Shake off the frustration, and go do something

(JNS) — I lecture frequently and understand that for many audiences, the experience can feel depressing and overwhelming. Rising antisemitism. Palestinian rejectionism. Terrorism. The ring of regional threats around Israel. I can see it in people’s faces—the quiet sense of helplessness, the feeling that the problems are too vast and the individual too small to matter.

No single person can resolve the global challenges confronting the Jewish people. But it’s not true that individuals are powerless. History—and Jewish history, in particular—teaches the opposite. Each of us can make a difference....