Kavod & Courage: Fighting Antisemitism in the Bay Area and Beyond
KAVOD & COURAGE: Fighting
Antisemitism in the Bay Area and Beyond
“I’ve
been spending the last few months on the road with the Jews across the country, and the overwhelming majority have deep seated concerns about what’s happening, both because we know antisemitism is real and it needs to be addressed constructively and productively, and because these real concerns should not be exploited to undermine the core democratic norms and values that have kept us safe.”
-AMY
SPITALNICK, CEO OF THE JEWISH COUNCIL FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS, APRIL 2025
A PLAYBOOK FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES
At The Brandeis School of San Francisco, our mission has always extended beyond academic excellence to include cultivating lives of purpose, rooted in Jewish thought, values, and traditions. In the past year, as our community in the Bay Area and beyond has faced a stark rise in antisemitic incidents, we recognized the urgent need to support our students and families in building resilience. We believe that resilience is not only about withstanding adversity but about strengthening our shared capacity for Jewish joy and connection, even in challenging times.
Having received support through the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund’s Grant to Combat Antisemitism, we convened in Summer 2025 as a dedicated working group of three: Jennifer Baumer, Middle School Judaic Studies Teacher; Sharon Moore, 3rd Grade General Studies Teacher; and Dr. Dan Glass, Head of School. Each of us had been part of The Mifgash Project at The Brandeis School of San Francisco since its inception—a project that worked to create a values-centered approach to civics education, across our curriculum and school culture. We came to this work with a shared commitment to both cultivating strong civic engagement in our Jewish communities and supporting them in developing the resilience necessary to face this new wave of antisemitism.
Our approach to this new phase of work was shaped by Jewish values we explored during our work on The Mifgash Project: humility, curiosity, and courage. We sought to adapt our original model—designed to foster respectful dialogue across difference, and to center civics work in shared values—to meet the specific challenges of teaching and talking about antisemitism today. This included confronting difficult questions about when critique of Israel crosses into hate, how to support students experiencing bias in other educational settings, and how to maintain space for civil discourse even on painful or polarizing issues.
Through this grant-supported work, our goal is to produce a practical, accessible playbook for schools and Jewish organizations in the Bay Area and beyond. This resource is designed to help our colleagues foster resilience within their own communities—resilience that is not defensive or brittle, but grounded in the richness of Jewish values and text. We believe that by equipping educators and community leaders with thoughtful frameworks for understanding and responding to antisemitism, we strengthen our collective ability to ensure that our young people grow up not only safe, but proud and joyful in their Jewish identities.
A SHIFTING CONTEXT
At The Brandeis School of San Francisco, we have seen firsthand how the rise in antisemitism since October 7 has become an everyday reality for our students and families. Children arrive at school asking about viral celebrity outbursts, such as Kanye West’s latest antisemitic rants, struggling to understand how someone so famous can spread such harmful ideas. Members of our community have been yelled at or threatened on the street simply for “looking Jewish” or for wearing a Star of David necklace. Cars have slowed outside our campus to shout anti-Israel and antisemitic slurs at parents and students at drop-off. Despite what some of us may have imagined about the tolerance of our Bay Area community, these are not distant or abstract problems—they are happening right here, to us.
At the same time, families are coming to us seeking help navigating school settings where Israel is singled out with one-sided or hostile curriculum, leaving Jewish students feeling isolated or suspect simply for their connections to Israel. In this climate, we believe our responsibility as a Jewish educational institution is not only to keep our students physically safe but to prepare them to recognize, understand, and respond to antisemitism in all its forms. That means rooting our approach in honesty about antisemitism’s history, clarity about its evolving expressions—including when anti-Israel rhetoric crosses the line—and a commitment to dialogue and critical thinking that affirms our students’ Jewish identities while preparing them to engage constructively with the world around them.
