Haley Cohen’s recent article “A deep dive into the world of Jewish influencers” (eJewishPhilanthropy, July 23) highlights an existential crisis facing the pro-Israel world. It is a crisis exacerbated by the events of Oct. 7, but not created by it: the increasing ignorance and apathy around Israel, particularly among next-gen Americans. 

However, instead of viewing influencers as a problematic component in this dilemma, it is time that we start to see them as an asset.  

Francesca Carto fotografo/Getty Images

The “influencer era” has forced our community to grapple with the most basic realities of new media. As a community focused on measurable impact, we have never been more out of our comfort zone. Social media amplification metrics such as impressions and views are susceptible to endless bots around conflict-related posts and are less and less relevant. Meanwhile, “For You Page” algorithmic suggestions allow users an unprecedented ability to curate what they want to see, effectively guaranteeing that “mainstream” American kids — the most valuable target demographic — will never see the content our “Jewish influencers” put out. They may not see the other side’s content either, but that leaves them in a precarious state of indifference and uninformedness, a result confirmed by all the best survey data on young audiences (see here and here for some examples). 

We all recognize we must find different ways to engage with those outside of our own community, yet we continue to employ the same broken tactics we always have, assuming outside onlookers will be swayed by the exact same content our own community finds so compelling. 

Jewish influencers play a very important role for our community. They empower us. They lift us up. They make us feel seen. They amplify messages that resonate with us. Sometimes they even provide some really good satirical laughs that create moments of levity during these challenging times. These influencers provide true comfort to our community, often at their own professional risk, and we should be deeply grateful to them. 

It is also time to acknowledge the power of influencers outside of the Jewish sphere, whose on-ramp to engaging with Israel and being inspired by it may look different than our own.  

The Jewish community has long ignored the highest-reward opportunities to engage and activate tens of millions of mainstream young Americans, who can create a lasting relationship with Israel if mobilized in a natural way.  

 So, what do we know about the world we are operating in and these young Americans that we are trying to meet? 

We know lots of things about the current generation of young people, but one surprising finding stands out: Overwhelmingly, young Americans are religious. According to a recent poll, 77% of Gen Z consider themselves “spiritual,” and 68% self-identify as “religious”. This should come as no surprise. From Steph Curry to Patrick Mahomes, Kendrick Lamar to Carrie Underwood and Caitlin Clark to Justin Bieber, just to name a few, young Americans are growing up with their favorite musicians, athletes, actors and pop culture icons leading with their commitment to faith.  

Today’s young Americans are largely non-denominational Christians. They often don’t attend brick-and-mortar churches regularly or spend time with their local pastors. Instead, they find inspiration and community with their generational cohorts on social media, from nightly TikTok Live bible studies to top-ranked podcasts like ‘Girls Gone Bible.’ This generation is dominated by what you might call “Steph Curry Christians”: They wear the same streetwear, listen to the same music and follow the same sports as everyone else. Not only are they active participants in popular culture, but they are usually the ones shaping it.  

What does the rise of Steph Curry Christians mean for Israel? On one hand, it presents a challenge. Most of these young Americans are just as ignorant about Israel as any student protesting in a college encampment. On the other hand, these nondenominational Christians represent an opportunity, because their faith background and interests give them a natural pathway to positive engagement with Israel.  

Allie Schnacky, Madi Prewett, Luke Parker, Christian Huff and Sadie Robertson Huff, Kristin Marino, Austin Armstong, Noah Schnacky, Grant Troutt — these content creators on the frontlines of culture on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, who are also Christian, are already showcasing their eagerness to connect to Israel and the Jewish people. What’s more, we know that their audiences in Monroe, La., Cookeville, Tenn., Bozeman, Mont., Charlotte, N.C., — in short, small towns and big cities across our country — are entirely unreached by our present communal messaging. These audiences are hungry for inspiration and engagement, if we can reach them in an authentic way and bring real value to their content consumption and social media feeds. 

The era of hasbara as we know it is over. Social media killed it and no army of Jewish influencers can successfully over-explain our perspective to the outside world. But Hasbara can, should, and needs to evolve into a communal strategy that extends beyond “gotcha moments.” We need to amplify our fact-based talking points as much as possible, and we would be putting Jewish influencers in an impossible position if we asked them to shoulder the entire burden of the Jewish people alone, especially as they are decreasingly reaching the audiences that are moveable for all of the reasons mentioned above. 

We must ramp up our focus on engaging tens of millions of mainstream young Americans with Israel by meeting them where they already are. The audience is there. The creators are there. 

Are we? 

Zach Briton spent over 12 years in executive leadership roles at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and is now the chief advancement officer at BZ Media, where he leverages philanthropic capital, creator relationships and Jewish wisdom to create a new generation of pro-Israel voices on social media platforms.