What Should Jews Do?

Further Thoughts on the Pattern

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This is my second post after speaking with David Deutsch on EconTalk about what he calls the Pattern. (Here is the audio of the episode and here is my earlier post.) The Pattern is what Deutsch call the impulse people have throughout history to legitimize hurting Jews.

I’ve become fascinated by this very simple, almost simplistic idea. Part of that fascination is the frustration of this moment—the rise in Jew-hatred after October 7th rather than outpouring of sympathy; the insane journey of Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and others into an obsession with Jews and Israel; the killing of Jews around the world.

How did we get to this moment? How do we understand why we are here? And most importantly, how should Jews and those that stand by us, respond? What should we do about the rhetoric and actions that are endangering and harming us?

Some people who listened to my interview of Deutsch found the Pattern uninteresting. “So people hate Jews. What’s new? Antisemitism is the oldest hatred.” Deutsch isn’t talking about people hating Jews. I’m not even sure those caught up in the Pattern are always Jew-haters. (I suspect this is why Deutsch doesn’t like the term antisemitism or Jew-hatred.) The Pattern isn’t about hating or disliking Jews. It’s about legitimizing the hurting or killing of Jews.

Usually, we simply avoid the things we dislike. We don’t socialize with people we dislike. We don’t eat food we dislike. We don’t buy books by authors we dislike. It’s a long way from disliking something to demonizing it and not just demonizing it but demonizing it so viciously that it gives others moral authority to damage or destroy what you’re demonizing. That’s the Pattern—it’s sanctioning the hurting or killing of Jews simply because they’re Jews. So it’s not just dislike or even hate. It’s a different thing—it’s categorizing the Jews as a group who are uniquely OK to hurt or kill.

By distinguishing the Pattern from what most people call Jew-hatred or antisemitism, you make clear the direction of causation when people say nasty things about the Jews. In my conversation with Deutsch, I mentioned the Crusades and that the Crusaders in the year 1096 killed Jews as a punishment for having killed Jesus a thousand years before. Deutsch sees it differently:

I think it’s the other way around. I think the impulse to massacre Jews came first, and the Jews killing Jesus was an excuse invented afterwards, after that impulse, in order to legitimize it.

And, the fact that this excuse absolutely doesn’t make sense, that is the beginning of what I want to understand, the pattern I want to understand--which is not the pattern of pogroms and massacres. Those are things that only happen occasionally. The thing which happens all the time, which I call the Pattern, is the impulse to legitimize hurting Jews…

So, the first lesson of the Pattern:

1. Jews aren’t attacked because of the traits of the Jews or the alleged nefarious deeds of the Jews. Causation is reversed: because of a desire to legitimize attacking Jews, Jews are defamed or belittled or condemned.

The Pattern cuts the Gordian knot of trying to unravel why people hate the Jews. Working on that unraveling is a red herring. This is lesson #2:

2. Trying to figure out why people denigrate the Jews or treat them as less than fully human is a waste of time. It just is, it’s like gravity. It’s around all the time. It’s more important to deal with it than to try to fix or eliminate it.

So it’s not because we killed Jesus or because we’re greedy or because we stabbed our country in the back during World War I or because we keep to ourselves or because we think we’re the chosen people or because of what is happening in Gaza. Stop trying to prove that you really are a human being made in God’s image like everyone else, deserving of respect. This is not about education, correcting the historical record, or fighting stereotypes.

Another way to think of this implication is that you don’t have to see the Pattern as our problem—the Jews’ problem. It’s their problem—the problem of those who would justify hurting Jews. Once you see the Pattern as the underlying cause that leads people to believe awful things about the Jews rather than those awful things causing people to say horrible things about the Jews, it changes the way you should respond emotionally and practically to anti-Jewish rhetoric which I want to explore here.

I had a friend—let’s call him Jack—who posted on his social media feed a quote from a Gazan doctor that a “wave of deaths” was imminent in Gaza due to lack of food with a picture apparently taken from the Warsaw Ghetto (where 20% of the population, about 92,000 people, died from starvation, disease, and cold and almost all the rest were killed deliberately by the Nazis). The post was viewed 1.6 million times.

When a commenter pointed out that the photo was from the Holocaust and not Gaza, Jack replied that that was the point.