Antisemitism is among the oldest and most shape-shifting forms of hatred in human history. As the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum defines it, antisemitism means “having a negative or hostile attitude toward Jewish people just because they are Jewish,” built on stereotypes, conspiracy theories, and false beliefs about Jews and Judaism. Over centuries, it has taken many forms—from religious bigotry and accusations of deicide to racial theories of Jewish inferiority, economic conspiracies, and blood libel tropes that painted Jews as dangerous outsiders. Even as these expressions have evolved, the underlying impulse—to define Jews as threatening “others”—remains remarkably persistent.
Modern definitions of antisemitism help clarify its enduring patterns but also highlight real tensions. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, for example, includes illustrative examples—many focused on Israel—showing how criticism can cross into antisemitism through double standards, delegitimization, or demonization. The AntiDefamation League similarly warns about “language, rhetoric or actions that demonize, delegitimize or apply a double standard to the Jewish state.” In contrast, the Jerusalem Declaration aims to protect space for vigorous debate on Israel/Palestine while defining antisemitism as “discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews,” cautioning against labeling all criticism of Israel as antisemitic. These differing emphases reflect genuine debates—within Jewish communities and beyond—about how to balance the fight against antisemitism with protecting free expression and political critique.
This definitional work is not academic hair-splitting; it is urgently practical in our Bay Area context. As Professor Marc Dollinger of San Francisco State University writes in “Reflections on the San Francisco Bay Area (and beyond) After October 7th,” “As post-October 7, anti-Zionist rhetoric intensified[…] protesters spoke more and more about the evils of colonialism, imperialism and genocide, and less and less about the culpability of Hamas, Israel’s right to self-defense and the vexing question of how a Jewish state can best wage a just war in a just way.” He notes these framings often erase the diverse, intersectional identities of Bay Area Jews themselves—including Jews of color, Mizrahi Jews, and others in the U.S. and Israel whose histories complicate or refute the settler-colonial narrative. The disagreement among definitions is precisely about this boundary: when does necessary, even urgent critique of Israeli policy become collective demonization of Jews?
Understanding both the history and these evolving forms of antisemitism is essential as our community develops thoughtful, effective responses. It is not enough to recognize overt slurs or threats; we must also recognize when calls for “global Intifada” on campuses or blood-libel imagery in protest art cross from political critique into hate speech. As documented in the Report from the Stanford Jewish Advisory Committee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, students reported that “‘Zio’ was used in ways functionally equivalent to ‘Jew,’ making anti-Zionist rhetoric a vehicle for antisemitic harassment.” They also described a climate in which “being anti-Israel was perceived as necessary for inclusion in many activist spaces,” leaving Jewish students feeling pressured to renounce core parts of their identity. These lived experiences contribute to a widely shared sense among Bay Area Jews that antisemitism is growing as a force impacting our sense of safety, belonging, and well-being.
It is also essential to recognize that the Bay Area’s Jewish community is diverse, complex, and evolving. Jews make up 4.3% of the Bay Area’s population (about 350,000 people), making this the fourth-largest Jewish population in the United States. One in four Bay Area Jews identify as a person of color or of mixed racial heritage, with that number rising to nearly 40% among Gen Z. Many Jewish families have chosen the Bay Area for its opportunities and its history of openness to contested identities, including LGBTQ+ and interracial families. While the median income for Jews is often reported as higher than other groups, the stereotype of wealth is inaccurate and harmful, erasing those experiencing economic precarity.
This diversity also shapes different experiences of antisemitism across generations. Many Gen X Jews remember a time when antisemitism felt largely dormant and Jewish identity could be expressed freely. In contrast, younger Millennials and Gen Z have seen antisemitism resurge in the last 10–15 years, making it much more common for Jewish children and young adults to encounter bias, exclusion, or even hostility. This has only intensified in the wake of the Israel–Hamas war, making education about the history and misinformation underlying antisemitism more urgently necessary.
It is equally important to acknowledge the tension that racial diversity can create within Jewish communities themselves. While Jews of color continue to face barriers, often these are rooted in racism more than antisemitism. Meanwhile, the relative proximity of white or white-passing Jews to “whiteness” in American society has given rise to damaging assumptions that Jews are uniformly wealthy, white, and powerful—thus not in need of protection as a vulnerable group. This framing ignores the historic ways Jews have been excluded from full belonging, and it contributes to antisemitic narratives that cast Jews as privileged conspirators holding outsized power.
