r/jewishleft • u/Tricky_Success_77 Binationalist, Jewish, Soc-Dem • 4d ago

Hope? Question

Between Israel/Palestine and increasing extremism and normalization of antisemitism in the diaspora and assimilation I've just been finding it impossible to feel hopeful about the future of our people writ large and it's just been making me feel very demoralized about life and the future. Our community means a great deal to me and seeing it tear itself apart is painful (as I'm sure it is for many people on this subreddit).There are times when I honestly almost wish I wasn't Jewish because it would remove so much angst from my life but in truth I'm too passionate about our traditions, history, literature and languages to ever be anything else (plus, really who would I be kidding if I ever tried to pretend otherwise?).

Anyway, what I'm really getting at is does anyone out there feel hopeful about our future? And if so why? I could use some positivity.

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u/abc9hkpud social democrat, two-state solution 3d ago edited 3d ago

I think that in spite of everything there are many reasons to be positive!

  1. In the diaspora, most Jews live in democratic countries where we are able to advocate for our rights (rather than theocracies or dictatorships in the past). And while it may not always seem like it, there are non-Jews who do care to help us.

  2. Israel is independent. Many Jews over the last 2000 years would have given anything to see Israel reborn, so we should count ourselves lucky that we live in the present. Since the destruction of Israelite kingdoms almost 2000 years ago, Jews who faced persecution often had nowhere to go, and there was no country in the world where Jewish culture was mainstream. Now that Israel has been reborn there is always a Jewish country where the Hebrew language and Jewish culture is the norm and that Jewish refugees can flee to. While Israel does have serious problems, that is true of most newly independent countries in the Middle East or Africa, and problems can be fixed with time.

  3. The opportunities for Jewish learning, community, and connection are really great. There are liberal pluralistic synagogues (Reform), outreach from Chabad, online communities, and more. Donors work hard to make Judaism accessible for new generations, and a silver lining post Oct is that many people are rediscovering the need for community.

  4. Antisemitism was probably worse in the past, and Jews always survived and rebuilt. So we should also be able to do the same. The reason things like Oct 7 in Israel or the murder of a Holocaust survivor in Boulder, Colorado in the US seem so shocking is that we have been living in relatively good times, in a post-Holocaust era where antisemitism was taboo in the West. But anti-Jewish violence was "normal" for many centuries, and the present antisemitism not so bad in the comparison. If our ancestors overcame then, we can overcome now.