Jack’s posting of that picture is a classic example of the Pattern. Jack was saying that Israelis deliberately kill children. He did this in other posts as well, claiming that Israeli snipers deliberately target children. Of course, Nazis and killers of children deserve to be hurt or killed.

I think there are a lot of thoughtful and interesting things to say about Israel’s supplying of food to Gaza. Some of those things are an indictment of Israel. Some of those things suggest blame for the situation in Gaza is more complicated. Despite Jack’s thoughtful and nuanced view of many issues, his view of Israel and Gaza was not complicated. He only posted anti-Israel propaganda.

Like the New York Times, Jack posted a picture of a grotesquely, tragically emaciated Gazan child cradled in his mother’s arms as evidence of a famine in Gaza. Jack’s post was seen 395,000 times.

A few days later, the Times added what it called an “editor’s note” to the story that featured the picture:

Editors’ Note:

July 29, 2025

This article has been updated to include information about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza suffering from severe malnutrition. After publication of the article, The Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems.

I wrote Jack an email asking him to retract his claim about famine or at least note the facts about the health condition of the child in the picture as the Times did. He explained (and this was a common response I saw elsewhere) that in a famine, the least healthy bear the brunt of the famine’s cruelty.

Jack didn’t budge. That’s not interesting or even surprising. We all are prone to dismissing criticisms of our views. That Jack and I see the war in Gaza differently doesn’t bother me, per se. I understand his arguments. Some of them move me or make me consider the reliability of my own position. What bothers me is Jack’s refusal to admit nuance, his refusal to share anything that might create sympathy for Israel’s dilemma after October 7, the relentless focus on what he sees as an injustice in Gaza when his response to tragedies elsewhere in the world is silence.

The Pattern helps explain why even if there actually is a famine in Gaza, this is the only injustice in the world that absorbs Jack and so many others to the exclusion of so many other tragedies. It explains why when groups who aren’t Jewish harm Palestinians or Gazans, Jack and others ignore that harm.

When I mention the Pattern as a way of understanding the events in the aftermath of October 7, some people have responded that when you kill 70,000 people (the Hamas figure for how many Gazans have died since October 7 that includes Hamas members who have died) of course the world will hate you.

My natural impulse is to debate the claim: to produce counterarguments, to introduce ignored facts, to talk about the low civilian casualties in Gaza relative to other modern urban wars, to point out Hamas hides behind schools and hospitals, that we’ve been feeding innocent Gazans while knowing that Hamas, too, is sustained by that food. Etc etc etc.

Recognizing the Pattern changes my perspective. Sure, get the facts on the table. But Deutsch’s point is that this isn’t about Israel’s conduct. The criticism of Israel is to excuse the harming of Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora. It’s not about the famine. It’s not about Israel. It’s about the Jews. I am uncomfortable writing this. I want to be charitable toward the motives of others. Imputing a desire on their part to see Jews hurt makes me very uneasy. It makes me feel paranoid. But as Jews are gunned down around the world, I have to recognize that just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you.

I am confident Jack would never commit violence against me or my family or my students at Shalem College who have served in the IDF and as reservists in this war, often for hundreds of days. Jack’s not a thug. But he is justifying the behavior of thugs and their fellow travelers. It pains me to say it and I find it disturbing to admit it, but Jack is not just not my friend any longer. He is my enemy. And that makes me very uncomfortable. I have no desire to hurt him or see him hurt. But it feels like he endangers me and those I love.

As disturbing as it is to imagine that large swaths of people want to legitimize hurting Jews, recognizing the Pattern gives me comfort. If Deutsch is right, my failure to convince Jack that children in Gaza aren’t being starved to death on purpose isn’t a failure of rhetoric or debating skill or insufficient logic or facts. It’s not the bias of the New York Times misleading people. It’s not that Jack is an antisemite or a Jew-hater. There’s a Pattern. Again, think gravity—just something you have to live with and be aware of.

This doesn’t mean Israel is free to do whatever it wants because we’re going to always be hated anyway. It doesn’t mean that as Jews, we don’t need to be accountable for our behavior. That’s the road to hell. Don’t go there. I still want to hold myself and my country Israel to a higher standard. But we, the Jews and Israel set that standard. Not those who would wish us harm or justify that harm. I don’t want to ignore the criticisms of those who disagree with us simply because they wish to do us harm. But I also don’t have any need to justify our actions to people who show no interest in the dilemmas we faced after October 7th or the violence we have seen against Jews since then.

