Is it Time for American Jews to ‘Circle the Wagons’?
“Circling the wagons” is an American frontier image, but the Jewish version is over 3,000 years old.
On the prairie, when settlers saw dust on the horizon, they organized into a circle. Families and children in the middle and rifles facing out. They circled not because they hated the prairie, but because they loved and cherished what was inside.
It is interesting to note that a ghetto is where others build walls around us to keep us in; and a wagon circle is built to keep our family and community on the reservation and to decide when to go out of strength not weakness.
The Torah refers to an encircled area as a Machaneh, a camp.
Machaneh Yisrael in the midbar had 12 tribes, each with a flag, circling the mishkan in the middle.
A Machaneh was mobile, not stuck in one location. It was able to be moved and it was able to march in any direction.
From a Jewish perspective circling the wagons means that we stop outsourcing Jewish survival to non-Jewish goodwill. To university presidents, to mayors or to elected officials. We put torat eretz yisrael in the middle. We stand shoulder to shoulder, rifles not needed, but pride, self-respect and commitment facing out.
It’s the opposite of fear. Fear scatters, Faith circles.
For generations, American Jews have operated on an outward-facing model. We built hospitals for everyone. We marched for everyone’s civil rights. We funded the arts, museums, universities, and a variety of causes that had nothing to do directly with being Jewish, because we believed that a rising tide of American liberalism would lift all boats, including ours.
That belief built the greatest diaspora in Jewish history. It also built the Federation system. The idea was to be indispensable to America, and America will be safe for the Jews.
Friends, at the risk of sounding alarmist or ringing the alarm bells, that era may be coming to a close or may even be over.
Last week a man who has marched with anti-Zionist activists and defended the slogans “Globalize the Intifada” “Israel is Genocidal” or “Free Free Palestine” became an elected official of a heavily Jewish populated city. He did not win in spite of Jewish concern. He won while Jewish organizations were issuing statements and proclamations, holding dialogues, press conferences and praying for the best.
We should not be surprised. We have seen this trend for many years. This is not our first rodeo and for many of us, we paid a very heavy price by sitting back and empowering the “organized” Jewish community take the lead.
This was a big mistake!
On campus, Jewish students are told that to be accepted into the progressive coalition, they must leave their Zionism at the door.
In public schools, our children are taught history where Jews are oppressors.
In politics, Jewish destiny, whether a synagogue gets security funding, whether Israeli self-defense is called “genocide,” whether a Jewish teacher can wear a Magen David is debated and decided by voters who have never met a Jew, never opened a siddur, and do not share our fate.
So is it time to circle the wagons?
Circling the wagon does not mean abandoning America. It means remembering what a wagon is for, and how to use it wisely.
A wagon holds what is precious. It carries your food, your Torah, your children. You circle it when the night gets cold and the prairie gets dangerous not because you hate the prairie, but because you love what is inside.
For American Jews, circling the wagon means five things:
Fund Jewish first. Before we spend our resources funding the world, we must fund our own continuity. That means day school tuition, which is crushing middle-class families. That means shuls, mikvaot, Tomchai Shabbat programs and yeshivot that actually teach. That means aliyah infrastructure for families who want a place where Jewish destiny isn’t decided by another country’s voters, protesters or political protagonists.
Say what we mean. The Federation era taught us to speak in careful, universal language. “We support peace and stand against hate on all sides because we are one.” It was all about tikkun olan and “saving the world”. We need moral clarity. Antisemitism is not a subset of something else. Zionism is not a dirty word. Am Yisrael Chai is not a slogan but a rallying cry for our current and future strength, viability and vitality.
Choose institutions that choose and respect us. For way too long we gave blindly to institutions such as universities, political parties, and nonprofits, hoping they would love us back. It was also all about how our Jewish community and its philanthropists were able achieve social status and kavod in a world of biased bigotry and antisemitism. It’s time to apply a simple test by asking a simple question of whether this particular institution makes it safer and prouder to be a Jew. If yes, double down. If no, we should just walk away with your heads held high.
Build from Jerusalem outward, not from Washington inward. American Jewry tried to secure Israel through American politics. It is time to flip that script and change the scenario.
Secure the Jewish future through Jewish sovereignty. Every dollar, every visit, every child who spends a gap year in Israel or makes Aliyah is more powerful than another lobbying meeting.
We must stop apologizing for survival. The wagon circle is not xenophobia. It is sanity. Every other minority in America is encouraged to celebrate its particularism. Only Jews are told that particularism is a problem. We must reject that notion at all costs.
This is not a call for panic. It is a call for maturity, resilience and achdut.
The generation that built the great American Jewish institutions did so out of trauma. They had seen what happens when Jews have no wagon. We, their children and grandchildren, built out of confidence. We thought the open road would last forever.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t.
Circling the wagons is not retreating from America. It is returning to ourselves. It is remembering that before we are anything else whether it be liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, Floridian or New Yorker, orthodox, conservative, reform or unaffiliated we are Jews, who are responsible for one another.
The Knesset at night, with its bright beautiful shining lights and its flags illuminated, sends us a simple but critically important message, namely, there is still a place where Jews govern Jews.
The question for American Jews is not whether that place will survive. The answer is that it must and it will.
And, the question is whether we will still know how to steer and drive our own wagon home.
So at the end of the day, circling the wagon is not about being fearful for our community’s safety or well-being, but rather protecting it from a society and a movement bent on blaming the Jews for all of the ills, misfortunes and problems in the world.
This sad reality is indeed a very familiar scenario. But as we know, with emunah, bitachon and achdut, we will not only battle and overcome this evil, but also flourish as a community, people and as a proud nation.
We must move from the inside circle and do what Jews have always done best since time of immoral; open the gates in the morning and go out and bless the work. We must do this as Jews, not as Jews pretending not to be Jews.
Finally, our schools must educate our children to understand and appreciate that our status and well-being in this world is orchestrated through the will of HaShem. Our role is to ensure that irrespective of circumstance, “circling the wagons” is only one small fraction of our responsibility as a community, as a people, and as a nation.
It is our hope and prayer that as we enter a new chapter in our history, as turbulent and as uncertain as it may be, that HaShem bless achienu bnai yisrael with continued protection, safety, achdut and shalom.