On Being Jewish At This Moment
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/opinion/international-world/friedman-israel-gaza-hamas.html
Please don’t make any mistakes about what I’m thinking. First, it has never been easier to be Jewish than it has been being Jewish in the United States during my lifetime. Second, it has always been hard being Jewish anywhere for the last 2000 or so years. So, let’s start there.
The second entry above is a book I am in the middle of reading by noted Harvard law scholar Noah Feldman called To Be A Jew Today. I am about a third of the way through this very academic tome, but Professor Feldman traces all the various factions and types of Judaism that exist in the United States at the present time making the clear case that we Jews certainly are not homogeneous to start with, thus we surely don’t agree on everything or maybe on anything.
The first entry is by the great Tom Friedman and discusses the dilemma all Jews face today. How can it be “Israel right or wrong” when so much of what the current leadership of Israel is doing is so wrong? Yes, October 7 was a horror show. Yes, it was the worst killing of Jews since the Holocaust. Nonetheless, I cannot believe that any Jew anywhere beyond Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet wanted to see the state of Israel kill over 50,000 people in Gaza and starve thousands more. This is not my Israel and I love Israel.
Thus, the dilemma is especially keen as we approach the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The very soul of the Jewish nation writ large over the entire world looks itself in the mirror over the next month. Who are we? If we are God’s chosen people surely God did not choose us to kill thousands in the name of revenge and security when there had to be a better way.
As Friedman suggests, it may be in the hands of Donald Trump to force a humane solution to the crisis in Gaza, but I fear he wants the place leveled so he can build hotels and casinos.
The solution to the crisis in Gaza is clear to everyone.
First, stop the fighting.
Second, return what’s left of the hostages.
Third, exile Hamas to some other Arab country never to be heard from again. If we can try any of them on legal grounds we should, but they ought to be in the dock alongside Netanyahu and his cronies. There were war crimes committed on both sides.
Fourth, force the formation of a Palestinian state. Stop further settlements and stop the fighting in the West Bank. If the settlements continue to expand as the current Israeli governing coalition desires, there will be nothing left with which to create a Palestinian state. That’s what the coalition wants.
Finally, bring the Saudis into the Abraham Accords and let’s go about making money using Saudi investment capital and Israeli know-how.
Everyone knows how this should end. If Mr. Trump can get Mr. Netanyahu out of the way, it can occur.
In the meantime, those of us ardent Israel supporters live in angst of supporting a people, the Jews of Israel, but not those who govern them. It is up to the people of Israel to democratically change their government. This is not for Americans to do, unless that American is Mr. Trump and he causes Mr. Netanyahu to stop the combat. Can’t we promise Bibi a place next to Mar A Lago in Florida and all the free cigars he can smoke if he would just go away?
As for the rest of us Jews in America, and all over the rest of the non-Israeli Jewish world, we need to use the next month to really search our souls and pray that Mr. Netanyahu’s thirst for blood and his attempts to avoid prison do not make the world extra hard for us Jews to live in.
This is a tough time to be Jewish. But it’s always a tough time to be Jewish. Mr. Netanyahu could make it easier. Go!
