There is a sentence that permeates my memory from family dinners growing up: “The most important thing, no matter what happens, is that we’re together.” This sentence, which my parents would say to my brother and me at the dinner table, was at once incredibly reassuring and incredibly terrifying. No matter what, we would stay together. Therefore, we would be okay. But this came with the obvious and common-feeling knowledge that at any point, something terrible could happen — though it wasn’t quite clear what.

Throughout my life — especially when I am with large numbers of Jews — I am often overly aware of entrances and exits; my body is often on high alert. Ready to run. Aware of plans of escape. The more I have learned about inherited trauma, the more I have understood that this embodied fear is not only an individual fear, but a Jewish fear. Our people has been persecuted for essentially our entire existence. We are traumatized. And we are not healing, because antisemitism is alive and well today.

I deeply believe that one of the biggest problems in our world today is that no one is dealing with antisemitism effectively.

Four scenes:

Scene 1: A progressive Jewish community, perhaps like our own: “Shhh, no — don’t make a big deal of that bomb threat at the JCC. There are so many people more urgently oppressed than we are. We don’t need to talk about ourselves. We don’t need to take up a ton of space.”

Scene 2: A conversation I have often had with a cousin on my mom’s side of the family: “They all hate us — everyone hates us.” I feel anxiety come back strongly to my body — the opposite of healing — as this cousin recounts why, inevitably, we will never be safe anywhere we go.

Scene 3: A climate rally, where I don’t necessarily expect anything about my Jewish identity to come up, but my progressive movement siblings say something about Israel that bleeds into true antisemitism, and no one calls it out because no one knows how to.

Scene 4: A scene where, in my opinion, antisemitism is purposeful, intentional, and authentic: A white supremacist rally in the U.S.: “Jews will not replace us!”

Again, antisemitism is not being dealt with effectively in any of these above scenes. I know I have found myself in several of these scenes, sometimes playing one role and sometimes playing an opposite role.

What feels true to me overall is this:

  • The people in Scene 1 need to know that it is okay and important for us to take up space and stand up for ourselves as Jews.
  • The people in Scene 2 need to know that if we expect others to stand up for us as Jews, we cannot self-isolate, build walls around ourselves, and refuse to stand up for others — we get stuck like that.
  • The people in Scene 3 need to commit to doing hard, challenging learning to be able to stand effectively in solidarity with us Jews, just as they stand in solidarity with other oppressed groups.
  • The people in Scene 4 — in my opinion — are not people with whom we should be working. They are not trustworthy for our safety (or for the safety of many others, as well).

Today, we as Jews need to do two things:

  • Get clear on the need to fight real antisemitism in the U.S., and work with others who share our values, so that they can fight antisemitism with us. Antisemitism occurs everywhere in society — it is present in the water we swim in and the air we breathe, in all the scenes above. We need to learn to fight it effectively, especially as it’s growing today.
  • Get clear that we Jews will not be tricked or duped into our pain being used in the dismantling of civil society in the U.S. This seems obvious and stark, but it’s trickier than we might think.

First: Let’s talk about antisemitism and how it has functioned in history. History can be our greatest teacher, and so it’s important to learn from it. First, some background: Most (not all) oppressions in the world often work to keep people “down” or at the bottom of societies. For example: “Black and brown people are dirty, poor, lowly.” Antisemitism has sometimes worked like this (“Jews are dirty”) but it has often worked much differently.

Instead of working to keep Jews at the bottom of society, antisemitism has often worked to keep Jews in a position of relative power in society, separating Jews from other oppressed groups, and then targeting Jews for our destruction.

The starkest example of this, of course, is Nazi Germany: “Jews own the money; Jews own the media; Jews own the banks.” The stereotypes put Jews in a position of relative power, lifting us up, separating us from other oppressed groups, when — of course — all of us are oppressed by the same forces — the Nazis. Then, Jews are blamed for the problems of society with no one to back us up. We become the scapegoat (“It’s the fault of the all-powerful, all-controlling Jews!”) and are targeted for destruction.

However, in reality, Jews and other oppressed groups are being targeted by the same forces. Jews get isolated when oppressed groups are not principled enough to recognize the bigger threat and come together to protect one another — when “divide and conquer” works and we end up pitted against one another. We Jews have often been compelled to “cozy up” to those in power, looking for safety there when those in power are the ones putting us most in danger. This strategy of separating Jews from other oppressed groups by putting and keeping us in a position of relative power (relative to other oppressed groups) is tricky. We can be tricked by it. We have to think hard — and we have to stay smart — to not fall for the trick. Especially today.

What is Project Esther?

If you are familiar with Project 2025, it is important to be familiar with Project Esther, as well. Project Esther was written by the same conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, that wrote Project 2025, and it is The Heritage Foundation’s “National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism.” The document is supported largely by an evangelical Christian base, and no major Jewish organizations were consulted in its drafting. The lack of Jewish input into the plan is quite starkly evident when you read it. As just one example, the very first words of the plan are: “The Torah, in the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther), tells us that…” But the Book of Esther is not in the Torah! If Jewish organizations had been consulted here, this plan would not begin by erroneously locating our Purim story.

I encourage everyone to read Project Esther in its entirety for yourself and to make your own sense of it. Over the course of time, I anticipate that people will be talking about it from all sides — it’s always good to get a sense of it with your own intuition, to form an opinion yourself. You certainly do not need to agree with what I’m saying about it or with what any institution or organization will say about it in the future. But I do feel it is important as a rabbi to share with you what I think.

