Persona: Families

By Kara Baskin

In March 2023, I asked teen Jewish leaders to discuss antisemitism: how it affects them, how they address it and their hopes for the future. They were passionate, articulate—and hopeful.

Teddy Friedman attends Gann Academy in Waltham. He has been a Peer Engagement Fellow with the Jewish Teen Initiative, and now he’s a co-chair of the Lappin Foundation’s Teen Antisemitism Task Force and a junior intern at the USC Shoah Foundation.

Gabriella Lipsitch is a Diller Teen Fellow and attends the Cambridge School of Weston.

Talia Ofek goes to Lexington High School and is a StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal High School Intern.

Arielle Mogolesko goes to Marblehead High School. She’s a co-chair of the Lappin Foundation’s Teen Antisemitism Task Force, a Jewish Teen Initiative Peer Leadership Fellow and a StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal High School Intern.

Ileana Tsatskis and Emma (last name withheld for privacy) co-lead the Jewish Cultural Club at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill and are part of the JCRC Student to Student Program.

How have you seen antisemitism manifest in your teenage life? Do you have any personal experiences?

Arielle Mogolesko: Antisemitism is, unfortunately, very prevalent in our lives. Whether it be on TV, social media or even in front of our own eyes, it’s everywhere. Almost every time a video is posted online of people celebrating their Judaism, it’s commonly met with a barrage of antisemitic and anti-Zionist comments. An issue with social media is that it gives an open and anonymous platform for people to spread hateful rhetoric. I’ve had encounters with antisemitic rhetoric being posted online as well as friends making jokes about either the Jewish people, Israel or the Holocaust. It’s sickening to hear our heritage and story being made fun of and/or blatantly skewed.

Talia Ofek: The Chabad in the next town over from me was targeted by arson. Fortunately, they were able to stop the fire in time, so no one was hurt. There was minor damage. I’d been to that Chabad several times.

Ileana Tsatskis: I’ve seen hate symbols drawn in school bathrooms. That’s the only way that I’ve publicly seen it. But I’ve heard of many stories from friends and fellow Jewish teenagers in my community.

How do you urge your friends and peers to address antisemitism when they see or witness it?

Mogolesko: The first step in combating antisemitism is education. We’ll repeat that message time and time again, as it’s truly the basis for making any improvement in this time of increasing hate. When one is educated, one will not only be equipped with facts and possible statements to counter the rhetoric but also will be informed of the many resources out there to help. It doesn’t have to fall on one person to combat antisemitism, but rather the whole Jewish community and allies who are willing and able to support each other. Personally, Teddy [Friedman] and I urge our friends to call it out; to say the joke was not funny, to explain why it was not funny and to report it to a trusted adult who can then report it to organizations such as Lappin Foundation, StandWithUs and the Anti-Defamation League.

Ofek: Reporting it. If it’s online, taking pictures and notifying someone. But definitely I think education is the best way to change someone’s attitude or behavior.

Gabriella Lipsitch: I’ll repost something on my Instagram story if it says something that hasn’t been said before or made me think in a different way or if it could make someone else think in a different way. For example, when Kanye [West] said all of that stuff, everyone was posting: “This is bad. Kanye said this.” And it’s like, yes, that is very important for people to know. I don’t feel like I personally need to say the exact same thing. But if I see a different perspective, then I would repost it on my Instagram story or talk about it to my friends.

Tsatskis: Speak up as soon as you can. Talk to a trusted adult or anyone in your life who you feel comfortable talking about it with and address the situation right away. Also, I think it’s really important to speak to your friends and the people you surround yourself with on a day-to-day basis, not only to inform them about antisemitism. Speak to them on what to do if they hear it or how to stand up for a friend if it happens to them. I think it’s really important for everybody to know how to combat it and how to deal with it because it’s a very real thing.

What gives you hope in the face of growing antisemitism?

