Be the Narrative, a nonprofit that works to combat antisemitism in classrooms, will join forces with Jewish Federations of North America’s community relations team, the groups announced on Tuesday at JFNA’s General Assembly. 

Under its “Student to Student” program, Be the Narrative brings Jewish high school juniors and seniors into schools where students have little-to-no contact with Jews. K-12 public and non-Jewish private schools in many districts have become the center of anti-Israel sentiments and antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. According to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2023 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, there were 1,162 incidents in K-12 schools, a 135% increase from the prior year. Rabbi Andrew Terkel, executive director of Be the Narrative, said that the dramatic increase of antisemitism can be combatted by in-person connections. 

“Deep down, I believe that if there was a ‘Student to Student’ presentation in every classroom in America, the Jewish people would be having a better time right now,” Terkel said. “More people would understand us. More people would know who we are, and maybe less people would be susceptible to the misinformation being spread about Jews and Judaism.” 

The partnership was announced during a panel at the GA called “Supporting and empowering teens as they confront rising antisemitism today,” which featured insight from Terkel as well as Robin Friedman, co-founder and chief content officer of Tribe Talk; Dan Mezistrano, a BBYO student leader; and Alana Ebin, director of Mosaic Teens.

“Our work took on a new urgency after Oct. 7 in being a positive force for Jewish kids in high school as well as to affirm and build strong Jewish identities in a difficult time,” Terkel said. 

Eric Fingerhut, JFNA CEO and president, said in a statement that the group had been “looking for a program that will help Jewish teenagers gain confidence and offer them the skills to talk about being Jewish, and to engage them with non-Jews in the community, especially when there is so much negative information in the rise of antisemitism.”