Weisman was the wrong reporter for the right assignment. But the frustration he feels—his sense that Jews have lived through this history before, and so have a special obligation to to stand up against hatred—is not his alone. Writing about anti-Semitism matters. It is an attempt to articulate the relationship between Jewish power, identity, and moral responsibility; to chronicle Jews’ perpetual vulnerability, even when they’re otherwise thriving; to answer questions that have followed Jews wherever they have gone. Like Herzl’s generation, today’s Jews are grappling with a crisis of identity and fear. But they’ll have to look elsewhere for answers.