Jewish day schools and summer camps as well as gap years in Israel are some of the strongest contributors of a solid Jewish identity — ones that provide the tools that are needed at this precarious moment to “rebuild American Jewish life” — podcast host and author Dan Senor said on Tuesday night as he delivered the 45th annual State of World Jewry address at the 92NY in Manhattan. 

“But here’s the uncomfortable truth,” Senor said, pointing to a statistic that of the 33 Jewish individuals on the Forbes 400 list with publicly reported charitable giving, no more than 11% of their giving went to Jewish causes.

“I am not suggesting Jewish generosity to the broader civic square come to an end,” Senor said. “But I am arguing that it is time for a recalibration in favor of our community’s needs. We need to invest so that we can look back on this moment decades from now and say: American Jewish life was not the same after that. It was better.” 

Senor was less concerned about Israel’s future, despite its current struggles. “Israel is going to be fine,” he said. “I really do believe that. In part because of Israeli strength and resilience, backed up by the Diaspora’s continued commitment.”

“But I do think the future of American Jewish life hangs in the balance,” he continued. “And I don’t want any of us –– whatever our resources —- to regret not doing more.” 

This year’s State of World Jewry address comes at a fraught time for Jews around the globe, as Israel’s war in Gaza continues to rage, with 58 hostages still in Hamas captivity, political divisions strain Israeli and American Jewish society and incidents of antisemitism remain high across the United States. Last year saw the largest number of reported antisemitic events on record, with over 9,000 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism across the U.S., according to the Anti-Defamation League. 

“And lest we pretend it’s only a problem on campus, we should remember that since Oct. 7, it seems like every day there’s another Charlottesville-style march in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. In Teaneck, Pico-Robertson, Crown Heights. Instead of holding tiki torches, they’re masked,” Senor said. 

Still, Senor expressed optimism about the Jewish future in the Diaspora — so long as American Jews take note of Israeli grit. “We really do have the tools to rebuild American Jewish life,” he said. “The question is: Do we have the sense of purpose — the why — to match?” 

Released hostages shared that in the tunnels of Gaza, Hersh Goldberg-Polin would quote the psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. “He who has a ‘why,’ will find the ‘how.’”

“Israelis have a why, and they demonstrated it in the days and months after Oct. 7,” Senor said. 

He retold the accounts of several other Israeli hostages released in recent months after more than a year in Hamas captivity. “Agam Berger, held in captivity for more than 400 days, had a why,” he said.

“I learned,” Berger said after her release, “as my forebears did, that imprisonment can’t overwhelm the inner spiritual life. Our faith and covenant with God — the story we remember on Passover — is more powerful than any cruel captor. Even as Hamas tried to coerce me into converting to Islam — at times, forcing a hijab on my head — they couldn’t take my soul.” 

Fellow hostage Liri Albag fashioned a Haggadah out of whatever materials she could find in captivity, and she and Berger marked the Passover Seder together. 

“Aner Shapira had a why,” Senor continued. “In that bomb shelter beside Hersh, he faced a death squad and chose to act. He hurled seven live grenades back at the terrorists before the eighth took his life. He died saving his friends — and strangers — because he knew he served a people greater than himself.” 

“We, the Jewish people, should look to Israel not simply for its ‘Start-Up Nation’ innovation,” Senor said. (He co-authored the book of the same name.) “We should look to Israelis for their clarity, their purpose, their deep sense of identity.” 

The state of world Jewry, Senor continued, depends on how American Jews answer this question: “What is our why? Why are we here? Have we achieved prominence only to find ourselves stunningly weak? Or have we proven ourselves — and our children — Jewish and strong? These are not theoretical questions — they are practical and will determine the future of our families and our communities.” 

Senor closed his address by painting a powerful picture of the future of American Jewry.  

“I’ve been inspired by the many young American parents here over the last 18 months who have chosen to pay tribute to some of the Israeli heroes we lost in this war. Everywhere you look, it seems, you might meet a young baby Hersh, named for Hersh Goldberg-Polin; or baby Carmel, for Carmel Gat; or Ori, for Ori Danino; or Maya, for Maya Goren,” he said. “These young American Jews will carry their names into the future.” 

“I imagine, 18 years from now, young Hershs and Carmels and Oris and Mayas walking onto the quad together, on one of a thousand American campuses,” Senor continued. “And my prayer is that as much as they carry their names, they will also carry their courage, their essence. That they will have a why — a sense of who they are, where they come from — and where they’re going.”