When the terror attacks unfolded this weekend in Israel, the first instinct of many Jewish Americans was to reach out to family and friends. Israel is a small country — you can drive from the top to the bottom in under six hours — but it is home to one of the world’s largest communities of Jews, who make up just 0.2 percent of the global population. The other largest Jewish population lives in the United States, and connections between the two groups run deep. Many Jewish Americans have relatives and loved ones who live in Israel, where, due to the small population and scale of the deaths — 1,200 Israelis were killed, thousands more were wounded — nearly everyone knows someone affected, directly or indirectly, by the violence.
This week will almost certainly be remembered by Jewish Americans as one of the most difficult in our collective modern memory. There is the primary grief, over the loss of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives, and the terrible knowledge that, with Israel waging a counterattack on Gaza, these deaths will continue: As of early Friday morning, more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed, including 500 children, and around 6,600 people are injured. Israel has ordered an evacuation of more than 1 million people living in the northern half of the strip, a move the United Nation said would have “devastating humanitarian consequences.”
American Jews are not a monolith — “two Jews, three opinions” goes the old adage. We are a tight-knit but diverse community, made up of people from different races, denominations, and political beliefs. We are used to finding comfort and support in each other. Even so, we are also discovering how deeply isolating this moment can feel, as we struggle to make sense of a rapidly unfolding tragedy, our own sense of loss, and how that heartbreak is being received by the outside world. None of this is happening in a vacuum. It’s coming amid seismic shifts in politics and public opinion,…
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