Fear Itself

Two years ago, soon after I began my time at Yeshivat Har Etzion, I met a fellow student who introduced himself as a resident of Chevron, and was a bit surprised to learn that there was a full-fledged Jewish community there. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

“No, not really. Where do you live?”

“Chicago.”

“I heard that Chicago is dangerous too.”

“No, not really.”

Peace rarely makes the news, and American Jews and Israeli Jews tend to believe that the life of the other is exceedingly more dangerous than is accurate. Over the past week, this has become only more common as Israeli outlets have considered how Mamdani’s victory will negatively impact American Jews. The outcome was concerning, but it is not existential. I am proud to say that I voted for Cuomo and prouder to say that I intend on making Aliyah once I finish college, but there is no need to portray Tuesday’s election as an extinction event for American Judaism.

Three weeks ago, I spent Shabbat at the University of Maryland, where students scheduled a vote to determine whether they support BDS on Rosh Hashanah. After outcry from Jewish students, the vote was subsequently rescheduled for Yom Kippur. Two weeks ago, I was at NYU for Shabbat and saw a Palestinian flag taped to a window just outside my Jewish friend’s apartment. 

And yet during my time on those campuses, while walking around with a kippah and nothing on top of it, I not only was never threatened, but never remotely felt endangered, because I never was in danger. Reading through the Times of Israel blogspace, especially entries written by Israelis, often portray the situation for Jews in New York City as far more dire and chaotic than is justified.

Drawing comparisons between 2020s America and 1930s Germany is especially concerning, because not only is it an insult to the victims of the Holocaust, but it is highly sensationalist. Unlike Hitler, Mamdani was not elected because of policies that put Jews at the center of his agenda. If not for the deserved backlash over such slogans as “Globalize the Intifada”, it is likely that Mamdani would have won up to 65 percent of the vote simply by addressing problems which New Yorkers feel troubled by (and not having been charged with sexual assault.) Also relevant is the theory popularized by Paul Graham (It’s Charisma, Stupid) which claims that political shifts are primarily caused by candidates with charisma. Zohran Mamdani did not become mayor because half of New Yorkers are antisemites, he became mayor despite being an antisemite. There does indeed exist a life between the blissful life as a Jew during the Golden Age and the situation that Jews in Nazi Germany found themselves in during the 1930s.

This is not a return to the 1930s, therefore, but a slight regression to the historical mean. As tough as life on an Ivy League campus is today, it remains historically an above-average life for Jews. When my grandfather was attending public school in Connecticut during the 1950s, he would run home while being pelted with stones by Polish boys for his Judaism. Even after Tuesday’s election, however, for such an attack to occur today would still be a shock. 

Stating that life in a city with a growing antisemitism issue can still offer a good life for Jews does strengthen the argument to move to Israel, but while there will likely be an increase in American Jews seeking to move to Israel, they will not be refugees. While there will likely be an increase in hate crimes on Jews, hate crimes will not be normalized. The victory of a single socialist will not spell doom for the entirety of the most powerful country in the world, which lists freedom of religion in its Constitution as an essential component of its identity. The Jews of New York will not face organized persecution in their daily lives in the same way that Israeli Jews do not spend their weekends dodging terrorists, even if the number of American Jews making Aliyah will continue to steadily increase.