Two days after the antisemitic protest outside the Park East Synagogue, the City of New York, together with the Queens Jewish community, broke ground on a multi-million-dollar Holocaust memorial.
Although Zohran Mamdani blamed the Synagogue for supposedly violating international law, he nevertheless, and quite enthusiastically, sent representatives to the Museum groundbreaking.
This points to a disturbing trend: policymakers avoid taking responsibility for the rampant civil rights violations against living Jews by running to instead support efforts to remember dead ones.
Succinctly, Zohran Mamdani cannot be allowed to evade responsibility for the grotesque displays of antisemitism across NYC by invoking the memory of the Holocaust or by committing to build even more Museums. Correcting injustices of the past does not be used to absolve oneself from contemporary moral or political leadership.
In addition to the political escapism and expediency that the Holocaust provides, the city has already committed to spending $4,000,000 on the Museum, which adds to more than two dozen Holocaust museums or memorials already in New York City and billions of dollars already spent on Holocaust remembrance, echoing Dara Horn’s assertion that ultimately, “people love dead Jews.”
Let me be clear: I went to Harvard to study the Holocaust. I have been to Poland more than 30 times, and work regularly with survivors across our city. I am proud to have helped lead the charge against campus antisemitism and continue to advocate for students across America.
That is why I feel I have some degree of legitimacy to state unequivocally: Stop building more Holocaust Museums.
More practically, no amount of lobbying for Holocaust museums or education will advance a single act of litigation brought by an American Jewish student against their college campus, will jail antisemitic vandals, or will practically pass pieces of legislation to protect the American Jewish community.
Indeed, the greatest dishonor to the memory of six million Jews is actively and enthusiastically refusing to help the six million Jews today who have limited to no connection with their Jewish identity or history. That, to me, is the far larger scandal.
In short, don’t give us more Holocaust museums at the expense of American Jewish students.
This brings me to the solution.
If the American Jewish community truly seeks to meet the moment of October 7th, then our leadership must immediately and publicly redirect the billions of dollars it raises annually instead of fighting against, try fighting for.
We should not care whether our ideological adversaries believe Jews control the banks or seek a nefarious plot to control the world.
As such, I am urging our community: stop building museums or combatting antisemitism fellowships, instead:
- Ensure there is not one American Jew today going to public school because their parents cannot afford Jewish Day School. Radically increase scholarships opportunities for students, grants and students for schools, and build the Jewish infrastructure needed to sustain a growing wave of students.
- Ensure there is not one American Jew today who does not know where their nearest Chabad House is. A worldwide movement dedicated to providing Jewish experiential learning and affinity to one’s one heritage is the perfect antidote to rising assimilation and conformity. Chabad is on campuses and high schools, jails and hospitals, and must be given the financial resources to meet every Jew where they are.
- Ensure there is not one American Jew today who has not yet had the opportunity to experience educational programming in Israel. I spent 2 years living and studying in Israel with Masa, and the experience changed my life, but not all young Jews get the chance to experience one’s ancestral homeland up-close, and it is an important tool to increase Jewish pride and a sense of belonging. Let's amplify and support the important work that is being done by all organizations who contribute to these efforts.
- Ensure there is not one American Jew today who has not had the opportunity to go to a Jewish Summer Camp at least once on a fully sponsored trip. Create positive associations with one’s Jewish identity as quickly as possible, as early as possible, as young as possible.
We must meet the moment of October 7th not by continuously retreating into the past, but by unequivocally confronting the present.
The writer is Jewish Thought Leader and Speaker, Media personality, prominent figure in the efforts to fight antisemitism, and a Masa Changemaker. You can read more about the Changemakers here.
Written in collaboration with Masa