I do not think Project Esther is a plan that will keep Jews safe. I think it will do the opposite. It is written by people who are self-identified Christian nationalists, and it uses classic, playbook techniques to put Jews in a position of relative power, separating us from other oppressed groups, when clearly, the writers of the plan itself do not care about our safety.

If that is true: What is Project Esther? Again, I encourage you to read the plan for yourself and make your own sense of it. To me, it feels quite clear that Project Esther is a plan that could allow for the dismantling of any group that disagrees with the government. It starts with the Palestine solidarity movement — in the name of the safety of Jews. But it goes a lot further than that, and it identifies its targets to include (quoting Project Esther directly) “a coalition of leftist, progressive organizations such as the Open Society Foundations, Tides Foundation, and numerous others.”

A friend and colleague of mine wrote the following on social media (I am editing slightly):

“For those who don’t want to touch issues that wade into the fraught politics of the Middle East, know this: A plan like this is simple: You strip fundamental rights from targets with less political support — and then eventually you can do it to anyone. If they can target unpopular political opponents, eventually they’ll target popular ones, too.”

Very unfortunately and terrifyingly, Project Esther has the capacity to “trick” Jews into believing that it is in our best interest.

How come? Two reasons:

  • First, simply, the Heritage Foundation has named this document “A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism.” We Jews, traumatized and looking desperately for safety — and for people who care about our safety — might be compelled to go along with this plan, for its title is about keeping us safe. But we also know that the writers and implementers of this plan, quite literally, have ties to Nazis. They are not our allies.
  • Second, the Heritage Foundation created the term “Hamas Support Network” to describe the targets of this plan. In their own words in the first sentence of their definition, “We define the Hamas Support Network (HSN) inside America as the people and organizations that are both directly and indirectly involved in furthering Hamas’s cause in contravention of American values and to the detriment of American citizens and America’s national security interests.” They name several organizations as part of the “HSN” — first organizations that are specifically part of the Palestine solidarity movement — and then they go on to say, “A coalition of leftist, progressive organizations such as the Open Society Foundations, Tides Foundation, and numerous others whose broader goals generally align […] provides financial resources and other material support such as equipment, training, and advice and consulting services across the HSN. By categorizing all of the targets of their plan as associated with Hamas, The Heritage Foundation might persuade Jews, if we are not thinking clearly, to approve of the dismantling of groups under the guise of a fight for our safety. (Not to mention that Project Esther itself uses classic antisemitic tropes: One very specific, classic example of an antisemitic trope is targeting Jewish “mastermind George Soros” — and George Soros is the founder of the Open Society Foundations, the first organization listed here in the “coalition of leftist, progressive organizations.”)

We Jews need to think hard — and stay smart — to not be tricked or used here. Again, Jews being used to divide up the progressive movement is a playbook technique, and it is antisemitic. It straight out of a playbook to separate Jews out from other oppressed groups and put us in a position of relative power so that we are pitted against other groups. In actuality, we are all oppressed by the same forces.

Mahmoud Khalil — why we must oppose his detention at all costs: Once you have read Project Esther, you will easily see that the detention of Mahmoud Khalil is an exact implementation of the plan. Hopefully, from what I have written above, you will understand why I personally strongly believe we must oppose his detention at all costs — and any detention like it. It is easy for Jews to fall into the trap of supporting the arrest and deportation of someone who has been identified with Hamas. This is exactly the plan in action.

T’ruah, The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, put out a statement immediately after Mahmoud Khalil was taken from his home by ICE: “The news of the blatantly unconstitutional arrest of Mahmoud Khalil should send a chill down the spine of anyone who cares about democracy and free speech. Let’s be clear: Illegally detaining a student (and threatening to revoke their green card) because of their protected free speech will in no way make Jewish students on campus safer.”

We need to stay clear on what fighting for our safety actually looks like in these confusing times.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, wrote in an article in The Forward last week opposing the detention of Mahmoud Khalil. In it, she wrote about the importance of fighting antisemitism in this time — and staying clear on how to do it. I quote her here: “[T]hat response must not involve dismantling the foundations of democracy. Backing the Trump administration’s assault on free speech is a shortsighted move that will ultimately leave Jews, like other minority groups, less safe. We have flourished in this country in part because of its civil rights and civil liberties protections. Working to preserve those protections is the single most important thing organizations that fight antisemitism can do right now to keep Jews safe.”

As we know from our own history, moral atrocities do not happen all at once — they happen in tiny, gradual steps. It is crucial that we oppose them right away. At the beginning is when we have the most power to do so.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), wrote the following on social media, also immediately after the detention of Mahmoud Khalil: “The [administration] is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to undercut democracy: From gutting education funding to deporting students to attacking diversity, equity, & inclusion. As we’ve repeatedly said: This makes Jews – and many others – less safe.” She continued: “…Any Jew who thinks this is going to start and stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themself. Our community is not an excuse to upend democracy and the rule of law.”

May we all stay clear in our thinking. May we know that the pitting of Jewish safety and Palestinian safety against one another actually makes fighting antisemitism harder, not easier. May we stand up for ourselves and be adamant that others need to stand up for us. May we stand up for others and not self-isolate. May we not let our pain be manipulated.

What a mess we’re in.

Let’s stay in it together.

This was originally shared as an email to the Temple Hillel B’nai Torah community.

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