What is to be done?

What is the implication of the Pattern for how we behave in this moment and respond to those who might wish us ill?

If Deutsch is right and the Pattern is real, should you spend time on social media trying to counter what we perceive as dishonest claims? If refutation of the lies of the Pattern is unlikely to succeed or make a difference, what should you do? Just shrug your shoulders and hunker down? Is defending Jews and Israel a waste of time? Deutsch suggested we should spend at least some effort to correct lies and distortions about us:

I think there's no single answer to whether one should respond to factual falsehoods. I sometimes do on X; and it's because I'm thinking of the people who are just new coming to this--a 16-year-old who has just gone on X and suddenly encounters this torrent of facts saying that there was a Palestinian state that the Israelis invaded in 1948--just to say, 'Well, that isn't true.'

I salute and honor and thank all the Jews and friends of the Jews on X and other social media platform who endlessly play whack-a-mole with false claims about Israel’s conduct in Gaza. I think there are two reasons to spend some time refuting inaccurate claims about Israel and Jews. First, for the 16-year-old but also people who have only a mild case of the Pattern. Surely, if the Pattern exists, it varies in its intensity. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to encourage people to visit Israel. An hour with a group of IDF soldiers or reservists will do a lot more for Israel’s reputation than sharing an Editor’s Note from the New York Times or providing evidence that Hamas steals food or that the population of Gaza is actually growing not shrinking.

Educate yourself about the conflict and its origins and this war so you can dispel the worst lies about Israel and the Jews. Spreading truth is always a good idea.

But the other reason to refute lies isn’t for the haters and those who would see us hurt. It’s for our own heads and hearts. If only a fraction of what has been said about this war and the soldiers of the IDF were true, it would be very dispiriting. Refuting the worst lies makes it easier to be a proud Jew and supporter of Israel. There’s a natural tendency to be defensive in the face of this onslaught of criticism, judgment, and condemnation. We defend ourselves, not so much to convince our enemies, but to strengthen our own sense of purpose and to have pride in who we are. Hold your head high. Don’t let the bastards get you down. Don’t whine.

Israel is the only country in the world that has its legitimacy questioned. Yes, this is unfair. But don’t whine about that unfairness. It’s a fact and it’s part of the Pattern. Hold your head high and be proud of what Israel has accomplished in its 77-year history.

In the early days in the aftermath of October 7, I saw a lot of videos of people tearing down posters of kidnapped children and adults who were suffering in Gaza. The people tearing down the posters were often laughing or mocking the people who were filming what I saw as a desecration. At the same time, the people watching and filming were often begging and often in tears or near tears imploring the vandals to stop. We need to stop crying and begging. What we should be doing instead is not obvious. But blocking access to the posters with our bodies would have been better. Instead of suing colleges, I wish groups of students had calmly walked through the encampments and refused to be intimidated.

And this is another lesson from the Pattern:

3. We’re different. The world treats us differently. It shouldn’t surprise us anymore. It’s just the way it is.

Don’t be naive about what effective hasbara can accomplish. Even the best public relations campaign has a limited impact. When it comes to education, I would emphasize the following lesson:

4. Let’s spend less time and money trying to convince the rest of the world to tolerate us and more time and money convincing Jews to love ourselves.

Stop thinking you can get rid of people disrespecting the humanity of Jews. Stop lobbying for workshops against hate or racism. Stop focusing on Holocaust education. That’s a misdiagnosis of what we’re facing. Spend more time and money on security and making sure we are prepared for the next physical assault. Don’t be naive. We thought the Holocaust inoculated the world against a virus. We were wrong. We need to adjust our expectations and act accordingly.

I hear a lot of pessimism and fear about this moment. That’s understandable—there is much to be afraid of. But we will get through this. As Deutsch points out, the Pattern ebbs and flows. Eventually, this latest manifestation will calm down and life will become a little less crazy for the Jews.

And if things really go sideways, we Jews now have a country that has shown itself more than capable of defending itself and taking the fight to its enemies. Plus, as Deutsch and I discussed in our conversation, we have a surprisingly large number of friends. We wouldn’t mind having a few more. But we should take what we can get and be grateful that we live in a time when non-Jews speak up for their Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens. Honor those friends. Thank them. We will get through this.