Jews in the 20th Century were dynamos. Jews were major players in Hollywood, in the worlds of finance and law, hard sciences and soft. Jews were hard working, risk-taking, and deeply ambitious. Indeed, in the ruins of the Holocaust was born three generations of hungry, hard-driving people, people who helped make very country they lived in far richer and more successful. (I often offer that the countries that, it is suggested, are “run by the Jews” are far better off than those without Jews). And indeed, Jews sought to understand what Judaism is – there was a mass movement from the 1970s through the 1990s of Jews “returning,” of finding meaning and purpose in the core of the religion.
But over the past 2-3 decades, all of that has been in decline. Schools that used to send the majority of their graduating classes to the finest institutions, now send a handful, at best. The societal boredom and ennui that has led to the current navel-gazing idiocy has also infected the Jews of America (and even Israel), leading to a lot more hedonistic narcissism, and a lot less purpose and meaning.
Indeed, the collapse in birthrates around the world echoes this same theme. Countries, cultures and civilizations are giving up for nothing more or less significant than boredom. Why bother investing in children? Nobody is starving any more, so hunger is not the enemy. There are no grand wars, so “the other guy” is not the enemy. People perceive no grand historical plan to sign up for, no great cause or noble endeavour. We are reduced to looking for fun – but ultimately empty – ways to pass the time before we die. Peace, for better or worse, leads to a massive slow-motion civilizational implosion.
But this war will, I believe, save the Jews. I am seeing it in my own children – since October 7, they are attacking life with ambition and hunger. Knowing that people want them dead is giving them the same mojo that the post-Holocaust generation had. I believe that this war has an incredibly important silver lining. I have seen Jews start to wake up, start to wonder whether their lives are really being lived to their fullest potential. Similarly, many Jews are reconnecting to the religion itself, trying to ground themselves in the 4,000 year history of our people, trying to understand the bigger picture in which we find ourselves merely the newest link in the chain.
There is a silver lining to conflict, to having enemies, to conflict. I believe this will lead to a resurgence in Jewish ambition and achievement.
What would it take to achieve the same results for the rest of the civilized world?