Anti-Semitism shouldn’t be the reason for anything you do

There have been a lot of people who are talking about wanting to connect with Judaism, finding motivation in the recent rise of anti-semitism. I want to push back against that. I think it is not a good reason and simply reduces our culture to one of just ethnic power that needs to be defeneded against those who would rather we be dead. Judaism, the culture that is wrapped around the religion, is so vast and deep, there is a myriad of ways to engage with it. Poetry, philosophy, spirtuality, humor, hope, despair, joyous, and the parts that challenge us. Judaism has it all because it is life itself. Engaging with this culture doesn’t need to wait until we are more under attack or feeling the pressure. So when people say that they want to learn more because they feel threatened, I would ask, what happens if the situation improves? Or more to the point, where were you before while those of use who were engaged and to try and carry it forward without you? If we define our engagement by how much anti-semitism there is in the world, than we are giving the very people who hate us a power that determines when we engage. Don’t do things as a way to show anti-semites that you are proud. Do things because you are proud and it wouldn’t matter what the world around you was like anyway.