Faced with rising antisemitism and a radical would-be mayor, New York’s Jewish artists confront a once unthinkable question: Is it time to flee?

Faced with rising antisemitism and a radical would-be mayor, New York’s Jewish artists confront a once unthinkable question: Is it time to flee?

After Oct. 7, I was added to a group chat of Jewish artists from around the world whose communities and industries were being overtaken by antisemitic hate. As creative fields quickly became hot spots for demonizing Israel and demanding ideological conformity, this group became a rare place to vent, exchange ideas, collaborate, and, sometimes, to argue.

That weekend’s debate splintered the group in a way I’d never seen before. The topic: Is New York still good for the Jews, or is it time to flee? Several admitted they no longer felt safe. Some had already left town; others were making plans. They spoke of losing jobs, being disinvited from friends’ birthdays, and even being assaulted at a party for wearing a Jewish star necklace. To them, New York had already “fallen.”

On the other side were those whose connection to the city runs stubbornly deep. For them, abandoning the refuge their ancestors found here was unthinkable. As emotions flared, thoughtful debate gave way to arguments about who counts as a “real” New Yorker and whether leaving was prescient or paranoid.

As I observed the back-and-forth, I couldn’t shake one thought: Were these the same conversations our grandparents and great-grandparents had in Europe during the pogroms or in 1930s Germany as fascism rose?