Over the past thousand years of Jewish history, we’ve rarely remained in one country for more than 80 to 120 years before the social or political climate turned against us. From England to Spain, from Poland to Germany, each thriving Jewish community eventually reached a point where life became unsustainable and was forced to move on.
Our grandparents arrived in America roughly a century ago, seeking the freedom and stability denied to earlier generations. But as we look around today, that historical rhythm feels unsettlingly familiar.
American politics is shifting. The Democratic Party, once strongly supported by Jewish voters, has moved steadily toward a more liberal and radical ideology. Many in our community turned to the Republican Party but even there, we now see a rise in open antisemitism and growing hostility toward Jewish and pro-Israel values.
As younger generations—shaped by new ideologies and often indifferent or even hostile to Jewish concerns gain influence, we must acknowledge a sobering truth: we are approaching that historical 100-year mark once again.
That said, there is no reason to panic or run. America remains, for now, a country of opportunity and safety. But we owe it to ourselves to be honest and realistic, to recognize the direction of change, and to prepare with open eyes. History teaches best when we are willing to listen.
Shloimy B.
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30 Responses
Seriously? Which of those countries, or for that matter any country, did the Jews live for only 100 years? Jews lived in those countries for close to 1,000 years!
Besides, non of our previous host countries were democratic countries. How can one draw any sort of parallel?
I share the exact same feeling.
No call for action or anything like that, but the seed has to be planted in our minds about such a possibility – to say it mildly.
תלמוד בבלי מסכת בבא בתרא דף עג/ב
ואמר רבה בר בר חנה, זימנא חדא הוה קא אזלינן בספינתא וחזינן ההוא כוורא דיתבא ליה חלתא אגביה וקדח אגמא עילויה, סברינן יבשתא היא, וסלקינן ואפינן ובשלינן אגביה, וכד חם גביה אתהפיך, ואי לאו דהוה מקרבא ספינתא הוה טבעינן, ע”כ.
ועיין טובך יביעו פ’ בלק בשם הגר”א על אגדה זו
The so-called State of “Israel” is 77 years old, so it — too — is close to the 100 year mark.
So you definitely will not want to count on moving there for safety — especially considering the fact that for the last 77 years the State of “Israel” has been the most unsafe place on the planet for Jews; where more Jews are killed and maimed for the crime of being Jewish in the endless wars and terrorism experienced in that State for the last 77 year.
More Jews have been killed in “Israel”‘ than Jews have been killed in the rest of the world COMBINED, for the last 77 years.
Well Said. Thank You. Hashem is telling us the same thing in every one of these 100 year Cycles. IT IS TIME TO DO TESHUVA! IT IS TIME TO GET OUT OF SELF AND FOCUS ON VEAHAVTA LEREACHA KAMOCHA. It is time to get united! That’s all Hashem wants from EVERY single one of us!
Australia hasn’t had Jews all that long, so Australia might be a worthwhile place of refuge to run to if necessary.
Otherwise Canada is pretty good for the Jews.
Other safe choices could be New Zealand, Ireland or the Cayman Islands.
Thank you for your letter. It will help us daven for Moshiach, so we don’t have to go to another country.
Let’s not fuel any hysteria and the reality is Klal Yisroel is in a collective state of trauma due to the holocaust where obviously we stayed too long and didn’t see the writing on the wall. So we are now determined not to make the same mistake again. So let’s analyse the situation logically and really nothing happened yet. It’s all predictions and speculation. So let’s wait and see what happens. That being said I think having a passport for the whole family is probably a good idea
Shloimy
Unfortunately, I fully agree with your assessment. However, there are two very important factors that are missing from your letter. First and foremost is the G-D factor. The reason HaShem sends us this pattern is because we get way too comfortable in a place we don’t really belong. We are here as a punishment, as we have not yet been zoche to the Geulah. He doesn’t want us getting too cozy here. When we do, he has no choice but to remind us that we are only גרים here not תושבים. Perhaps with a little discomfort, we will truly cry out and really be ציפתה ליהושוע. I hope we don’t need bigger reminders.
