Most Jews know the maxim attributed to Hillel the Elder: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”
It has long served as a moral guidepost—urging Jews to defend their own interests while affirming that self-concern alone is insufficient for a moral life. We are commanded to care for others as well.
But in the aftermath of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the global response to it, that formulation feels dangerously outdated. For Jews today, the message should be pared down to its core imperative: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if not now, when?”
After the massacre, many Jews on the progressive left confronted a harsh reality: decades of alliances failed to protect them. Devotion to causes—climate justice, women’s rights, racial equity, immigrant advocacy—offered no shield when Jews were slaughtered, burned, tortured, raped and kidnapped. In our greatest hour of need, former partners were silent, indifferent or even hostile. Worse still, some revealed latent antisemitism, emboldened by the global prosecution of the Jewish state.
This reckoning did not begin with Oct. 7; it has been building for decades. Twenty years ago, I warned that Jewish organizations blurred the line between Jewish issues and causes Jews care about. Jews share many societal concerns, but not every cause is inherently Jewish. If everything is a Jewish issue, then nothing is.
I proposed a two-question test to determine what constitutes a “Jewish issue.” First, “Does this issue uniquely affect Jews, or disproportionately impact them?” Second, “If you take away Jewish participation, would anyone else still be fighting for it?” If the answer to the first is “yes,” it is a Jewish issue. If the answer to the second is “yes,” then it is not.
Jews should multitask and care for others, but Jewish survival must come first. For too long, universal causes have overshadowed Jewish priorities, which need focused communal resources.
The most obvious Jewish issue is Israel. Supporting Israel involves lobbying for security assistance, supporting AIPAC and donating to Israeli universities, hospitals, civil society organizations, in addition to initiatives aiding soldiers, hostages and displaced communities. Many groups provide assistance, such as Project Hope, Friends of the IDF, Beit Halochem, Belev Echad, Ruca’s Farm and The Lone Soldier Center.
Prioritize Magen David Adom, United Hatzalah and ZAKA over agencies like the Red Cross, which failed Jews during the years of the Holocaust and abandoned Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip. Support Israeli cultural institutions—the Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Habima theater, Batsheva Dance Company, Inbal Dance Company—instead of American ones that have no trouble raising money from non-Jews.
Israel faces serious social challenges that domestic groups are tackling. The country has an appalling poverty rate, estimated at more than 20%, which is largely ignored because of the focus on national security. Did you know, for example, that 27% of Israelis face food insecurity and that a growing class of “war poor” has emerged since 10/7? Organizations like Latet, Meir Panim, Yad Eliezer, Yad Sarah, Women to Women and Colel Chabad address poverty, elder care and domestic violence. These issues must be Jewish priorities.
Every cause you can think of can be found in Israel. Care about the environment? Support the Jewish National Fund or the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Concerned with animals, there are the SPCA Israel and the Jane Goodall Institute Israel.
These are just a handful of the many worthy organizations in Israel devoted to improving the welfare of Israelis.
Meanwhile, American Jewish philanthropy needs re-evaluation. Reports consistently show that most wealthy Jewish donors favor non-Jewish causes. While this is their right, it is strategically unsustainable if Jewish life is to be preserved. They should recalibrate their giving.
While Arab states pour billions into American universities, Jewish studies and Israel education remain underfunded. We don’t need more business schools or athletic dorms named after Jewish benefactors. We need more resources for Hillels, Chabad centers and other campus infrastructure that protect Jewish students.
The ignorance of our youth is now painfully evident. For decades, I have warned about illiteracy when it comes to Israeli history, yet over the past two years, I keep reading articles by writers who behave as if they just discovered the problem. Jewish schools—day schools, supplementary schools and even some yeshivahs—have failed to prepare students to confront antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Parents are shocked when their children are afraid to identify as Jews on their school or college campus. They should not be. We failed them.
Materials exist. Myths & Facts has been the “bible” for pro-Israel advocates for decades. My textbook, Israel Matters: Understand the Past, Look to the Future, was written to educate high school students. The Jewish Virtual Library has some 27,000 articles on topics ranging from antisemitism to Zionism; it is available online for free. Yet these tools remain underused. They should be in every Jewish classroom.
That is institutional failure, not generational weakness. Jewish education has also become prohibitively expensive. Instead of padding elite university endowments, donors should create scholarships to make day schools accessible to every Jewish child.
We know that two of the best ways to strengthen Jewish identity are to send our youth to Jewish summer camps and to Israel. We should be pouring money into Young Judea, Ramah and other camps, along with Birthright Israel (it should expand to include teens) and the Alexander Muss High School in Israel program.
Complaining about campus antisemitism while refusing to educate young adults in Israel is institutional malpractice.
None of this means abandoning alliances or moral obligations to others. Jews are 2%of the American population. We need allies. And helping others is a moral imperative. But Oct. 7 proved that virtue does not guarantee solidarity, let alone survival.
Throughout Jewish history, accommodation and appeasement have consistently failed to ensure our safety. The “sha, shtil” mentality—silencing ourselves to avoid offending the powerful—breeds only vulnerability and victimhood, undermining the collective strength Jews need for survival.
Hillel was right, but the pendulum has swung too far. Israelis learned this truth at tremendous cost—through terrorist attacks, wars of annihilation and relentless hostility. This painful education explains why Israel prioritizes Jewish survival above international approval, embodying Golda Meir’s essential wisdom: “It is better to be alive and unpopular than dead and popular.”
Diaspora Jews must internalize this same principle. Defending Israel unapologetically, advocating forcefully for Jewish interests and building robust Jewish institutions are not acts of selfishness but of communal responsibility. We cannot wait for others to protect us or expect our interests to align conveniently with prevailing progressive orthodoxies.
Jewish self-advocacy strengthens rather than weakens broader society. A community that confidently asserts its legitimate needs—from campus safety to combating antisemitism to supporting the world’s only Jewish state—models the healthy pluralism that allows all groups to thrive. Conversely, a Jewish community that subordinates its survival to external validation invites both its own decline and sets a dangerous precedent that emboldens attacks on all minority communities.
The obligation is clear. And if not now, when?
