In the wake of the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, many Jews—including myself—have been left questioning our future in the Diaspora. Last week, Moment Magazine hosted a debate between Adam Scott Bellos and Menachem Rosensaft on this very question. That debate exposed the two paths now before the Jewish Diaspora. We can follow the example of the early Zionists and become builders of a renewed Hebrew movement, or we can continue to decay under the disease of complacency. What we choose—both as individuals and as a collective—may determine whether Jewish life outside Israel remains viable at all.

Though framed as a debate about America, the discussion was ultimately about the nature of the Jewish Diaspora itself. Rosensaft argues from a fundamentally outdated Jewish reality. He views a pluralistic, fragmented Jewish world as a strength. He celebrates infighting and institutional weakness as evidence of healthy discourse. But upon closer inspection, what he calls pluralism is little more than clashing egos and petty factionalism. Jewish institutions today devote more energy to competing for donors and hosting........

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