What American Jews Gave After October 7: An Accounting

Testifying before a U.S. Senate committee last November, the historian Jonathan Sarna described how American Jews have reacted to the explosion of hatred directed against them and Israel since October 7, 2023: “We thought all that history was in the past. . . . Nothing prepared us for the anti-Semitic onslaught.” The novelist Ruby Namdar lamented, “We have been forced back into Jewish history, into the bloody raw part of Jewish history.” Even employees of major Jewish organizations that monitor anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activities admitted to me that they “could not have imagined the tidal wave that came upon us.” So great has been their shock over the explosion of anti-Semitism in different sectors of American society that some have begun to speak of themselves as “October 8 Jews,” signifying their transition from slumbering complacency to vigilant activism.

In this regard, October 7 and its aftermath have had a similar effect on American and Israeli Jews. Despite their vastly different experiences since that fateful day, they share something important: they have suffered an entirely unexpected attack that has shaken their sense of security and their understanding of the dangers they face. Of course, there is huge gulf between facing mass slaughter, rocket bombardments, and a war against heavily armed enemies, on the one hand, and facing angry protesters, social exclusion, and even occasional violence on the other. There is nonetheless a common sense of having entered a new, and more threatening reality, or, more precisely, realizing that reality has been more threatening all along.

In Israel, the multi-front attacks have prompted demands for a thorough investigation as to why political authorities indulged Hamas over the years, why military, intelligence, and political leaders were caught napping on October 7, why what was thought to be an impregnable border was overrun so easily, and how effectively the leadership echelon pursued the war Israel has been forced to fight. Commissions of inquiry undoubtedly will ramp up once the war ends; lessons will be learned.