Several drivers are fueling the current rise in antisemitism that Jewish organizations and communities must navigate with care and resilience. One is the perception by many, though not all, Jewish groups that the federal government has sought to “weaponize” antisemitism—using it, for example, to justify withholding funding from universities until they adopt stricter policies on antisemitic harassment, or to deport individuals for political views about Israel/Palestine that, while offensive, may fall under free speech. Critics fear such moves may not make Jews safer but instead risk fueling resentment and antisemitic backlash by casting Jews as the reason for limits on academic freedom or immigration.
A second issue is the rise in vandalism and violence directed at Jews and Jewish institutions in connection with political protests over the war in Gaza. In urban centers, Jewish students, synagogues, and businesses have increasingly become targets for harassment or intimidation framed as protest against Israeli policy.
A third challenge is the ongoing debate—within Jewish communities and across the broader society—over when anti-Zionist or anti-Israel positions cross the line into antisemitism. While people will differ on where precisely that line lies, it is clear that this debate has grown more polarized and more heated. We cannot responsibly talk about antisemitism in the Bay Area without acknowledging that many contemporary expressions of hostility toward Israel draw on the same age-old antisemitic tropes that have persisted for centuries.
At Brandeis, and in partnership with other Jewish organizations, our aim is to approach these challenges with honesty, care, and commitment to building resilience. That resilience means not simply reacting to hate but fostering communities of learning, dialogue, and Jewish joy—communities that affirm the dignity of every student and family while equipping them to confront antisemitism in all its forms.
SNAPSHOTS OF THE WORK AT BRANDEIS
What follows are some examples drawn from The Mifgash Project and from our own teaching practices, as well as a resource list that we developed in creating this playbook, which we hope will be of use to our colleagues in the wider community.
Examine Your Values
The goal of a project like this is to strengthen your community’s capacity to address antisemitism thoughtfully and constructively—by rooting any conversation in your organization’s own values and mission. This means ensuring those values show up not just as slogans but as lived commitments that guide how you talk about hard topics with students, families, staff, and your wider community.
Many schools and Jewish organizations have explicitly stated core values— community principles, mission statements, or educational goals. These often contain the very ethical commitments that can help anchor conversations about antisemitism, even if they have not been examined through this lens before. By linking your values to the work of recognizing, understanding, and responding to antisemitism, you can strengthen your mission to build resilient, caring, and thoughtful Jewish communities.
In The Mifgash Project, we started by considering Jewish values and habits of mind that felt especially important for conversations about civics and democracy. A similar list, tuned more to the context of work around antisemitism, might begin as follows:
Kavod (Respect): Affirming dignity in all discussions
Emet (Truth): Grounding claims in facts, resisting misinformation and stereotypes
Tzedek (Justice): Centering fairness and equity in our responses
Chesed (Kindness): Holding compassion even in disagreement
Areivut (Mutual Responsibility): Acknowledging our obligations to one another
Shmirat Halashon (Mindful Speech): Avoiding harmful or inflammatory language
Next, turn your attention to your own community’s stated values. The easiest place to start is with your mission statement or core values. Where do those commitments connect to this work? For example, does your commitment to truth mean educating about the history and persistence of antisemitic tropes? Does your value of respect call you to ensure Jewish students feel safe being visibly Jewish, even in times of conflict over Israel/Palestine? At Brandeis, with Chesed or Kindness being one of our community values, that practice of holding empathy for ourselves and one another has been central to this work.
