I can’t say I’m disappointed, because I’m not surprised. There’s a trajectory of institutions, that as soon as they become entrenched or too big, they begin to do the opposite of their original intention. The UN becomes a force for discord, schools increase ignorance, the court system begets injustice, religious institutions keep people from becoming spiritual, an on and on. The ADL has lost its way a long time ago, and from what I’ve seen, it’s going to be a long and confusing way back to its center, if it even gets there.

I think the ADL sees this mosque as a failure on their part—that they are failing in their mission of Never Again. There is no question that antisemitism is rising in the world, and you can see, in this instance, the confusion within their mission and within their response to this rising tide of hatred. They’ve assumed the role of a bastion against hatred directed towards Jews, and this bastion is failing every day—in fact, it may be part of the fuel for this rise.

This is all part of our need to re-examine our institutions, all of them, and get back to some very basic questions about what it means to be a Jew.