Secondly, long ago Yaakov Avinu taught his children למה תתראו, keep a low profile when you are amongst the goyim. Why are we so stupid not to take that lesson to heart, when any thinking person knows how much קנאה we engender by אושטעכען די עוגין פון די גוים. Lay low! There’s no need to build multi million dollar homes and drive $100k cars. Only those who believe that they will be here forever can act like that. Where are their brains?
Its time to give serious thought as to our station in history, look back and learn from the terrible mistakes we have made in the past and I pray we stop repeating them!
אין לנו להשען אלא לאבינו שבשמים
Thank you, Shloimy B, for speaking sense after all the complacency and non-realistic chizuk that’s been going around. Who knows, maybe Hashem is calling us home. VeHashem Shochain Btzion!
As we davened not long ago, ותשובה ותפלה וצדקה מעבירין את רוע הגזירה – repentance, prayer, and charity, remove evil of decree.
One correction – Poland was actually a place where Jews were not expelled for over 400 years, which is why the Jewish population in Pland grew to the size it did before the Holocaust. Jews used to say that the Yiddish name for Poland, Polin, indicated that they could finally rest – “Po Lin” – here we rest. Unfortunately, that all came to an end between 1939 and 1945.
At least today, b’chasdei Hashem, there is a place where Jews are welcomed BECAUSE they are Jews, and not in spite of their being Jews. The government there is obviously not perfect – but it’s still a better place of refuge than anything our great-grandparents dreamed of.
an Israeli Yid
Shloymie
Unfortunately, I fully agree with your assessment. However, there are two very important factors that are missing from your letter. First and foremost is the G-D factor. The reason HaShem sends us this pattern is because we get way too comfortable in a place we don’t really belong. We are here as a punishment, as we have not yet been zoche to the Geulah. He doesn’t want us getting too cozy here. When we do, he has no choice but to remind us that we are only גרים here not תושבים. Perhaps with a little discomfort, we will truly cry out and really be ציפתה ליהושוע. I hope we don’t need bigger reminders.
Secondly, long ago Yaakov Avinu taught his children למה תתראו, keep a low profile when you are amongst the goyim. Why are we so stupid not to take that lesson to heart, when any thinking person knows how much קנאה we engender by אושטעכען די עוגין פון די גוים. Lay low! There’s no need to build multi million dollar homes and drive $100k cars. Only those who believe that they will be here forever can act like that. Where are their brains?
Its time to give serious thought as to our station in history, look back and learn from the terrible mistakes we have made in the past and I pray we stop repeating them!
אין לנו להשען אלא לאבינו שבשמים
Hashem said as we say every Pesach at the seder shebichol dor vdor….. EVERY GENERATION will Rachmana litzlan rise up against klal yisroel-from Haman to antiochus to Titus etc….. going generation to generation-but if we wake up and FACE REALITY and accept Hashem’s wake up call for serious Teshuva and Achdus together as one loving nation like we did in the story of Purim then Hashem will save us from antisemitism and our enemies and hopefully even deem us worthy to send us mashiach already bkarov
Let’s not continue living in denial and Instead immediately wake up and FACE REALITY and accept Hashem’s wake up call for serious Teshuva and Achdus together so Hashem can send Mashiach already b’karov.
Hahaha, some nonsense encouragment after the fear mongering by TYW and the entire Zionist machine suffered an electoral blow, good try.
One should not mention anti-semitism and anti-Zionism within the same writings . . . After fighting for it for many years, the so called Anti semitic UN gave in to your pressure to link the two together.
What is it that you name “Zionist values” as there is no there, there!
While it’s very unpopular to link to global hatered to Israel’s actions, it is permissable only in order to attack the Israeli left and the the Ex-MAG, HYPOCRICY!!!
Torah true Yidden are not falling for these Shtusim and feel very good with the slowly crumble of Zionism
1. We have a mesorah from Rav Chaim Volozhin that America is the last station for Torah in galus.
2. If the Zionist idol would be universally recognized for what it is – specifically, that Jews are not responsible for anything the Zionists do or don’t – then most, if not all, of the hate on both right and left would evaporate.
