The courage to just say 'no'

(JNS) — The “State of World Jewry” speech given by New York Times columnist Bret Stephens at the 92nd Street Y on New York City’s Upper East Side in February sparked some intense debate over whether the Jewish community should focus on fighting antisemitism or invest its resources into Jewish culture and education.

This debate, though important, obscured a point Stephens made about the sources of Jewish strength and survival: the Jewish imperative of saying “no” to a majority culture when its demands encroach on Jewish particularity.

“No to Pharaoh and Caesar, the Inquisition and the Reformati...