It can help to make a simple chart or list, connecting your values on one side with how they can support conversations about antisemitism on the other. For instance:
Our Value How It Anchors This Work
Respect Calling out slurs or harassment; creating safe space for Jewish students
Truth Addressing myths and conspiracy theories about Jews
Justice Advocating for fair treatment; resisting scapegoating
Kindness Holding compassion even during disagreements about Israel/Palestine
In our own process, we used this approach to go beyond our core school values. We drew from a broader set of Jewish values and traditions, and gathered input from staff in multiple ways: reviewing curricula, talking in small groups, surveying for feedback, and sharing drafts for revision. This helped ensure that the resulting approach was genuinely rooted in our school culture—not just imposed from above.
An example of a poster we created for The Mifgash Project at Brandeis is on the next page. Ultimately, you want to create a framework that is userfriendly for all of your staff and community members—one that reflects your mission, strengthens your organizational culture, and increases the likelihood these conversations will be grounded in care, respect, and Jewish values.
LIVING ETHICALLY ACTING DEMOCRATICALLY
DEMOCRATIC HABITS OF MIND
JEWISH VALUES & ETHICS Be a L.E.A.Der
Making Shared Decisions
Collaborative Problem Solving Taking Action and Standing Up for What's Right Taking Care of Our Community
Respecting Other Perspectives
Engaging in Civil Discourse
Kehilah (הליהק) Community
Simchah (החמש) Joy and Celebration
Shalom Bayit (תיב םולש) Peace In The Home
Hakarat Hatov (בוטה תרכה) Recognizing the Good/Gratitude
Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh (הזב הז םיברע לארשי לכ) Community Responsibility
Hachnasat Orchim (םיחרוא
) Welcoming Others
Kavod (דובכ) Respect T’shuvah (הבושת) Becoming Our Best Selves
Anavah (הונע) Humility
Lomed Mikol Adam (םדא לכמ דמול) Learning from Everyone
What’s In My Name
An activity to connect students ages 5-12 with their Jewish Identities through the origin of their names
“One of the best ways to counter fear is to strengthen our connection to who we are. Engage your child in Jewish traditions, community events, and meaningful discussions about Jewish values and history. When they feel a strong sense of identity, it can help them feel more secure in the face of challenges.” (https://thesocialblueprint.org.au/antisemitism-andchildren/)
One of the ways we work to combat antisemitism when working with students in elementary school is through building pride in their Jewish identity. There are many children’s texts that can be used to spearhead this engagement, both those that directly reference Jewish identity and those that connect conceptually to children discovering their identities in a variety of ways. Young students bring a range of knowledge about their identities to any given situation and it is worthwhile to give them a voice to talk about themselves, their families, their community and their personal history. Depending on the activity that you choose to do, you may need parents to do some pre-discussion work around a child’s family history and family culture.
An activity that students in our school have particularly enjoyed and one that has many developmental entry points is discussing the origin of one’s name. With younger children, this is usually about how they got their first names, with older children it can also delve into the history and origin of their last names. In our elementary classroom, we begin this exploration by reading the book Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez Neal. This book is about a Hispanic child who expresses dismay about her unusual lengthy name and then comes to love it for what it represents. It is an excellent text to initiate a conversation about where names come from, how they can connect us to our identities and why we should be proud of our names. This affords an opportunity to have a discussion about the power of names and how they can be an expression of Jewish joy. In the Bay Area, many student’s names represent a blend of cultures as there are children whose families are multiethnic and the names given to their children represent a family’s pride in many aspects of their identities. The complexity of these discussions can range from the very simple with younger students (do you know why you were given your name, how does it connect to your Judaism, what makes you proud about your name) to the more intellectual with older students in which the discussion can include talking about how others perceive one’s name and how their name can impact them. (See Facing History resources on Names)
After initiating and conducting an age appropriate discussion around names, there are activities that students can do which deepen their connection to Jewish identity and pride in their given name. A particular favorite in the work we have done with children around this topic is to have them create an identity flag that connects their name, their heritage and other aspects of themselves to a piece of art in the guise of a personal flag. Children brainstorm the kinds of symbols that might be incorporated into the flag, how the flag will be a visual representation of their identity and ways to design the flag to best communicate their identity. When completed these flags can become a beautiful display in the community or a piece of art for children to take home.
