Dr. Rachel Fish has been named the founding executive director of the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism. Fish will begin in her new role on Monday, Oct. 7th.

Robert Kraft established this new foundation in response to the growing rise in anti-Semitism in the U.S. and abroad, particularly in light of the spread of hateful rhetoric online and the initiation of hate crimes against the Jewish people through social media. He announced the foundation when he was awarded the Genesis Prize in June 2019 in Jerusalem, along with his own $20 million founding investment and the generous donations of others.

Fish brings with her a thorough background and history in the fight against anti-Semitism, including a strong academic understanding of the issues and varied experience in advocacy work. Most recently, Rachel was Senior Advisor and Resident Scholar of Jewish/Israel Philanthropy at The Paul E. Singer Foundation in New York City where she aided in developing the strategic approach for the foundation’s giving and worked directly with practitioners to implement their missions and initiatives.

Before her time with the Singer Foundation, Fish was the executive director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. During her tenure at Brandeis, she initiated educational workshops about the modern nation state of Israel for public school high school educators. She was also a professor in the Hornstein Program for Jewish Professional Leadership at Brandeis where she taught the Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel Studies. Fish has taught at Brandeis University, Harvard University, UMass Amherst and in adult Jewish education programs.

As executive director, Fish will be responsible for strategic vision and planning, fundraising and leading the operations of the foundation. She will also be tasked with hiring and managing the foundation’s staff which will specialize in social media, education and effective response to anti-Semitic incidents and rhetoric.