(Sept. 7, 2026 / JNS)
Antisemitism is rising, but much of today’s scourge does not present itself in the crude language of racial inferiority that we associate with an earlier age.
Increasingly, the accusation is almost the opposite: Jews are too powerful. We have too much influence. We control politics, money, media or American policy toward Israel. Our attachment to Israel is treated not as an expression of identity but as evidence of divided loyalty.
We should recognize these ideas for what they are. They are ancient antisemitic themes dressed in contemporary clothing. And American Jews are feeling the consequences.
The American Jewish Committee reports that 78% of American Jews say they feel less safe because of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the war in the Middle East that followed. Some 91% say the violent antisemitic attacks that occurred in America in the past year have made them feel less safe. More than half have changed some aspects of their behavior because of it.
An AP-NORC survey found that approximately three in 10 Jewish adults said they or someone in their household had experienced antisemitic harassment, abuse, property damage or physical assault during the previous year.
And perhaps the most extraordinary statistic of all is measured in dollars. American Jewish organizations are now spending more than $1 billion every year on security—guards, cameras, barriers and other measures needed so that Jews can pray, study and gather safely.
What should our response be? As chairman of Religious Zionists of America, I don’t believe the answer is to tell American Jews: “The time has come to flee.” Nor can our answer be: “Don’t worry. America is different.”
We have heard too much Jewish history to indulge either panic or complacency.
My message is simpler:
The antisemites do not get to decide where Jews live. If America is your home, then stand your ground.
Live openly as a Jew. Wear your kippah, your chai, your Star of David. Send your children to Jewish schools. Attend synagogue. Support Israel without apology. Participate in American political life. Demand that elected officials, universities, law-enforcement agencies and public institutions confront antisemitism with the same determination they would bring to hatred directed against any other minority.
American Jews have every right to remain American Jews, publicly and proudly.
But Religious Zionism has another message as well. For the first time in nearly 2,000 years, Jews facing uncertainty anywhere in the world no longer have to ask the question our grandparents and great-grandparents were forced to ask: Who will take us?
There is a Jewish state.
And therefore every Jewish family should be willing to ask a different question: Could Israel become our home?
Not because we have been frightened out of America. Not because the antisemites have won. And certainly not because the American Jewish story is over.
We should consider aliyah because the State of Israel represents something far greater than refuge. It is the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland. That means Israel should become a practical part of the conversation in American Jewish homes.
Learn Hebrew. Send your children to Israel. Encourage gap years and study programs. Spend significant time there. Explore employment opportunities. Think about retirement. Let young couples understand that building their lives in Jerusalem, Beersheva, Modi’in, Haifa or any of the new communities throughout Israel is not an exotic alternative to Jewish life. It’s one of its great possibilities.
For too long, many American Jews have treated aliyah as something admirable when somebody else does it. Religious Zionists should change that conversation.
Aliyah need not be an emergency decision made after the suitcases have already been packed. It can be contemplated thoughtfully, prepared for gradually and ultimately undertaken joyfully. There is no contradiction between fighting antisemitism in America and encouraging aliyah to Israel. Quite the contrary.
We fight antisemitism in America because Jews have the right to live anywhere without fear. We encourage aliyah because Jews have the privilege of living in the Jewish homeland. One is an assertion of our rights; the other is an expression of our destiny.
So my message to American Jews at this troubling moment is not to stay or go.
It is this:
Do not hide. Do not panic. Do not become complacent.
If you remain in America, remain as a proud Jew and fight for the country America promises to be.
And if you make aliyah, don’t think of yourself as running away. Think of yourself as coming home.
But whichever choice you make, make it freely. Because the antisemites don’t get to decide for us.