JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • APRIL 12-18, 2024 5 By DENNIS PRAGER I f one were to draw up a list of human needs, food and shelter would be at the top. With great respect to Freudians, sex would not be No. 2. The need for meaning would be second only to the need for food. That meaning is more important to happiness than sex is easily shown. A great many people go long periods without sex, and while many of them miss it, if they have meaning in their lives, they can lead quite happy and fulfilling lives. On the other hand, few peo- ple who have regular sex but lack meaning are happy or fulfilled. Third on the list of human needs is the need to feel important. This need is much less often cited than the need for food, sex and meaning. But it is so important that a case could be made that it is tied for No. 2 with the need for meaning. T he infamous “midlife crisis” is a crisis of importance: “I thought I would be much more important at this stage in life than I am.” That mostly afflicts men — just as feeling less important after one’s children have left home afflicts mothers more than fathers. Among the many psycho-social crises afflicting Americans is a cri- sis of importance. Fewer Ameri- cans feel important than did Americans in the past. Why? What has happened? What has happened is a steep decline in the number of institutions that gave people a feel- ing of importance. Given that work is generally regarded as one of the most ubiqui- tous providers of purpose, and that, prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, more Americans were working than ever before, one would think that more Americans than ever before felt important. It has not turned out that way. For many, work has not provided the sense of importance people expected it to, let alone fulfilled the other great need: for meaning. This is especially true for women, but first, we will address men. Work used to provide many men with a sense of importance. It is simply a fact that being the bread- winner for a family means one is important. However, since the 1970s and the rise of feminism, women have not only become breadwinners, but they have increasingly become the primary breadwinner within a marriage and for a family. That has helped couples finan- cially, but it has also deprived a great many men of their sense of importance. When regarded by a wife and children as important, husbands/fathers felt important. Progressive America mocks the 1950s TV series “Father Knows Best.” But when wives and children believed that, men felt important because they were. The price for this, according to feminism, was paid by women, who didn’t receive the accolades of breadwinning. And they set about changing it. However, contrary to the expec- tations of the well-educated, women becoming breadwinners has not provided most women with a sense of importance, and certain- ly not meaning in life. Contrary to what feminism, colleges, high schools, progressive parents and the mass media have claimed for decades, men and women do not have the same natures. Just as sex with many partners continued on page 20 Feeling Of Importance Government takes it away from you Just as most women are not as satisfied as men are with many sex partners, so it is with work. President Joe Biden repeated this theme recently: “Put trust and faith in our government,” he pleaded with Americans. One could accurately say that we are replacing America’s motto, “In God We Trust,” with, “In Government We Trust.” PERSPECTIVE nizers who helped turn out 300,000 people for a “March for Israel” in November have seriously contem- plated what it means for the Jews and other pro-Israel Americans to concede the streets and campus- es to extremist Jew-haters as has largely happened n recent months as a surge of antisemitism contin- ues to grow. After months of slowly moving away from its initial position of strong support for Israel, the Biden admin- istration took a crucial step towards pleasing its left-wing critics. So-called “progressives” have been calling for President Joe Biden to put the screws on the Jewish state to make it stop the war against Hamas. As a result, the president has abandoned his previous positions onHamas and is now cle rly more worried about osing left-wing voters in his campaign for re-elec- tion—particularly in the state of Michigan, which has the highest Arab population in the United States—than he is about eliminating the perpetra- tors of the Oct. 7 massacres or the in- fluence of Iran. Who does Biden fear? It’s not just that he is in thrall to a vocal ide ogically woke anti-Israel protes mov ment that commands the supp rt of most of the activist wing of JO ATHAN TOBIN T he debate going on in the United States about Israel’s war against Hamas took a new and disturbing turn last week. But there was one thing missing from the discussion. Many of the Jewish state’s enemies talk a lot about the mythical power of the “Israel lob- by” and nefarious Jewish influence over Washington, which betrays the antisemitism that runs t rough much of their discourse. But mobs chanting for Israel’s destruction and terrorism against Jews in the streets of Amer- ican cities and on college campuses have become com onplace. And those advocating for a ceasefire in the war th t will let the p rpetrator of the Oct. 7 massacres get away with mass murder also seem to have enormous, even decisive influence with the Biden administration. But there seems little indication that the legacy Jewish organiza- tions that claim to speak for Ameri- can Jewry are using much or any of their vaunted influence to halt the mo entum of t ose working to de- stroy the U.S.-Israel alliance. Nor is there much sign t at the orga- Supporters of Israel: Wak Up! U.S. Zionists need to stop cowering and start protesting the Democratic Party and the lib ral corporate media. Biden also seems to think that he will pay no political price for abandoni g Israe . That was the context for Biden’s phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya- hu. Though supposedly a response As Biden bends to leftist demands, friends of the Jewish state need to take to the streets and tell him that he needs them. continued on page 21 B d n (right), sh wn with uber-progr ssive Bernie Sanders, is more worried about losing left-wing voters in his campaign for re-election than he is about Israel. I E