Elliot Cosgrove > Quotes

“As a people of Genesis and Exodus, we must stand up and stand tall in defense of our people and never lose sight of the joy and the privilege that comes with being a Jew today. Our Jewishness comes from both the push and the pull. Neither one nor the other but the two together must inform who we are and what we will be in such a time as this.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“October 7th, American Jews became Exodus Jews, our Jewish identity shaped by our instinct for self-defense, in response to events tragic, traumatic, not of our choosing, and beyond our control.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“The murders of that day? One would have been too many. As the Talmud teaches, “Whosoever destroys a single soul, it is as if they have destroyed an entire universe.” The attacks were a vile crime perpetrated against innocents, the very foundations of our faith, and the underlying bond of our common humanity.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“muster, I explained to her the post-October behavior of her Jewish families, making sure she knew she had a resource in me, should she ever need one.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“Mordecai advises Esther to keep her Jewishness secret when she enters the king’s palace. Why she must do so he never states, but Esther understands that her life will be easier or safer (or both) if she hides her identity. Was it easy or hard for Esther to keep her secret? Did she comply under duress or in hope of advancement? The text never really says.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“people. Esther didn’t choose her moment; it chose her. And when the moment came, she put herself on the line, threw her lot in with her people, and rallied them to action. A heroine for her time. A heroine for our time.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“Put simply, to reduce my Jewish identity to fighting antisemitism is a victory I refuse to grant my foe. It was great to be a Jew on October 6, and it is still great to be a Jew today. Not just the push, and not just the pull, but the centripetal momentum of the two together—that is the generative force by which our community will be maintained.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“Not joyfully; nor, for that matter, by our own volition. After October 7th, being a Jew became an identity defined by others, by those who ignore our pain, exclude us, hate us, threaten us, and in some cases kill us.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. preached: “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“We must take our part in the curricular and cultural battles in our institutions of higher learning, and we must take Jewish learning to higher levels. We must celebrate our births, bnei mitzvah, and weddings, reminding one another, our children, and most of all ourselves of who we are. Jews must take agency—and joy—in their Judaism.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“We have taken our Jewish identity for granted for so long. And now, for the first time in our lives, we have begun to ask, What kind of Jews do we want to be? Where do we turn for guidance in such a time as this?”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today