There’s a front line in every generation. For some, it’s on the battlefield. For others, it’s in the courtroom, the classroom or the community boardroom. For those of us in the media, it’s in the narrative: on air, online and in every conversation where truth is tested and identity is debated. 

In this moment of rising antisemitism, misinformation and cultural confusion, the most critical front line I can stand on is the one where we defend the Jewish people and the State of Israel — not with weapons, but with storytelling, strategy and truth. That’s why I’ve shifted my career focus to telling our story. Not just for this generation, but for the next; and not just to remind people where we’ve been but to make sure they know who we are.

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Illustrative. An American Jewish family at the Passover Seder table. The Seder leader holds up the middle matzah before breaking it. halbergman/Getty Images

Passover, the quintessential holiday of Jewish memory, doesn’t just ask us to recall the Exodus. It commands us to retell it, every year, loudly, proudly and across generations. Even the youngest child must be involved. “And you shall tell your child on that day” is not passive memory — it is active legacy-building. The Seder table isn’t just a place for food but a platform for narrative continuity. For millenia, it’s been our press conference to the world: a night when even the child who doesn’t know how to ask is met with answers and care. In our time, that same mission takes shape across the media landscape, in our schools, in our camps and in our communities. Because if we don’t tell our story, someone else will — and they’re already trying.

That’s what drives my work today. Through the American Middle East Press Association (AMEPA), I help bring Israeli voices and truth to major U.S. media outlets, organize journalist delegations to Israel and the United Nations,and create platforms for Israelis — academics, soldiers, doctors, mothers — to speak for themselves. We’ve worked with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ben-Gurion University, Tel Aviv University, Jinnovate and the Druze community to ensure that facts and human stories reach American newsrooms hungry for substance. We’re not in the spin business. We’re in the truth-telling business.

Alongside this, my work with the Community Security Service (CSS) has shown me what it means to protect our people not just with ideas but with action. In the wake of Oct. 7, CSS brought American law enforcement leaders to Israel and trained new waves of civilian volunteers to safeguard Jewish spaces across the country. Under the leadership of Richard Priem, CSS is expanding its reach on college campuses and in communities where fear has become too common. CSS is not only training security volunteers — it’s helping Jewish communities reclaim a sense of control, strength and dignity.

My work also intersects with the next chapter of Jewish leadership. Through the Lauder Impact Initiative, we’re cultivating young Jews with a sense of entrepreneurialism and purpose. These are the future storytellers, founders, thinkers and fighters — not with fists, but with vision. The Lauder Initiative helps them see Judaism as a framework for leadership, responsibility and global impact. They’re not just inheriting the Jewish story. They’re shaping what comes next.

I’ve also had the privilege of working with NCSY and their powerful program, the Jewish Student Union (JSU), which reaches thousands of teens in public middle and high schools nationwide. Together, we’re shifting the spotlight to where it’s urgently needed: antisemitism in our K-12 schools, long overlooked while headlines focused only on universities. These clubs, supported by local community leaders and the Anti-Defamation League, are giving Jewish teens a space to learn, connect and speak up. In a time when Jewish identity is often mocked or misrepresented in mainstream culture, NCSY and JSU are helping the next generation embrace who they are and proudly share it with others.

That’s why my recent work with the Yad Vashem USA Foundation is so personal. Yad Vashem isn’t just a museum — it’s the global nerve center of memory, education and moral clarity. It ensures that “Never Again” isn’t a slogan but a living responsibility. Through survivor testimony, educational initiatives and international outreach, Yad Vashem is equipping the next generation to recognize the signs, speak the truth and act with urgency. Because silence is never neutral — and in the war for memory, public relations can be an instrument of justice.

And then there’s the soul of our community. With Chai Lifeline, I’ve had the opportunity to amplify the stories of kids battling cancer and chronic illness and the community of counselors, volunteers and donors who stand by them every step of the way. I was moved beyond words watching a group of 20-something camp counselors raise $70,000 in days to throw a last hurrah event for campers before they returned to the hospital, turning one final night of summer into a memory of hope and light.

When you weave all of this together — advocacy, security, education, leadership, identity, resilience, memory, chesed (kindness) — you begin to see that the Jewish story is not one note. It’s a symphony. It’s a 3,000-year campaign for justice, dignity and self-definition. And it only continues if we commit to telling it ourselves.

That’s why Passover is more than a holiday — it’s the Jewish people’s annual strategic communications meeting. We sit with family, share hard truths, eat bitter herbs and sing about freedom. We ask the tough questions and we answer them without spin, without filters and without shame. If that’s not public relations, I don’t know what is.

This year especially, we cannot afford to leave the storytelling to someone else. Too many are already trying to rewrite our history, minimize our suffering or recast our victories as crimes. We owe it to ourselves — and to the next generation — to speak louder, clearer and more courageously.

My work in media used to be about brand launches and press hits. Now, it’s about protecting our people’s narrative, uplifting our youth, defending our homeland and ensuring that truth has a fighting chance. Because when the next generation sits at the Seder table and hears our story, they should also feel empowered to stand up and tell their own.

This is our moment. The headlines may shift and the crises may evolve, but our mission remains: Tell the story, pass it on and protect the soul of our people through the power of words.

Passover is the holiday of Jewish memory, but it’s also the holiday of Jewish messaging. Let’s embrace both. Let’s do the sacred work of public relations — not just for brands, but for our people, our homeland and our future.

Warren Cohen is the founder and CEO of RocketshipPR.