By Gefen Miller
Tessa Veksler rose to national prominence as a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, while actively combating antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments on campus in the wake of Oct 7th.
A San Francisco area native, the 24-year-old Veksler is now a leading influencer in the Jewish world, with 40,000-plus followers on Instagram and videos attracting more than 7.5 million combined views. She also appeared in the 2025 documentary “October 8.”
On Monday, June 8, Pikesville’s Chizuk Amuno Congregation and Schools will welcome Veksler for the second annual Ruth and Jay Lenrow Visiting Scholar-in-Residence for Combating Antisemitism. The event, from 7-9 p.m., will be held in partnership with Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
Jmore recently caught up with Veksler, who graduated from UCSB in 2024 with a degree in political science and communication.
At UCSB, you served as president of the Associated Students organization. How did you balance that role with your own ideals when the campus mood turned hostile toward Israel?
It was something I kind of had to learn how to carry. I’ve never stopped expressing myself and my Jewishness. It’s kind of this unfair expectation that’s placed on Jewish leaders that we have to somehow separate these things.
But I had to remain approachable to offer support to the 24,000 students at UCSB that obviously have a diverse set of opinions, and I wanted to be a safe space for civil discourse.
After graduating, why did you decide to become a Jewish and pro-Israel activist?
If you have a belief system and that belief system is being threatened, you have an obligation to fight for it. For the Jewish community, that’s been more urgent than ever. Because of that sense of urgency, I feel even more compelled to speak out.
In a professional sense, I was launched into activism in a way by accident, because I never posted [on social media] with the expectation it would become a platform. I was posting because I needed some outside support from the Jewish community because of what I was experiencing on campus.
I think also the more educated you become on a topic, the more confident you are to speak out about it and engage in discourse.
How did being the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine influenced you?
As a child of immigrants, I understand how my parents viewed America when they were fighting so hard to get here. I was taught my whole life how fortunate I was to be born in a country like America.
In my mind, that’s kind of what this is now. Civil rights and liberties are being threatened, and I don’t want this experience of my parents fighting so hard to come here to be in vain.
What specific steps can non-Jews take to support Jewish peers when they see harassment on campus?
Don’t be a bystander. What’s more upsetting than anything when I see videos of antisemitic attacks is how many people stand around watching it take place, doing absolutely nothing.
The second piece of advice is to be truly educated on the topic before you speak out about it. It’s really important for non-Jews to ask the right questions of their Jewish peers and ask them what they need. Instead of believing a TikTok video, they could try engaging with the people around them who really have a personal stake in what’s going on.
I think allyship is a reciprocal act, and I think that the Jewish community has historically been pretty good at this and being there for other minorities. Everyone should do the same.
When do you feel political activism on campus crosses the line into conduct violations or antisemitism?
Anything calling for violence, anything holding Israel to a double standard, anything using tropes to blame Jewish students on campus for what’s happening abroad, any type of harassment or exclusion — that’s antisemitism by definition. Then you’re crossing into conduct violation, when [Jewish students] are being prevented from walking into classrooms when encampments are blocking students’ access to certain parts of campus, when students are being barred from being in certain clubs or in certain spaces, when students are made to feel uncomfortable by their own professors in their lectures.
In my mind, you cannot separate anti-Zionism and antisemitism. They’re intertwined, so it’s important for schools to name that.
What would you like to see happen for Jewish life on campuses over the next five to 10 years?
Jewish students should just be able to thrive. They should have the same rights and privileges as all their other classmates to go and attend the university, to experience campus life without fear of discrimination, for the universities to consider Jewish students and recognize Jewish students as a minority and a group they need to protect.
Ideally, these universities should be held accountable for antisemitism. [Schools should] not be accepting foreign funding from adversaries, professors should teach the subject of Israel accurately, and students should not be walking out with antisemitic tropes.
How can Jewish students in the Diaspora help support Israel?
Not everybody is meant to be a social media activist, and that’s totally fine. You have to cater to your own strengths.
If you’re someone who doesn’t like being in the public eye, [work for] a campaign, whether it’s in student government, at a university, or an actual political scenario where you’re helping a candidate who’s supportive of Israel and the Jewish community. If you’re in the arts community or the entertainment industry, bring in the right types of Jewish stories and the accurate narrative about Israel. It’s all about influencing the spaces that you’re in.
As someone with a large platform, how do you deal with online harassment?
There’s an expectation and a pressure to respond to everything, but I really try to only respond when I feel I have something particularly valuable to say.
I don’t feel the need to comment on everything unless you’re adding to the conversation, unless you’re adding an action item or a commentary that’s helpful. I don’t think regurgitating information that’s upsetting helps anyone or does anything. It might get views, but you’re not actually putting valuable stuff out.
I’m Shabbat-observant, so I have this 25-hour period every single week where I’m unplugged and offline. I think that kind of helps me take a battery reset and stay grounded.
Are you hopeful for the future of Jewish life on campuses?
I think the younger generation of Jews is really stepping up to the plate. I think that the situation in American universities can be improved, but it’s going to take a concerted effort from all of us, from the public and from our government, both local and on a federal level.
I don’t think this is just about Jews. I think this is about anti-Western, anti-American ideology on the rise, and we need to name that. A lot more people with large platforms are naming it for what it is.
Broadening the conversation is ultimately going to lead us where we need to go, and the change we’re going to see has to be on a broader scale.
For information or to register, visit tinyurl.com/CATessaVeksler
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