In the aftermath of Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a seismic awakening has rippled through the Jewish world. The sense of shock, betrayal and disbelief wasn’t just about the reactions that so many people had to the attacks on the streets and on social media in the United States. Nor was it just about the painful realization of what had been building beneath the surface for years.
Rather, it was also about the fact that while the organized Jewish community had been staunch supporters and advocates for so many liberal causes and groups, these same groups were among the most critical and silent in the face of the Oct. 7 butchery.
For years, major Jewish organizations operated under the assumption that antisemitism in America was largely a relic of the past. The idea that “antisemitism is dead” wasn’t just a fringe opinion; it had become, for many in the upper ranks of organized Jewish communal institutions, a settled argument. And with that perceived victory, the mission shifted toward broader social-justice initiatives: intergroup bridge-building, support for other minority struggles and a well-meaning but often misapplied interpretation of tikkun olam, the Jewish call to “repair the world.”
And with that mindset shift, Jewish communal dollars also went elsewhere. According to a 2017 report by a post-doctoral fellow at Brandeis University, Hanna Shaul Bar Nissim, the vast majority of donations from Jewish federations, community foundations, wealthy Jewish individuals and other Jewish groups went to non-Jewish causes. As she wrote, “Philanthropy serving the Jewish community is becoming less dominant than charity serving other communities.”
Yet by embracing progressive ideologies rooted in intersectionality, which divides society into binary roles of oppressor and oppressed, many of these Jewish organizations unwittingly allowed Jews and, by extension, Israel, to be categorized as the oppressors. In supporting causes that framed the world through race-based narratives, they empowered movements and rhetoric that increasingly cast Zionism as colonialism and Jews as privileged white elites.
The warning signs were there. While antisemitic incidents were being recorded, what was not considered was the cauldron of toxic attitudes that was festering and didn’t have a way of expressing itself. In many ways, the aftermath of Oct. 7 provided the opportunity for a host of different people and groups to finally express what had been developing for quite some time.
Oct. 7, and the global reaction that followed, served as a brutal wake-up call. Jews across the spectrum, particularly those in progressive spaces, were shocked to see former allies either silent or openly antagonistic toward Israel and the Jewish people. The betrayal was clear: The solidarity was never truly reciprocal.
The good news is that the leaders of many Jewish institutions now appear to recognize the scope of the error. There is a growing movement, let’s call it “the great recalibration,” to recenter the Jewish mission. It starts with internal education: re-engaging synagogues, educating clergy, and providing young Jewish people with the historical and ideological tools to counter anti-Zionist narratives.
Truth to power needs to be spoken, not just in political spaces but in communities and congregations far and wide. It must be proclaimed clearly and confidently: Israel is not a colonizer. Zionism is not oppression; it is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people.
The challenges before the Jewish community were not created in a day and will not disappear in a day. The great miscalculation has been supplanted by the great recalibration. Through this experience, the Jewish people will emerge stronger, more united, and with a better clarity of purpose to confront the very real threats that never went away.