, but they do so to protect themselves physically and emotionally." 🤬

https://www.jta.org/2025/12/25/ny/i-was-scared-to-be-jewish-some-nyc-teens-mask-their-names-amid-rising-antisemitism

Finkelstein on the commitment to truth & the myth of progress.

Interview: "Gaza Is Over, It’s Gone. There’s Nothing Left"

Leading Jewish anti-Zionist scholar has spent his life studying & critiquing Israel’s oppression of Palestine.

He sees Hamas’s actions as echoing the 1800s US Slave Rebellions: "heinous acts of violence borne out of desperate circumstances." Acts that Norman could not condemn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO-Lor_yndM

#USPol #Europol #GazaGenocide #Oct7 #Palestine @palestine .

Finkelstein on the commitment to truth & the myth of progress.

Interview: "Gaza Is Over, It’s Gone. There’s Nothing Left"

Leading Jewish anti-Zionist scholar has spent his life studying & critiquing Israel’s oppression of Palestine.

He sees Hamas’s actions as echoing the 1800s US Slave Rebellions: "heinous acts of violence borne out of desperate circumstances." Acts that Norman could not condemn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO-Lor_yndM

#USPol #Europol #GazaGenocide #Oct7 #Palestine @palestine .