Jews Never Quit

“I would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.”

With those words, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reignited a painful reality for many Jews around the world. At a time when Israel is still confronting the security challenges unleashed by October 7, even after the hostages have finally returned home, and when antisemitism continues to rise globally, America’s largest city has become another arena where Israel’s leaders, policies, and very legitimacy are intensely debated.

But this moment extends beyond one politician or one city.

This week, more than one hundred Democratic members of Congress voted in favor of an amendment that would have removed U.S. military assistance for Israel. The measure did not pass, but the vote reflected a growing debate in American politics over the nature of the U.S.-Israel relationship and demonstrated that support for Israel’s security, once viewed as a broadly shared bipartisan principle, faces new challenges.

For many Jews, this feels painfully familiar.

The accusations change.

The countries change.

The slogans change.

But the pressure never seems to end.

How do we respond when the attacks keep coming, when old assumptions no longer hold, when allies become uncertain, and when even our strongest efforts seem unable to silence hatred?

That question has been on my mind recently.

I had a dream where I repeatedly tried to make an urgent phone call, but nothing went through. Again and again, I pressed the buttons. Nothing.

In another dream, I defended myself against an attacker. I blocked the blows, fought back with everything I had, and landed a solid punch. Yet it was as though my strength had disappeared. My response had no effect. The attacker simply kept advancing.

Both dreams ended with the same haunting question:

Now what?

That question is no longer confined to dreams.

It is the question facing Israel.

It is the question facing Jews throughout the Diaspora.

It is the question many of us face in our own lives when illness persists, relationships fracture, careers stall, or carefully planned futures collapse.

Sometimes the old answers simply do not work anymore.

Yet Jewish history teaches something remarkable:

When one path closes, we do not stop walking.

The Jewish Answer Is Never to Quit

This week’s Torah portion, Devarim, begins with Moshe looking back on forty years of setbacks, disappointments, rebellions, and painful lessons.

He acknowledges that the existing system cannot continue as it has.

The burden is too great.

The challenges are too many.

So Moshe adapts.

He appoints judges.

He delegates responsibility.

He creates a new structure to carry the mission forward.

The mission never changes.

Only the method does.

That is one of Judaism’s most enduring lessons: perseverance does not mean repeating the same action endlessly and expecting a different outcome. True perseverance requires courage, creativity, and the willingness to find a new path while remaining faithful to timeless values.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin expressed this balance with remarkable clarity:

“We must fight terrorism as if there’s no peace process, and work to achieve peace as if there’s no terror.”

That is not a contradiction.

That is resilience.

It is the refusal to allow either hope or determination to die.

Job Refused to Surrender

Perhaps no biblical figure embodies this struggle more than Job.

He lost his wealth.

He lost his children.

He lost his health.

His friends offered simple explanations for his suffering and encouraged him to accept defeat. But Job refused.

He questioned.

He mourned.

He cried out.

He wrestled with God.

Yet he never walked away.

Job teaches us that faith is not the absence of pain or doubt. Faith is the decision to continue searching for meaning even when answers are difficult to find.

Perseverance is not pretending life is easy.

It is refusing to let suffering write the final chapter.

This Is the Story of the Jewish People

For more than three thousand years, empires that sought to erase the Jewish people have vanished into history.

Egypt.

Babylon.

Rome.

The Spanish Inquisition.

The pogroms.

The Holocaust.

The Soviet Union.

Again and again, powerful forces believed they could end the Jewish story.

Again and again, they were proven wrong.

Today, Israel faces enemies who openly deny its right to exist, while Jews around the world confront a resurgence of antisemitism that many hoped belonged to the past.

Each generation hears someone declare that this time the Jewish people cannot endure.

Each generation answers differently.

But the result remains the same.

We endure.

Tisha B’Av reminds us of our greatest national tragedies—the destruction of both Temples, exile, persecution, and countless other calamities throughout Jewish history.

Yet Tisha B’Av was never meant to be the final chapter.

Every year, mourning gives way to rebuilding.

Ashes give way to hope.

Destruction gives way to life.

That rhythm is at the heart of Jewish history.

When There Is No Answer

So what do we do when nothing seems to work?

When diplomacy disappoints.

When military victories remain incomplete.

When public opinion turns hostile.

When hatred refuses to disappear.

The answer is surprisingly simple.

We keep going.

Not because the road is easy.

Not because success is guaranteed.

But because stopping has never been an option for the Jewish people.

We adjust.

We innovate.

We pray.

We defend ourselves.

We build.

We strengthen one another.

And then we continue.

As I have often told my children, there are many things in life we cannot control.

Giving up is not one of them.

Our Enemies Should Understand This

Those who seek Israel’s destruction, or who believe the Jewish people can simply be worn down, misunderstand the very people they oppose.

They mistake patience for weakness.

They mistake a desire for peace for surrender.

They mistake temporary setbacks for permanent defeat.

But Jewish history tells a different story.

We are a people who have survived exile and returned.

A people who rebuilt after destruction.

A people who carried Torah across continents and centuries.

A people who transformed tragedy into renewal.

Again and again, history has asked the Jewish people the same question:

Now what?

And generation after generation, we have given the same answer:

We keep going.

With faith in one another.

With faith in our eternal mission.

And above all, with faith in Hashem.

Because with Hashem’s help, as our history has demonstrated time and again, the Jewish people will overcome.