Thousands upon thousands gathered in New York on Sunday for the Israel Day Parade. For the first time in years, I was not one of them. Instead, I followed from afar, watching seas of people of every age. I don’t know the official attendance numbers, though from what I can see it was packed and everyone I’ve spoken with insists it had one of the strongest turnouts in years.

There has already been more than enough discussion about who did or did not attend in elected office. I’m not interested in giving that any more airtime. What stayed with me was something much more striking:

I did not see a single marcher wearing a mask.

People showed up wearing blue and white. They carried Israeli flags. They marched with synagogue groups, schools, camps, federations, families, and friends. (There was even a Muslim group that marched under its own banner.)

Jewish people came visibly, publicly, and above all, proudly. And that felt remarkable, because over the nearly three years since October 7, Jewish life has not exactly rewarded visibility. The rise in antisemitism has not been abstract. We have watched Jews targeted in ways that once........

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