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New Year’s Resolution: Jews Should Stop Saying They Are ‘Too Busy’ to Defend Ourselves
The blowing of the shofar, traditionally done on Rosh Hashanah. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
As the Jewish New Year comes and goes, it offers us an opportunity for reflection. This is not merely the kind of reflection where we think about how to be more productive, more efficient, or more “on top of things.”
Too often, when we speak about “resolutions,” they revolve around being more industrious, more organized, and ultimately, more busy. But here is a paradox: perhaps what we truly need is to become less busy.
For the past two years, as Israel has fought for its very survival, and the Diaspora has been challenged with its own war to defend itself, there has been a pattern that repeats itself with stunning consistency. In far too many cases, Jewish people are asked to show up, to speak up, and to fight back– and the most common answer is: “I’m really busy.”
Busy with work. Busy with holidays. Busy with vacations. Busy with their children’s endless schedules. Busy before the holiday, then busy catching up afterward. Busy with social obligations, with dinners, with games, with errands, and social media. Always busy.
This culture of being perpetually busy is not harmless. It is costly. It has created a generation of adults who allow their personal schedules — and even their children’s endless schedules — to overshadow their responsibilities to their people and their communities.
Meanwhile, the world has changed in ways that demand vigilance. Antisemitism has exploded in the United States. Universities, once seen as safe havens for Jewish advancement, now host open hostility. Social media spreads lies and venom about Israel and Jews every single hour.
And through all of this, Jews are still telling each other they are “too busy” to fight back.
This is not simply a matter of personal choice. It is a matter of collective survival.
We cannot keep living as if our time belongs only to ourselves and our families. Every hour of every day is not just “my time.” It is not just “family time.” We have responsibilities beyond that — to our people, our history, and our future. To show up. To push back. To build institutions. To support Israel. To fight.
We are in the beginning stages of the 15 year war for the future of Jewish stability in the Diaspora. This war started two years ago and will continue on long after the last bullet is fired in Gaza.
What we do now on social media, on the streets, and in the court of public opinion will determine the outcome of this war. There is not one way to contribute — there are many. Choose a way, and commit your time to it.
So as this New Year begins, I suggest a resolution that runs against the cultural grain: let us all become less busy, and instead, let us become more purposeful. More deliberate. More willing to carve out time for what truly matters.
If we fail to do this, the cost will not only be personal. It will affect future generations. It will be Jewish history repeating itself in ways we do not want to see.
Our enemies have been fighting for 30 years, and now it is our turn to act. It is our turn to tell our story, and our turn to get comfortable in our uncomfortability.
Each of us is responsible. Each of us must play our part. If we choose to remain “too busy,” the burden falls on someone else — until there is no one left to carry it. But if we reimagine our lives and reorder our priorities, we will not only strengthen Israel and the Jewish people, but we will strengthen ourselves.
Daniel Rosen is the Co-founder of a Non-profit Technology company called Emissary4all which is an app to organize people on social media by ideology not geography. He is the Co-host of the podcast “Recalibration.” You can reach him at drosen@emissary4all.org
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.