(First Thinks. Melisa Langsam Braunstein).
Growing up Jewish in 1980s New York, I started learning about the Holocaust in kindergarten. But along with those loaded lessons came constant reassurances from Jewish day school teachers and communal leaders that it would happen “never again.” With the help of the global community, it seemed Jews had finally triumphed over the repeated horrors of Jewish history. That was a comforting message for children. Now, though, it looks like wishful thinking. History will likely frame the early twenty-first century as a hinge moment. After the Holocaust, overt anti-Semitism was stigmatized by democratic societies worldwide. Jews were optimistic that this represented a permanent, positive change. However, October 7 and its aftermath have proven otherwise. For global Jewry, this means confronting ugly truths, like the durability of Jew-hatred. But reality is quickly shifting around our non-Jewish neighbors, too.
