'Never again' requires vigilance as antisemitism spreads through elite institutions and campuses
The hatred is overt and unashamed. The institutions that once championed pluralism and free expression are increasingly impotent in the face of ancient prejudices repackaged for modern times.
This is not merely a Jewish crisis. It is an American one. And it is a moral one.
At Yad Vashem USA Foundation, we are guided by a singular mission and by my personal family connection to the Holocaust to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never relegated to the margins of history but remains central to our collective moral vision.
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is not just a museum. It is the conscience of humanity. It preserves the names, the testimonies and the lived experiences of 6 million Jews murdered not for what they did, but for who they were.
We support this sacred work because we understand a profound truth that forgetting is a precondition for repeating.
The phrase "never again" is often uttered. But too rarely is it lived. It is not enough to remember the Holocaust as a historical atrocity. We must internalize it as a warning. The Holocaust did not begin with Auschwitz. It began with words. With disinformation. With dehumanization. With neighbors turning away. With silence from those who knew better.
Today, we are again hearing the rhetoric that corrodes civil society. The conspiracies that deny Jewish belonging. The chants that call for Jewish eradication. And, alarmingly, we are seeing it increasingly tolerated in elite institutions — in the name of nuance, in the name of activism.
Let us be clear: There is no cause on earth that justifies the hatred of Jews. History has proven, time and again, that when antisemitism is unleashed, it does not remain contained. It infects the broader body politic. It hollows out democracies. It numbs the moral sensibilities of entire societies.
This is precisely why Holocaust remembrance is not merely an act of Jewish continuity. It is also a universal imperative.
At the Yad Vashem USA Foundation, we bring these lessons to life. We fund programs that bring Holocaust education into American classrooms. We are leading research that enables a profound and accurate understanding of the events of the Holocaust and their consequences in an era of post-truth. We support cutting-edge digital archives and immersive exhibits. We enable scholars and educators to teach the Holocaust not only as a chronicle of tragedy but as a framework for understanding the fragility of civilization and the responsibility of the individual.
We also recognize that we are at an inflection point. Fewer survivors remain to tell their stories. Fewer firsthand witnesses walk among us. Soon, the burden of memory will fall entirely on our shoulders. That is both a privilege and a test. If we do not rise to meet it, we risk allowing the memory of the Holocaust to be distorted, diluted or erased.
In a moment when the truth itself is under siege, the preservation of historical integrity is an act of moral resistance. It is why we must not only educate minds, but stir consciences.
We need leaders — across the political spectrum, across faith traditions, across institutions — to speak with moral clarity. To say unequivocally that antisemitism has no justification. No context. No place in a free society.
And we need Americans of every background to join us, not out of charity, but out of shared destiny. Because the lessons of the Holocaust are not just Jewish lessons. They are human lessons.
As the world becomes more polarized, more volatile and more vulnerable to ideological extremism, we believe the antidote begins with memory, with the courage to remember not only what was done but what was allowed to happen.
"Never again" is not a statement of hindsight. It is a call to vigilance.
At Yad Vashem USA, we take that call seriously. We ask you to join us in honoring the past, confronting the present and safeguarding the future.
The path forward begins with remembrance.
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