In recent years, antisemitism has reached a historically alarming level in the United States. Jewish communities are grappling not only with harassment or vandalism, but with rising physical assaults and loss of life. It is frightening and naming that reality matters.

And yet, if fear becomes the primary frame for how we respond, we risk allowing antisemitism to shape us more than our response to it.

Recent studies reinforce what many Jews already know about their daily experience: antisemitism is influencing behavior. Thirty-seven percent of Jewish adults reported having changed behaviors because of concerns about personal safety, according to Boston’s most recent Jewish Community Study. These shifts do not come from panic, but from adaptation. Still, adaptation has a cost. Over time, it can quietly narrow presence, leadership, and belonging. This kind of adaptation doesn’t just change individual behavior; it reduces participation in civic life itself.

Fear can create urgency. It can unlock attention and resources. It can even produce short-term wins. But experience has taught me something essential: fear is not an organizing strategy. Fear does not cultivate leadership. It does not create lasting civic or cultural change. And it is not responsive........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)