A 20-year Rhodes Scholar type plan: Helping secure the future of Israel, Jews - opinion

Professor Seymour Fox, a highly influential figure in modern Jewish education, is remembered for his foundational work, including establishing the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at Hebrew University and architecting the elite Jerusalem Fellows program. The Melton Centre became a significant hub for Jewish educational research and leadership training.

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My main takeaway from his presentation was that while in the Middle East, post-October 7, Israel may have “won,” whatever that means, we have unfortunately lost the West.

The Jerusalem Fellows program, launched in the early 1980s, provided experienced Jewish educators from abroad with an intensive period of study in Jerusalem. Participants delved into educational philosophy, Jewish thought, leadership, and institutional change, ultimately returning to leadership roles within their communities. The author, a former Jerusalem Fellow, described the program as empowering, sharpening knowledge, developing leadership skills, and significantly advancing careers.

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And yes, we in Israel and in the Jewish world, besides being hopelessly and tragically unprepared for the traumatic, Holocaust-like massacre of October 7, were also disastrously unprepared for October 8 – and for what continues to this day, unabated: the roller coaster, runaway tsunami of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred that had clearly been orchestrated and choreographed way in advance.

Reflecting on a recent lecture by Dr. Tal Becker, the author expressed a sobering takeaway: while Israel may have "won" in the Middle East post-October 7, the Jewish world has "lost the West." This loss is attributed to a disastrously unprepared response to the "roller coaster, runaway tsunami of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred" that the author believes was orchestrated and choreographed long in advance.

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It is backed by millions of dollars invested over many years, in an ongoing, vitriolic, anti-Israel campaign, backed by the legacy media, adding fuel to the cause – which has consequently made it unsafe for Jews around the world.

This campaign, backed by millions of dollars and amplified by legacy media, has created an unsafe environment for Jews globally. The author laments that this occurred after a "golden age" of global Jewry, characterized by newfound freedoms, acceptance, and admiration, where Jewish communities developed sophisticated health, education, and welfare services.

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What is especially sad is that we were reaping the fruits of the golden age of global Jewry: post-Holocaust to October 6, reveling in and being liberated by our newly found freedoms of acceptance and admiration, perhaps the pinnacle being the ultimate status symbol of marrying a Jew!