Teaching Antisemitic Tropes (8th Grade)
Background
Our students graduate Brandeis after the 8th grade and most go on to attend non-Jewish schools. In today’s climate, where misinformation about Jews and Judaism proliferate, it is vital to educate them on the history and development of antisemitism and anti-Jewish prejudice. The reality of today’s world is that most of our students have or will encounter antisemitism statements and images in their near future and we want them to be prepared to understand the origin of what they might hear and see. Knowledge is power, and understanding where many antisemitic tropes arise from helps students to feel empowered to fight back—even if it’s only to understand the misinformation and lies they might be hearing and seeing.
While students, beginning in 7th grade, study the Holocaust and its effects on the Jewish people, the focus of this particular unit is to move away from that particular time period and move towards an overview of antisemitism—reaching all the way back to the Roman times and the destruction of the Second Temple. The goal is to show students that there is a continuum of hate—that goes back to the inception of Christianity and waxes and wanes depending on the political moment. For instance, in the United States, Jews have enjoyed freedoms rarely experienced throughout Diasporic history. Therefore students may have trouble understanding the pervasive nature of this prejudice. They will often laugh at the ridiculousness of something like blood libel. We believe it is important to both acknowledge the absolute absurdity of the belief, and impress upon them the seriousness of this idea and the violence it has caused. We try to limit the images to the U.S. and do not discuss images and writing focused on the modern state of Israel. While antisemitism and Israel is absolutely a vital topic, it deserves its own lesson and we will often include the lesson on antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment as the next lesson.
Exercise
One of the exercises we do is look at different tropes - both where they originated from and how they manifest today. For example, European Jews were often accused of being diseased and spreaders of disease. As far back as the fourteenth century, Jews were blamed for intentionally spreading the Bubonic Plague which resulted in the murder of thousands of innocent Jews. Later on, Hitler referred to Jews as vermin who spread bacteria. Recently, during the Covid 19 Pandemic - Jews were once again accused of spreading the disease and profiting off the vaccine. During the pandemic several middle school students came to school, quite upset after seeing flyers stating that the Covid was created by the Jews and pointing to Jewish doctors who then worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as orchestrating this pandemic to aid the Jews in taking over the U.S. and the world.
In addition to the trope of “Dirt and Disease,” and “Blood Libel” there are six others we look at. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it does address some of the more common ones.
1. Blood Libel - The belief that Jews murder non-Jews (mostly Christian children) to use the blood in rituals - particularly baking of matzah.
2. Global Domination/Power - A conspiracy theory that Jews want to take over the world through control of the media and economy. Made popular by the publication of the The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, originally published in Russian in the early twentieth century, it has since been translated into many languages and published around the world.
3. Disease/Filth - See above
4. Wealth/Greed - The false belief that Jews are good with money and that they are greedy - looking to control the world’s banks.
5. Deicide and Demonisation - The myth that Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus. This has endured even though the Catholic Church officially discredited this belief in 1964.
6. Holocaust Denial/Distortion - The false claim that Jews have severely exaggerated the magnitude of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. The minimization of Jewish suffering and refusal to see the Holocaust as a genocide.
7. Great Replacement Theory - A conspiracy theory that purports Jews want to increase the nonwhite population in the US in order to weaken and ultimately destroy the white race.
After reviewing some of the different tropes, we then look at images. We provide some of the images and students are asked to share images they have seen on social media. We then dissect them to see which tropes apply. The goal is not for students to put each image neatly into a particular category, but rather to examine them carefully so that they can understand what the image is trying to convey and to disempower it. For many students, antisemitic images and slogans lose their power when students can understand the myths and misunderstandings that are behind it.
Just a note to say that education specifically focused on antisemitism and its history is incomplete. One of the most important tools for combating antisemitism is building a positive Jewish identity. Students with a weak Jewish identity are more likely to allow antisemitism to limit their participation in Jewish communities and feel they need to hide their Jewish identity. Conversely, students with a strong Jewish identity are more likely to bounce back from antisemitic encounters and even actively fight back. Students who feel a sense of pride and belonging become future allies in the fight against antisemitism. Direct education is only part of fighting antisemitism. Celebrating Purim, baking challah, and seeing our patriarchs and matriarchs as models for our own behaviors are also part of this battle.
