In Maryland and around the country, Jewish communities have experienced a dramatic uptick in antisemitic incidents and hate crimes. In its most recent Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, the Anti-Defamation League stated there were 3,697 reports of Jewish hate crimes in the United States in 2022 — the most ever recorded.
To combat this disturbing trend, the Jewish Federation of Howard County recently launched the initiative Student to Student, a leadership opportunity for teens to combat antisemitic tropes and stereotypes against the Jewish community.
This experiential program is a direct response to incident reports submitted through the JFHC’s online antisemitism reporting tool launched last October. Many reports pertained to incidents that occurred within the Howard County Public School System. In recent months, there was an increase in students reportedly drawing swastikas on white boards and giving Jewish students Nazi salutes while walking in the halls.
The JFHC is working closely with HCPSS leaders to respond to these incidents.
According to the ADL’s January 2023 report, 85% of Americans believe at least one anti-Jewish trope — as opposed to 61% in 2019 — and 20% of Americans believe at six or more anti-Jewish tropes, a nearly 100% increase since 2019.
In Maryland, the ADL found a 98% increase in antisemitic incidents.
“Our antisemitism reporting tool has demonstrated that Howard County is not immune to this type of bias and ignorance,” said Joel Frankel, the JFHC’s president and CEO. “We believe [Student to Student] is an opportunity to have an impact on teens who are bombarded by messages of hate and bigotry on social media.”
Student to Student is a peer-to-peer program that engages high school classes and empowers Jewish teens to speak about their identity to help combat bias. High school student presenters of all Jewish backgrounds and movements visit local high schools to share their experiences, beliefs and practices, such as Shabbat, kashrut, commitment to Israel and the Jewish life cycle. They also talk about antisemitism and bias.
Student to Student is a program of Be the Narrative, a St. Louis-based Jewish student leadership nonprofit that now operates in 15 communities around the nation.
JFHC recently received a grant from the Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Fund of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore to hire a part-time program associate to coordinate Student to Student.
For information about Student to Student, contact Rena Dubin at rdubin@jewishhowardcounty.org .
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