Harvard Law professor Stephen E. Sachs raised a good question on social media yesterday, and one that American Jews in particular might be contemplating.
On the news that New York’s first lady Rama Duwaji liked social media posts supporting the mass slaughter of Jews on October 7, Sachs responded that Duwaji’s actions ought to be considered “incompatible” with “membership in polite society.” (In addition to her social media activity, I and many others would add Duwaji’s and Zohran Mamdani’s feting of anti-Semitic agitator Mahmoud Khalil.)
And he’s right. But he was also right when he added that, unfortunately, these days “[y]ou can have rooted for Oct. 7 and still be a public figure, a fancy professor, etc.” The challenge, then: “We have to figure out how to act in a world where this is so.”
I think this expresses a fundamental aspect of navigating the post-October 7 environment, in which an erstwhile-accepted taboo was obliterated from the social compact overnight. Not everyone is affected by this, and not everyone who is affected by it feels worse off. Hence the imbalance that descended upon America two and a half years ago, when Jews were made to understand that our acceptance in society is conditional here too, and that many key institutions have rescinded that acceptance already. Most of all, it’s just a strange feeling to know how many of the people you interact with would be unmoved if you were to go up in flames right in front of them.
Essentially, October 7 became the kind of dividing line that made a lot of Jews understand history.
So it’s a useful question to ponder: How should we act? After all, not only must we maintain precisely the values we did before, but we also should work toward returning society to a place in which support for October 7 is brings public shame. What follows are a few guidelines.
First, Jews must not permit our own beliefs to be diluted by a society that makes excuses for pogroms. Nor should it temper our own criticism of October 7. Fact is, October 7 should be a red line for all civilizations, and it must remain a red line for us. We should not hesitate to state and restate that fact—that unqualified condemnation of that day is a basic human litmus test—even in front of those who justify Nazi barbarism. Especially in their presence, perhaps. We do not accommodate, out of misguided politesse, those who think our children deserved to be burned alive.
Second, and this goes for non-Jews just as much as for Jews: Use October 7 as a barometer for political, ideological and moral hypocrisy. Not because we’re looking for “gotcha” moments, but because it is impractical to remain unaware of who can be trusted in public life. We know, for example, that people who travel in the same circles as Duwaji and her husband Zohran Mamdani are not interested in protecting women from sexual assault, and that when they sign on to such campaigns it is because they are lying. We know that when they falsely accuse Israel of child murder it is because they support the murder of the children of Israel. Another example: The war began with Hamas carrying out the largest massacre at a music festival in recorded history. Musicians and artists who ignore this and instead parrot the propaganda of those who carried out the massacre do not believe in artistic expression; they only believe in dogmatic political expression. Indeed, they support regimes that would abolish the arts entirely.
Third, do not “trade” for condemnation of October 7. Do not dignify someone’s attempt to say “if you want me to condemn October 7, will you condemn [some random perceived crime they want you to falsely equate with October 7]?” October 7 is not something to be bartered away to some bad-faith ideological actor. October 7 is not an opening bid in some negotiation. Take it or leave it.
Finally: Punish people politically for their refusal to recognize the barbarousness of October 7. Just add it to any public figure’s civic record. This isn’t holding a grudge, it’s just more practical politics. People on the wrong side of October 7 are expecting to benefit from some sort of statute of limitations—or the limitations of human memory. Instead, let’s help them remember.