Teddy Friedman: I have hope that, through our and many others’ work, we will make a change in generations to come. I hope that living proudly and sharing our stories with others will encourage more people to become educated about the hatred faced by the Jewish people. I believe that getting involved and taking one step further toward personal growth will have lasting impact on the generations to come.

Ofek: Jewish communities are very strong, and there are many organizations out there like StandWithUs that are fighting against it and trying to educate. There’s a new law in Massachusetts making it a requirement to teach about genocide in schools, which is just crazy that it wasn’t even a law beforehand. But little things like that give me hope. I’m also bringing in a Holocaust survivor at the end of this month to speak to my entire school. My principal, the social studies department head and my teachers have been so supportive. Even though they don’t personally identify with the event, they still see the value in educating about it.

Lipsitch: I’m queer. There are so many attacks on Jews, and there are so many attacks on queer youth right now. In the legal and political sense, I’m more worried that I won’t be able to get married or that my friends won’t be able to get the health care they need. I’m looking for hope in policy and in public opinion around queer issues, and around feminism and things like that. I think there are a lot of people who hold unconsciously antisemitic views. What gives me hope is that a lot of the antisemitism we see is unconscious and is about something you were taught. I feel like there are a lot of people who would reconsider their beliefs or think harder about something they said or did if a Jew or a non-Jew also called them out and said, “Have you ever thought about why you think this?”

Tsatskis: Young kids like Emma [Shub] and me are starting clubs to raise awareness, and kids who are not even part of the Jewish community are joining. We’re finding allies. As more people start to be aware of the ongoing problems, and as teenagers are starting to take action, it gives me hope for the future.

How do you express your Jewish pride in your everyday life? Has that behavior changed because of rising antisemitism in your communities?

Friedman: I see the rising antisemitism as a call to action. It is more than ever important to embrace our Judaism and live as proud Jewish people. It’s of utmost importance that we show how proud we are to be Jewish at a time when people are trying to suppress our identity. I show Jewish pride by outwardly supporting Israel and other Jewish organizations. I use social media as a platform to post about exciting Jewish events happening as well as highlight Jewish athletes and their accomplishments.

Emma: I’m a very vocal advocate for the Jewish community at my school. I don’t shy away from the opportunity to run Jewish initiatives. Within my own community, I take all opportunities before me to engage with others. When the Mapping Project came out last spring, and it directly affected my family, I made sure to educate my other Jewish and non-Jewish peers on the issue so everyone could remain alert and aware of what was going on. In my opinion, it’s crucial that all students continue to have conversations about antisemitism and understand that it’s not an issue of race. Rather, it’s an issue of preventing history from repeating itself.

Ofek: I wear Jewish jewelry. I don’t really shy away from talking about my Jewish faith at school around my friends. I go to a Reform synagogue in my town each week. I attend overnight camp. But it’s definitely something that I find myself being cautious about if I’m around new people.

Lipsitch: The fellowship I’m part of is a big part of it. If Jewish issues come up in conversation, or if it makes sense to say, “Oh, yes, this Jewish thing,” or, “I’m Jewish,” then I’ll say it and I’m not ashamed. I never was ashamed, but I never much paid attention until now.

Tsatskis: I express my Jewish pride by having a club at my school with Emma. It’s a huge leap of faith to start a club at a school and to share your voice as a group of people. Expressing that and providing a safe community to people has been a huge success of the club. It’s turned into a place where a lot of Jewish students from our community have been able to come and speak to each other and know that they’re accepted and that everything they’re going to say is valid.

Kara Baskin is the parenting writer for JewishBoston.com. She is also a regular contributor to The Boston Globe and a contributing editor at Boston Magazine. She has worked for New York Magazine and The New Republic, and helped to launch the now-defunct Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Email her at kara@jewishboston.com.

By Kara Baskin

Antisemitism is on the rise nationwide: The ADL has reported Americans’ highest level of antisemitic attitudes in decades. According to its 2023 report, “Antisemitic Attitudes in America,” 20% of Americans believe six or more antisemitic tropes, significantly more than the 11% found in 2019.