Reading Groups
At The Brandeis School of San Francisco, we know that creating a culture of engagement across difference begins with our own learning. One way we have nurtured that culture among faculty and staff is through voluntary reading groups—spaces to deepen understanding, wrestle with complex issues, and model the humility and curiosity we hope to instill in our students.
We have run three such groups in recent years: two over the summer, and one across the school year. All have been opt-in, respecting that meaningful exploration of difficult topics starts with self-motivation.
Summer Reading Groups
Our summer groups invited faculty and staff to read a book from an annotated list, paired with a shared set of discussion questions to help guide personal reflection and group conversation. We met in groups based on the books people chose to discuss what people read, and how it might intersect with their work as a member of our faculty or staff. As one of the invitations put it:
“Thank you for your engagement in this important work—I’m excited for the foundation we can lay together for navigating a complex election year in a manner that is grounded in our shared values, our mission as a school, and our aspirations for our graduates and our community.”
We hosted one summer group focused on Civics and Democracy, helping us prepare for the 2024 presidential election in a values-grounded way. Another group centered on Israel and Palestine, responding to the urgent need for deeper, more nuanced understanding in the wake of October 7th.
Participants were encouraged to order books of their choosing from a school-provided list, and reflect on questions like:
Are there particular stories or moments that resonate with your experience as an educator in a Jewish school?
How do historical narratives shape your understanding of current democratic practices, conflicts, or challenges?
What perspectives and biases does the book highlight? How do they influence your view of the topic?
How do identity and culture shape the narratives presented?
How does the book help you understand personal experiences, emotions, or human dimensions behind these issues?
What insights can inform your teaching practice and your ability to create an open, respectful classroom for discussing complex topics?
Does the book suggest ideas for conflict resolution, peacebuilding, or civic responsibility?
Yearlong Reading Group
Out of the summer Israel/Palestine reading group, there was interest in a deeper, ongoing study. That led to a yearlong group reading Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East, co-led by a faculty member and our Director of Jewish Learning. This group met monthly over the 2024–25 school year, reading one chapter at a time.
Each meeting used simple ground rules—be brave, be kind, keep conversations confidential—to support open dialogue. Faculty and staff discussed what they learned, what surprised or challenged them, and how their understanding evolved.
These reading groups exemplify the commitments in our Living Ethically Acting Democratically poster—Respecting Other Perspectives, Humility, Learning from Everyone— and represent our belief that fostering civic dialogue in our students begins with practicing it ourselves.
Resource List
Articles and Reports
ADL Global 100 – Comprehensive Survey of Antisemitic Attitudes Around the World ADL Global 100 website
“Anti-Israel, Anti-Zionist, Antisemitic: Reflections on the San Francisco Bay Area (and beyond) After October 7th,” Prof. Marc Dollinger evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org
Series on Antisemitism & Bigotry from My Jewish Learning
A Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism from T’ruah
Five Myths of Antisemitism - Washington Post article
Lesson Plans
Echoes and Reflections (Holocaust curriculum)
Antisemitism (Unit 2)
Israel and antisemitism
Unpacked for Educators
Antisemitism Explained
Facing History
An Explainer
Antisemitic tropes
Overview of Anti-Jewish
Antisemitism Today
Racialized Antisemitism - Europe in 17th - 19th centuries
USHMM
Video - What is Antisemitism
Antisemitism Unit from 1400s to 1945
JFERJ
Unraveling Antisemitism: A Discussion Guide (Powerpoint)
If you are interested in learning more about the The Mifgash Project, you can learn more here: https://www.sfbrandeis.org/mifgash-project-brandeis-san-francisco
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We extend our gratitude to the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment for their support to make this work possible. Our thanks also goes to the Brandeis faculty who created this resource for the community.
