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Progress Requires Balance, and Change Must Be Accompanied by Caution
Let me introduce you to the Overton Window. It sounds like something out of a spy thriller, but it’s actually a brilliant way to understand how political and social change really happens. Named after Joseph P. Overton, a libertarian late 20th-century political scientist, the Overton Window explains how ideas go from being fringe and crazy to mainstream and acceptable.
Overton worked for the Mackinac Center, a right-wing think tank, and found himself constantly explaining to donors not just what think tanks do, but, more importantly, what they don’t do. Think tanks don’t directly push policies; they shift public opinion.
After hitting brick wall after brick wall, Overton came up with the concept of the “Window of Political Possibilities” to show that ideas have to pass through various stages before they’re ready to become policy, so they can be executed.
Here’s how it works: new, innovative ideas usually start off as “unthinkable,” in other words, way outside what society considers acceptable. If you bring them up in polite society, they’ll be laughed off as ridiculous. But slowly, through debate and exposure, and a little bit of savvy marketing, ideas shift through stages — they go from being unthinkable to being radical, and then acceptable, eventually becoming sensible, and then popular.
And eventually, with a good tailwind, they might even become policy. Once the ideas come in from the cold extremes of unthinkable and radical, they make it into the Overton Window of acceptable, sensible, and popular – the latter being at the very center of the window. That’s the Overton Window in action.
Of course, there’s a catch. When you push boundaries too far and too fast, society breaks down, and chaos ensues. Sometimes, trying to normalize extreme ideas doesn’t lead to progress; it leads to disorder.
History gives us plenty of examples. In the 1930s, radical nationalist ideas in Germany started small but quickly spiraled into the horrors of Nazism, when fringe ideas took over public discourse unchecked.
More recently, we see how efforts to push the boundaries on issues like transgender rights in sports — particularly in allowing biological males to compete in women’s events — have led to backlash and polarized reactions.
What might have been an opportunity for thoughtful dialogue instead ignited cultural conflict, with people on both sides of the debate digging in their heels. When society stretches too far without considering the consequences, it risks creating precisely the kind of disorder the Overton Window warns us about.
And if we look back, this isn’t a new concept. The Torah was already giving us cautionary tales about this thousands of years ago in Parshat Noach, with the stories of Noah’s generation and the Tower of Babel. Both narratives illustrate what happens when a society tries to force destructive ideas into the mainstream without limits. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well.
Let’s take Noah’s generation. This was a society that had lost all of its moral bearings. Violence, theft, and immorality became the everyday norm. They had stretched their Overton Window until “unthinkable” and “acceptable” practically swapped places.
What should have been fringe behaviors — theft, cruelty — were so normalized that the entire world was engulfed in corruption. It was as if they had collectively decided that moral boundaries were passé, something they could shrug off without consequence. The Torah describes it succinctly: “the Earth was filled with corruption” (Gen. 6:11). It wasn’t a society living on the edge; they had jumped off the cliff into the abyss.
And what happened? The flood. Total destruction. This wasn’t some random punishment; it was the inevitable result of a society where moral limits had completely evaporated. When the Overton Window stretches to a breaking point, society collapses in on itself.
Noah’s world shows us that without a foundation of shared moral norms, everything falls apart. If everyone does whatever they want, all the boundaries dissolve — and chaos reigns.
Then, we have the story of the Tower of Babel. After the flood, humanity regroups. Instead of learning from past mistakes, they double down on their ambition, deciding to build a tower that reaches the heavens. “Let’s make a name for ourselves,” they say, as if human greatness is something you can just declare into existence.
The Tower of Babel wasn’t just a tall building; it was a symbol of human overreach, an attempt to stretch the Overton Window into a realm where it no longer belonged.
The problem wasn’t their ambition; it was their arrogance. They wanted to control the heavens, to challenge the very order of creation. It’s as if they were saying, “we’ve conquered the Earth — now we’re coming for the Heavens.”
And God’s response? He scrambles their language and scatters them across the world. The project falls apart, and confusion reigns. They pushed too far, and the social fabric tore. Like an Overton Window stretched to fit something it was never meant to contain, their unity fractured into a thousand pieces.
So, what do these stories teach us? That boundaries exist for a reason. Pushing ideas and exploring new territory is all well and good, but not every boundary is meant to be broken. Stability comes from knowing when to say, “Enough.”
In Noah’s time, they ignored that wisdom and were swallowed by their own corruption. In Babel, they dismissed their limits and ended up fractured and scattered. Both stories warn us that when society tries to push extreme ideas into the mainstream, the results can be catastrophic.
It’s easy in today’s world to think that every new idea deserves a place in the public discourse and that every radical notion is progress just waiting to happen. But Parshat Noach reminds us otherwise. Not every fringe idea belongs in the Overton Window, and not every boundary should be blurred. Actual progress requires balance — moral progress without moral decay, ambition without arrogance, change with caution.
The Overton Window is a powerful tool for understanding how change happens, but it also shows us why restraint is essential. The lesson from Noah and Babel? When you push too far, you invite chaos. And sometimes, the wisest thing we can do is remember that some boundaries are there for a reason. Maybe it’s time we start paying attention to them.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills California.
The post Progress Requires Balance, and Change Must Be Accompanied by Caution first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.