How can we help kids understand antisemitism and racism when the horror is so unthinkable? Dr. Rachel Fish, an academic with deep expertise in Israeli history, calls herself a “scholar-warrior” in the fight against antisemitism. Previously, she was the founding executive director of the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism. She talked with CJP about the roots of hatred and ways for kids to combat harassment.

Could you explain the root of antisemitism? How would you define this for a younger child in terms they might be able to understand?

Antisemitism is like a virus. It mutates and changes over time. It started off as a way to focus on a hatred specifically toward those who believe in Judaism and who practice the Jewish tradition. That then transformed over time to focus on hating Jews because of their identity as a people and the way they are understood to be different from other groups, particularly in Europe at the time. Then we saw it mutate again, where those other two forms continue to exist, but we also see that there’s a hatred toward the Jewish state, Israel, and people feel uncomfortable with Jews holding real power and having the ability to have decision-making influence in the world.

We also know that it can be a form of hatred that is used by different political movements across political positions, from a hard-right position, which says that Jews are never going to be white, Jews are always “the other.” Jews are always different and no matter what, there’s a fear of Jews having influence within a community or within a society. Then we also see on the hard left of politics this idea that Jews are part of a society that is white and have privilege because they have been influential, particularly in America—and so therefore they cannot be a vulnerable minority and they are part of the white majority, which is part of the problem because it continues to promote discrimination toward other marginalized communities, and Jews are not considered to be a marginalized community.

In both of these forms, politically, Jews are constantly having to pay attention to how certain language is used by different individuals to understand if there are feelings or sentiments that are trying to target Jews for a political purpose.

What are ways that kids can empower themselves, and what should they do if they feel scared?

If someone feels uncomfortable, and as if they’re in a situation that’s unsafe because of their identity as a Jew, they need to tell a grownup. They can tell their parents, they can tell teachers, they can tell a coach or another family member—but they need to tell a grownup who can help them feel safe and make sure no one is hurt or harmed. Their parents then also need to be able to have a conversation, depending upon the context of what has happened, with other responsible individuals and potentially organizations like the Anti-Defamation League or other organizations that report incidents of antisemitism to law enforcement. It’s very important. If anyone feels unsafe, see something and say something.

If you feel like something was said that was hurtful about Jews, again, it’s important to tell a grownup so that the child can appropriately, with the grownup, decide how to engage in an opportunity to address that particular situation. Obviously, this is very context-specific. But most individuals in the world are part of the “don’t know” audience. I put that in quotes. They really don’t know what antisemitism is. They don’t even understand the term, because it sounds very fancy and scientific. Even when we did research and learned about what 13- to 35-year-olds in America thought about antisemitism, the majority said, “I don’t know.” Those who did try to answer the question said, “Well, what’s a semite?” Because it doesn’t sound like a term we use today. Then other people said, “Well, I’m antiracist or I’m anti-homophobic on anti-Islamophobic, so I’m probably an antisemite.”

And you’re saying, “No, no, no. You’re an anti-antisemite!” So the word doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. Part of it is helping people understand what the term means, and sometimes it’s easier to label hatred toward Jews specifically, like “Jew hatred,” or saying “hatred toward Jews or the Jewish religion, the Jewish people or the Jewish state.” Because then it becomes very clear to individuals what’s happening instead of using this term called “antisemitism” that can feel complicated or unclear.

If you have a relationship with the individual who may have said something that was hurtful about Jews or Judaism or Israel—and I don’t mean criticizing, I mean really hurtful and trying to suggest something very negative targeting Jews—then you could actually call them into a conversation. You can begin to help people understand and educate themselves, and you can help educate them about why Jews do have this as part of their history. Even a young child is capable of doing that.

How could that happen?

