We Must do Better

In We Must Do Better, Eitan Chitayat turns the lens inward, calling on Jewish leadership and the wider Jewish community to meet a difficult moment with greater clarity, courage and responsibility. Created in the aftermath of October 7 and amid a sharp rise in antisemitism, the piece is less a commentary on one incident than a challenge to the Jewish world itself. Rather than accepting fear, division or passivity as inevitable, Eitan argues that survival is not enough: communities need stronger leadership, deeper solidarity, honest communication and a willingness to act. The recurring idea is simple but demanding – we can and must do better.

Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHuL3mJ6i08

Key takeaways

Jewish leaders need to speak clearly and directly about antisemitism.
People need to feel supported and know their community is standing with them.
Caring isn’t enough — people need to act.
Jewish communities are stronger when people stand together, even when they disagree.
The goal isn’t just to get through hard times, but to come out stronger and more connected.
“We must do better” means everyone has a role to play — leaders, organizations and individuals.

FAQs

What is We Must Do Better about?

It is a short piece by Eitan Chitayat about Jewish leadership, communal responsibility and the need for a stronger response to antisemitism and the challenges facing Jewish communities after October 7.

What is the central message?

That Jewish communities cannot afford complacency. Leadership, solidarity, education and public courage all need to rise to meet the moment.

Is the piece directed only at Jewish leaders?

No. While leadership is a central theme, the challenge extends to individuals and institutions as well: everyone has a role in strengthening Jewish community and confronting antisemitism.

SCRIPT

To my Jewish brothers and sisters all over the world, this might rub some of you the wrong way, but I’m saying it anyway. We all know that leaders are critical in protecting a community and ensuring its well-being. Great leaders guide, inspire, and implement policies that ensure the safety and prosperity of the people they serve.

But when I look at the situation of Jews in America and in certain European countries. As you’ve probably heard me say before, it’s appallingly clear that Jewish leaders are failing. In America, we see morally confused pro-Palestinian activists openly celebrating the murder, rape, and mutilation of Jews, supported and encouraged by radicals in academia, media, and politics, we see the glorification of violence and calls for the genocide of Jews presented as virtuous resistance in a struggle for social justice.

Jew hatred has become trendy in a way we’ve never seen before, and it’s these very challenges that define the kind of Jewish leaders we need right now. But first, we need to understand why our existing leadership has failed to stop this vicious hostility. The short answer is that, despite good and honorable intentions, they fail to understand the true nature of the problem, the nature of hatred, and the natural human condition.

I’m going to try and break it down. See, if you look back in time, traditionally humans have mostly been tribal and violent, more emotional than rational. Almost all wars have been tribal ones, ethnic, religious, and in modern times ideological. Jewish culture, specifically, has been influenced by utopian fantasies, which is actually a coping mechanism for those who don’t want to accept the ugly reality of the human condition.

Let’s talk about Marxism. It’s a utopian ideology that often leads to a simplistic explanation for why global peace hasn’t been achieved. Marxism requires someone to be blamed for the absence of utopia, and Jews are a natural choice since we’re assumed to have so much power. For the longest time, Jewish American leaders and way too many Jews have been in the thrall of utopian thinking. They bought into false Marxist notions that people are born good, and somehow society and the power structure is the reason for their savage and barbaric behavior. So the focus is on fixing society to achieve heaven on earth. Beautiful, but the ramifications aren’t something you ever really stop to think about. But stop to think about it. Jewish leadership seeks tikkun olam, accepting a false assumption about human nature and engaging in feel-good, wishful thinking, we welcome the stranger and extend a helping hand to all.

Unfortunately, and stupidly until now, even those who wish us ill. Unless Jewish leaders start to base their policies on the reality of human nature, they will continue to fail, and our community will continue to suffer. Here is a simple fact: people are not born good. They need to be taught right from wrong and good from bad, with a corresponding system of rewards and punishments. Violence against the Jewish community has always been based on the demonization and dehumanization of Jews-we’re always blamed for what a given society views as most terrible, from the falsehood of us killing Christ to the lie of us drinking the blood of Christian babies to today’s slanders of genocide and apartheid-and we’ve got to develop zero tolerance for that.

We’ve got to fight tooth and nail an ideology that divides humanity into oppressor and oppressed. This worldview allows those in power to label as evil whichever groups that they choose and say that that evil must be destroyed, which is exactly what the Nazis and communists did to justify genocide and to make it appear virtuous. Today, we’re living in a poisonous culture that can easily result in the mass killings of Jews. The hateful rhetoric coming out of everyday citizens and the silence and inaction of those in power simply cannot be tolerated.