An Open Letter to Jews in the Diaspora

I understand you because I was you. 

I lived the first 23 years of my life as an American Jew. I had the privilege of being raised in the US, in a free and democratic society, one where I never had to fight for my life or freedom. I experienced antisemitism of course, I’ve met very few Jews who haven’t, but I saw it as something that happened to me, not to Jews worldwide. 

I wasn’t prepared for how my worldview would shift when I made aliyah 18 months ago. On October 7, 2023, antisemitism was no longer something that just happened to me as an individual. It became something that threatens the global Jewish population in a very real way. Many of you don’t see how close Israel came to catastrophe on that day, how close the world came to catastrophe. It was only through the courageous efforts of Israelis and Israeli soldiers that we did not. It’s only through their efforts still today that Israel survives as a safe haven for all Jews. 

But what you may not understand is just how easily it could have been you. 

You’re safe right now in America, Canada, Argentina, Europe. You feel that you can distance yourself from Israel and the rest of the Jewish people, stay silent when your friends speak out against Israel, maybe even speak out against Israel yourself. 

That is a luxury that Israelis do not have. 

The ability to stay silent and keep the peace doesn’t make you better than Israelis, it makes you lucky. 

Eighty years ago, my grandparents were the lucky ones who found refuge from the Nazis and Soviets outside of Israel. So were yours. By an act of pure fate, your ancestors fled persecution in their home countries and landed somewhere else in the Diaspora. Half of the world’s Jews were not so lucky. They never made it to Ellis Island. Instead they immigrated illegally to the British Mandate of Palestine, and fought to build the State of Israel with their lives. Or they fled persecution in the Arab and Muslim world, and came to the only country willing to accept them– Israel. The vast, vast majority of today’s Israelis are descended from those groups, and they are the people still fighting and dying for Israel today. You are only not one of them by pure luck. If your grandparents had been less lucky, it could have been YOU taken hostage by Hamas. It could have been any one of us. 

But it wasn’t you. It wasn’t me. And I thank God every day for that, and use that privilege to stand up and fight for those who can’t, because they were killed or taken hostage by Hamas. 

As someone living in Israel, I do not have the luxury of turning away or staying silent. I see the devastation every single day. I watch my brothers and sisters go off to war, no idea if they’ll come back. I hear the sirens, I run to my bomb shelter. I see the global rise in anti-Israel rhetoric for what it is– a danger to every single Jew worldwide. 

What I am asking you, as a Jew in the Diaspora, is to realize how easily it could have been you. How easily it still can be you. Realize that Israel is the only thing that stands in the way of that. Use your privilege, use your luck to stand up and speak out for Israel. Your fate is tied to ours. If we’re in danger, so are you. You just don’t see it yet.