Here’s a story: I grew up in a small town in northeast Tennessee. There were very few Jews. When I was in middle school, a student etched a swastika onto my locker. I caught him etching the swastika with his little pocket knife. I shared what happened with the teachers, and the teachers brought it to the principal. The principal spoke with me and also called my parents that evening because they decided that they were going to have this student removed from the school for suspension. This was not a student who really knew what he was doing. He had not passed a couple of grades; he was not a good student.

So I suggested to the teacher and to the principal that I meet with the student in school every day in order to read “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and that way he could become more sensitive to understanding why Jews had a history of being persecuted. That was a very important moment because, for me, I became the educator. I became the teacher, and I called someone into a relationship and into a conversation so that they could be more sensitive and learn more. Kids have that ability, young people have that ability, teens have that ability to help other individuals learn and grow, and that’s very powerful. It can feel very empowering.

That’s a helpful anecdote because it makes it feel real. It was real. So thank you for sharing that. What would you say is behind the recent rise in antisemitic attacks?

Jew hatred has been on the rise in America for the past five years. It doesn’t mean that Jew hatred didn’t exist five years ago. It did exist, but it wasn’t as obvious all the time. Now it’s becoming more obvious, partly because we see politicians using language, imagery, stereotypes and ideas about Jews that are not real but are perceived as being characteristics of Jews. We see this from politicians, again, who are Republican, and we see it from politicians who are Democrats. So we see that happening by decision-makers. Jews are usually the first people targeted in a society when there are tensions.

We also see that there is an idea that exists around, if you care about a lot of the movements that many of us care about, like fighting racism and being good allies to other marginalized communities, like LGBTQ+, that part of what is expected is that you are also labeled anti-Zionist and that you push away your relationship with Israel, because Israel is thought to be a country that is privileging or only cares about Jews. That’s not true, because Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. Twenty percent of its population is not Jewish. It’s Palestinian. That’s over 1.2 million people. But what happens is, when you start to see all of these pressures emerge, then Jews can be targeted by different groups because of fear.

We’re living at a time in America in which a lot of different communities are trying to push their own ideas, and they need someone to blame and very often Jews are part of the blame. So this will result in real pressures that Jews face and can be targeted by all different types of communities, by people who hold ideas around white supremacy and also by more marginalized communities who are minorities themselves but who feel like Jews are part of the problem for the systems that are in place. This puts Jews in a challenging situation.

What would you like families to know that isn’t getting covered enough or conveyed enough?

It’s not unique for Jews to be targeted. We have a long history within Jewish life of being targeted, but Jews are very resilient as a people, and it’s important to have knowledge about your traditions and your history. It’s important as you engage in the world and do important work on behalf of other communities who aren’t Jewish as well. That pride will help young people navigate and understand who they are and from where they come.

Kara Baskin is the parenting writer for JewishBoston.com. She is also a regular contributor to The Boston Globe and a contributing editor at Boston Magazine. She has worked for New York Magazine and The New Republic, and helped to launch the now-defunct Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Email her at kara@jewishboston.com.

By Rich Tenorio 

As Chicago prepares to celebrate the 1893 World’s Fair, a young Jewish boy named Alter Rosen suffers the loss of his best friend, Yakov. It turns out that Yakov is the latest victim of a killer targeting Jewish boys. Alter becomes possessed by his friend’s dybbuk, which threatens to take over his body completely. He reconnects with a dangerous boy from his past and together they work to find the killer. This is the plot of “The City Beautiful,” a 2021 young adult novel by Aden Polydoros that earned multiple recommendations for placement on JewishBoston’s summer reading list of books that tackle antisemitism and/or racism. (Find the full list at the end of this post!) 

Robin Brenner, the young adult librarian at the Public Library of Brookline, calls “The City Beautiful” “one I really love,” a work of historical fiction that is “particularly well done,” including in its exploration of how “the World’s Fair was presented to the public and who it was presented for.” 

