I’ve felt very lucky to be in my conservative world. Friends have been so supportive, some of you amazingly so. But we know it’s a lot. It often feels like a lot even to us.

On the side chats, we discuss big things. UN votes, troop movements, the status of the hostages, bigotry, violence. But we also talk the small shifts in conversations, moods, details. A friend’s odd post, color patterns on designer shirts, the sickening silence of Jewish celebrities, the intent of influencers posting vague commentary and what it means. Why do we delve?

Because it’s happened before. We know the stories of a culture shifting underneath our feet and our fellow Jews realizing it too late. ...

I believe America is different, yes, better, but I’ve been worried about the path America has been on for the last few years in so many ways and, to me, this is just an extension of that. The loudest, dumbest, voices have been directing the conversations and shutting down everyone else. I’m not worried about Jew-hatred catching on, exactly, but that the forced conformity of the pandemic years, the fear of speaking up, has set a perfect stage for people to keep quiet lest they want their Facebook pages filled with rage and their employment targeted. People didn’t feel they could say the obvious, that schools should be open and that their kids should be attending. I am not sure I can count on people saying the obvious when it won’t even benefit their own children.