Vienna, Berlin, Baghdad, Thessaloniki and dozens of others. In each of these cities, Jews felt at home. Some were financially secure, some were city fathers who were themselves the politics and the economy and the culture; whose businesses were important enough, and whose synagogues were old enough. In each of these cities, someone warned that it was worth keeping one's eyes open. Looking to see which way the wind was blowing. Watching how fringe cries of the kind sounded by Cossacks from our grandmothers' stories suddenly made their way into the mainstream newspapers. The warnings always came, and in time. They simply fell on deaf ears and on the familiar Jewish reply: It will not happen here. We are different. We have roots.
But roots are worthless when the soil is not yours.
Remember New York in June 2026. In one night, in the Democratic Party primaries, three congressional candidates with proud antisemitic views won. Claire Valdez, who calls Israel an "apartheid state" and supports cutting off US aid, won in District 7. Darializa Avila Chevalier, who went out to celebrate in Times Square the day after the Oct. 7 massacre and refused to recognize Israel's right to exist, won in District 13. Brad Lander, himself a classic Democrat, who declared that Israel was carrying out a massacre in Gaza and accused American taxpayers of funding "Netanyahu's war," won in District 10. All three were backed by the mayor of New York himself, Zohran Mamdani, who turned anti-Zionism into political leverage, and antisemitism into an entry ticket to the party.
These are official election results in the most Western place in the world. This is not a one-night glitch. This is a trend that has become a strategy, and that strategy is working.
I am addressing you, Jews of New York, in the same way the Jews of my grandparents' extended family addressed relatives in Europe in the 1930s. Berlin? New York? Who can tell the difference? The pattern is identical: a smoking gun in the form of opinion columns and "I was only thinking aloud" remarks by antisemites sweeping through the first act, leading to a horrifying crescendo in the fifth, one that will make Chekhov's gun look almost humane by comparison. It happened less than an eye blink ago in historical terms. Fringe statements became a legitimate position. A legitimate position became legislation. Legislation became reality. This is not a question of "if." Only of "when." History shows no exceptions to this pattern. Never. Your Jewish institutions are asleep. The community, the federations, the lobbies, all of them are operating at the pace of a previous generation against radicalization that is happening in real time. They were built for a world in which antisemitism was a stigma. In a world in which it is a political identity card, they are useless. Those who are not up to date do not get left behind. They are simply erased.
Decide what this night in New York means to you: the moment when the realization sinks in that you must pack? Or another line in the history books, and a reliable source for the stories we will tell our grandchildren in Israel decades from now?
Dear Jews of the Big Apple: I know what you are thinking. This is the US, not Europe or Arabia. There is a constitution here, and democracy and rights, and the Jewish lobby will respond. You are surely right and I am a hysterical Israeli. In any case, let it be written: This is the time to pack, while you still can. And since you are already here:
Moving from the US to any other country in the world is more or less like moving from the oven to the stovetop. Do not let them cook you. Come to Israel.