Among library patrons, she said: “‘The City Beautiful’ has been certainly noticed. [It’s] one of those that has gone out consistently. It tells a story that people are very interested in learning more [about].” 

Last year, Polydoros’s “The City Beautiful” was named a “Best Book for Teens” by the New York Public Library and got a favorable review in School Library Journal. “Featuring a queer protagonist, it is deeply layered with Jewish myth, immigration, racism and anti-Semitism,” Alicia Kalan wrote for School Library Journal, noting that “some readers may find the descriptions” of certain parts of the plot “too intense.” 

Sara Waltuck, the children’s bookseller at Brookline Booksmith, also gave the book a recommendation and praised a more recent novel—“From Dust, a Flame” by Rebecca Podos. The book, published in March, tells the story of a family of three: teenage Hannah, her brother and their mother. The siblings live a nomadic life marked by rental homes and their mother’s broken relationships before Hannah begins to experience a series of unusual mutations when she turns 17. Her mother vows to find someone who can help, then disappears. Ultimately, it’s up to Hannah to connect with her Jewish family history and learn about her grandmother growing up in the Nazi-occupied Czech capital of Prague. 

Multiple other recent books made local experts’ list of recommendations, from fiction to nonfiction. 

Brenner mentioned “The Assignment,” a 2020 novel by Liza Wiemer based on actual events. A popular high school teacher gives a controversial assignment, asking a group of students to make a case for the Holocaust. Classmates Logan and Cade view this assignment as wrong and speak out against it, yet not everyone agrees with them. 

David Sandberg, a co-owner of Porter Square Books, listed the 2019 historical graphic novel “White Bird: A Wonder Story” by R.J. Palacio among his recommendations. “White Bird” continues the narrative of Grand-mère, a character introduced in Palacio’s previous work, “Auggie & Me.” In “White Bird,” the reader meets Grand-mère—French for “grandmother”—as a Jewish youngster in occupied France during World War II. It’s a story of the French family who shelters her, and a boy she and her classmates ostracized who ends up playing a critical role in her rescue. “White Bird” will be released as a film this fall, featuring Helen Mirren as Grand-mère. 

Sandberg also recommended Jane Yolen’s 2019 Holocaust novel “Mapping the Bones,” about young Jewish twins Chaim and Gittel fleeing from the Nazis in Poland. Another one of his picks was “Color Me In” by Natasha Diaz. This 2020 novel tells the story of a girl whose father is white and Jewish and whose mother is Black. After her parents’ marriage ends, she navigates her diverse family background while living with her mother in Harlem and going to an exclusive private school. 

Brenner noted that there’s even a groundbreaking Jewish comic book character, ”Whistle,” the heroine of a new DC Comics series of the same name. “One thing that’s really nice,” Brenner said, “is that more and more books are featuring Jewish main characters, [including] Jewish main characters who express this part of their life…it’s not a passing reference. It’s really nice. There are a lot more titles that are beginning to be offered to teens. Teens need a real reflection of the world, books that inspire them, teach them. It’s nice to have a range.” 

Reading List for Teens and Young Adults

FICTION

• “As If On Cue” by Melissa Kanter 
• “Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America” edited by Ibi Zoboi 
• “Cool for the Summer” by Dahlia Adler 
• “Color Me In” by Natasha Diaz 
• “Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From” by Jennifer De Leon 
• “From Dust, a Flame” by Rebecca Podos 
• “How to Pack for the End of the World” by Michelle Falkoff 
• “It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, And Other Jewish Stories” edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman 
• “Kneel” by Candace Buford 
• “Mapping the Bones” by Jane Yolen 
• “Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix” by Ibi Zoboi 
• “Sick Kids in Love” by Hannah Moskowitz 
• “SLAY” by Brittney Morris 
• “The Assignment” by Liza Wiemer 
• “The City Beautiful” by Aden Polydoros 
• “The Silence That Binds Us” by Joanna Ho 
• “The Summer of Bitter and Sweet” by Jen Ferguson 
• “We Are Not Free” by Traci Chee 
• “White Bird: A Wonder Story” by R.J. Palacio 
• “White Rose” by Kip Wilson 
• “Why We Fly” by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal 
• “The Wise and the Wicked” by Rebecca Podos 
• “Whistle” by E. Lockhart and Manuel Preitano (DC Comics) 
• “Yes, No, Maybe So” by Becky Albertalli 
• “Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good” by Nancy Werlin 

