There is an old Hassidic parable on futility. A certain man, the story goes, was sentenced to fifty years of hard labor. His punishment was to spend his days from sunrise to sunset turning a large wheel. This wheel then turned the millstone to crush grains for the city. Although the work was backbreaking, the prison learned to rejoice in his labors. He would start work each day smiling and end it just as happy. His joy came from knowing the good he was doing. Each day as he worked, he imagined all the grain being turned into flour and all the citizens who would soon be eating thanks to his hard work. His sense of purpose made the sentence bearable and gave him pride in his work. However much he was suffering, he knew it bore results.
At the end of 50 years, the prisoner, now a very old man was released. Before he left, he asked for the chance to see the great mill that he had personally powered for half a century. The guards laughed and took him into the next room. There he saw that his wheel was not attached to anything. The entire time he had been working himself to death while accomplishing nothing. At the shock of this revelation, the prisoner fell to the floor, dead.
It's to American Jews that I share this story. Very often in the past year and a half, I have implored my fellow Jews in America to leave the insanity of the western world and make Aliyah. One of the most frequent arguments that I am given in response is that they can’t leave, they’re too important to Israel.
The logic usually goes that this particular American Jew is helping Israel much more by staying. By living in America, he argues, Jews have a chance to influence their fellow Americans, to change hearts and minds, and to affect public opinion. They see themselves as important in the fight to gain Western support for their beleaguered homeland.
They point to the pro-Israel rallies they attended, the one-on-one conversations they have had with co-workers, and of their proudly identifying as Jews despite the danger. This they are sure will present a positive image of Jews to their neighbors. And there is a certain logic to it. With so much disinformation and lies being spread about Israel, it seems vitally important to have people willing to share the truth.
Because of this assumption, they feel that staying is a heroic sacrifice, as by interacting with American non-Jews they can show them the error of their ways. Therefore, to the American Jew, not moving to Israel becomes a high form of Zionism.
I have some unpleasant news for these Jews. You have failed. Completely.
You have only to look to the recent findings by the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL recently reported a record-breaking 9,354 antisemitic incidents in the US during 2024, averaging over 25 per day (or more than one per hour.) This surge represents a 5% increase from 2023, a 344% increase over the past five years, and a staggering 893% increase over the past ten years. It is the highest number since recording began in 1979.
The incidents included 196 assaults (a 21% increase), 2,606 acts of vandalism (a 20% increase), and 6,552 instances of harassment, with college campuses emerging as significant hotspots for antisemitic activity. In New York (the state with the largest Jewish population, still considered by many as the “New Jerusalem”) attacks against Jews increased by 52% in 2024 compared to 2023. In New York City alone, 69 antisemitic attacks were documented in 2024, a 32% increase from 51 in 2023.
It's not just open violence that is on the rise. A new Harvard University poll revealed that nearly half of young Americans support Hamas. Among 18 to 24-year-olds polled in the survey, 48 percent of those who expressed a view on the war favored Hamas. This is a dramatic increase in a shockingly short time. Only last year, the same poll found that 72 percent of the same age group supported Israel.
Clearly, whatever American Jews have tried to do, it’s not working.
The practical evidence is everywhere. Consider the recent riots against Jews in Crown Heights. Jews were attacked in the street by Pro-Palestinian radicals and subsequently vilified when they attempted to fight back. Even the so-called Jewish bubbles are no longer safe. Consider the two Israelis murdered this week in Los Angeles, one of whom was tortured first. Consider that when the Trump admonition took the bold step to have the visa revoked of known terror supporters, not only did the much of the public not support the actions, they went so far as to turn the extremists into martyrs and folk heroes.
The simple fact is that like the prisoner at his wheel, American Jews have spent decades tiring themselves out, only to find out that all their efforts have accomplished nothing. The West not only still hates us, but as is becoming clearer each day, their hatred is growing. What's more, it’s also become clear that despite all the American Jew’s efforts at community building, they never liked us in the first place.
This reality comes as a shock to many American Jews. But it shouldn’t. The entire argument that they were doing good was built off the false premise that America is home.
This is the other common argument used by American Jews who refuse to make Aliyah. But the months since October 7th should now make it clear that America is no more a Jew’s home than Europe was. Instead of seeing the United States for what it was, a place for Jews to survive and possibly even thrive, some American Jews saw it as their everlasting homeland. Like our descent into Egypt, what was supposed to be a brief sojourn became a permanent residence. Now, the same disastrous results are repeating themselves.
American Jews are quickly realizing that the people they saw as their friends and neighbors by and large do not see them the same way and have never seen them that way. The mask has slipped and the antisemitism that used to have to stay buried is now given free rein. Jews in America are realizing that to the rest of the country, they were never Americans at all.
Disillusionment is hard. I understand that. And the realization that all your efforts were for nothing is undoubtedly painful. This pain even has a name. The "sunk cost" fallacy is a cognitive bias that leads people to continue a course of action based on the amount of time, money, or effort they have already invested, rather than on whether continuing is the best decision moving forward. This fallacy arises because individuals feel emotionally or financially committed and don't want their prior investment to seem wasted, even if the current situation no longer justifies further involvement.
However, these past investments are "sunk costs"—they cannot be recovered and should not factor into rational decision-making. Instead, choices should be guided by evaluating the potential future costs and benefits. For example, someone might persist with a failing business or attend an event despite being sick, simply because they've already paid, when the more logical choice would be to cut their losses and focus on better alternatives.
This is what I now urge American Jews to do. Hard as it may be, it’s time to cut your losses. Painful as it is now, what you are gaining is so much greater than what you are losing, or even what you thought you had.
By making Aliyah, you have the chance to be a part of history. To share in a national destiny three and a half thousand years in the making. What’s more, you get to be a part of this alongside your true family. You’ve already seen that Americans are not your people. But your own people are waiting for you.
Finally, reflect on this. You have spent so much time and effort fighting to build something that in the end was meaningless. Don’t you deserve the chance to use that same strength and turn it towards the most meaningful thing you will ever do?
Ilan Goodmanis a museum collections professional and exhibition curator. He also serves as a rabbi and educator. He made Aliyah to Israel in 2011 and lives with his wife and children in Beit Shemesh.