Incoming “oh you’re exaggerating” and “it can’t happen here” comments.
Actually we were in Europe for some 1000 years or so. However the writer definitely has a point, one not missed by myself either. However we don’t know Hashems ways and I don’t know if there’s any significance to be attached to the 100 year mark. But R’ Chaim Volozhin famously said that Golus America will be our last stop before Moshiachs arrival. במהרה בימינו אמן!!
While I share the author’s concern that Jews must always remain vigilant against antisemitism, I believe the historical comparison he draws oversimplifies both our past and our present.
It’s simply not true that Jewish communities have only survived 80–120 years in any given country. Jews lived in Poland for nearly 800 years, in Babylon for over two millennia, and in parts of the Muslim world for many centuries. History has indeed seen recurring antisemitism, but not according to such a predictable “cycle.”
Likewise, American Jewry is not merely a century old. Many of our families have been here since the 19th century, and Jews have contributed to every era of American history — from the Revolution onward. The United States, unlike the nations of medieval Europe, was founded by immigrants of many backgrounds, Jews among them. We are indeed in galus but we are part of the American story. In Spain we were Jews among the Spaniards, in Germany, Jews among the Germans. In the U.S. we are all immigrants other than the Native Americans.
Yes, we must take rising antisemitism seriously, from both political extremes. But America remains unique among host nations: it is bound together by ideals of liberty and equality under law, not by ethnic or religious identity as previous host countries were. As long as those principles endure, the Jewish future here is not predetermined by past patterns elsewhere.
The underlying thought is a famous Ohr Hachaim in Shemos
Shloimy
If your grandparents arrived in the US about 100 years ago, then you are what my family would consider a Greenhorn. Our family arrived more than 150 years ago and has thrived and remained frum.
We have been active Democrats from the turn of the 20th century.
The changes in the Democratic Party since the time of Reagan has been a terrible pushback to the Republican Party being taken over by the Christian right ( such as Pat Robertson and the moral majority). We fought hard for Civil Rights and now the Felon in the White House who has stacked the Courts, ignores the rule of law had empowered the extreme left fringe to try to commandeer the Democratic Party.
This year’s elections have shown more centrist Democrats taking control at state and local levels and winning elections.
I do not have the 100 year fear you feel. I will and do work with the political system to ensure rights, I don’t use it as part of a voting block to bring entitlements to my people.
I may be socially Liberal, but as a Fiscal Conservative I am not in favor of school vouchers, excess SNAP benefits for those who do not work and the same for Medicaid. Unfortunately, many in the Frum community trash the Democrats while partaking big time in the welfare programs they created.
Well the paper is full of colorful ads for pesach programs, 1 gala dinner after another, even chanuka getaways, it seems like the Jews are flourishing more than ever
You are right. It’s time to think about aliyah. Yes, Israel is not perfect but it’s our land. Also, if many of us will come it will surely infuse the political landscape with more Jewish values.
Look at the משך חכמה in פרשת בחקתי on ואף גם זאת.
@duvee
Australia? Really?
huge difference we now have askanim and people like chief taylor, these askanim have connections to NYPD, Tish James the AG and will help a Yid in need.
Thank you, dakmidak. At least someone is thinking logically. Unfortunately, the comfort of the golus causes people to distort the Torah. Correct, Israel would gain so much from “normal, frum” American Jews.
Israel is in galus. You cannot escape galus by going to Israel.
ujm
Wrong. Golus has 2 aspects 1. time 2. place
Although the Geula has not arrived, Israel is not geographically golus.
If EY we don’t speak about golus, we speak about the impending Geula.
Same idea, different attitude.
But if you feel that they then please dont come.
I agree that we know from the Gaon through Rav Chaim Volozhiner that America will be “the last Golus.” However, this belief does not contradict this scenario:
Come to America / live comfortably / get expelled or be forced to leave by “circumstances” (a la New York now) / return years later.
Yes, America will be the last Golus, but the “script” may require that we be thrown out and returned years later, a la England 1290 CE – 1656 CE.