NONFICTION

• “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask” by Anton Treuer 
• “Living Beyond Borders: Growing up Mexican in America” edited by Margarita Longoria 
• “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi 
• “The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person” by Frederick Joseph 
• “We Are Not Broken” by George M. Johnson  

Rich Tenorio covers antisemitism news for JewishBoston.com. His work has appeared in international, national, regional and local media outlets. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a cartoonist. Email him at rich@jewishboston.com. 

By Ziva Hassenfeld

When my best friend from college came to visit me for a weekend, she began to cry as we walked up to my synagogue with our kids. I asked her why and she said, “Don’t you see how sad it is that there have to be all the police around just so you can go to synagogue and not be shot?” Of course, I had noticed the uptick in police presence since the 2016 election, the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. My colleague, professor Jonathan Sarna, has done detailed work on the antisemitism that pulsed quite explicitly through the Jan. 6 riot at the capital. But through it all, it didn’t ever strike me as tragic.  

Seeing my friend’s tears made me question the lack of my own, especially given the relative differences in our lives. My friend loves her Jewish identity but doesn’t live an active Jewish life, whereas I’m immersed in Judaism both personally and professionally. Seeing her tear up at the entrance of my synagogue raised a fundamental question for me: Why was I uncomfortable with her tears?  

After giving it a lot of thought, I realized that I came at the question both personally and professionally—as a parent and as a professor of education. On the one hand, there’s no question that antisemitism is terrifying and its uptick in America alarming. We should do all we can to quell its upsurge; we all support the fight against it—politically, financially and socially. But the question I always return to is how do we want to educate our children? In no uncertain terms, I am sure that the right approach to Judaism presents it as a wealth of resources, a textual tradition that delights and a toolbox for a life of intentionality. There’s no room for centering a reaction to antisemitism in such an approach. I am convinced we must avoid inducting our children into a stance of defensiveness and instead show them a Judaism that we offer as a gift. The gift, as I see it, is particularly compelling ways of reading, organizing the rhythm of our lives and finding meaning. 

A colleague of mine is currently working on a study of Jewish children reading and interpreting the story of the Hebrew midwives from Exodus 1. It is remarkable the difference in meaning the students take from this story. Some understood it as a tale of moral conviction—about being an upstander and not a bystander and the moral compass in each of us as individuals. Others understood it as the first historical account in the endless history of persecution of the Jewish people. In these students’ reading, the story of the Hebrew midwives and the infanticide they were tasked with stresses the need for Jewish sovereignty. Of course, as researchers we withhold judgment, but I must admit how striking I found the data in the context of thinking about antisemitism and education. I not only want a generation of kids who are taught a story of being moral upstanders instead of a story of the lachrymose narrative of Jewish history, but also I believe it will be kids raised in this first educational milieu who will emerge most resilient in the face of antisemitism. 

My children will grow up at least aware that they are living through a particularly vivid era of antisemitism in this country. Nothing I can do can change that; the only question that is left to answer is how we should educate and orientate our children in such a world. For me, the answer is clear: The strength of Jewish life is found first and foremost in a constructive outlook. 

When approached in this way, being Jewish becomes reading the text of the world a certain way. Through these ways of reading, our children develop the capacity to find meaning and to stay resilient in the face of the inevitable challenges. 

Ziva R. Hassenfeld is the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Assistant Professor in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. She lives in the Boston area with her husband, Jonah Hassenfeld, director of learning and teaching at Schechter Boston, and their three children.