As Israel’s bold actions against Iran reverberate across the globe, the message is unmistakable: Jewish survival is not passive. Jews are not weak, and we are not helpless. We act — strategically, intelligently, unapologetically. That truth must reshape not only how we defend ourselves, but how we raise the next generation to lead.

The Jewish story cannot be one of pleading for safety or appeasing the haters. Jewish life will not be lived on its knees. It must be a story of power, built through confident Jewish children and strong communities that know and celebrate who they are and why they matter.

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Illustrative.

That’s what survival looks like. That’s how we fight antisemitism.

While Israel leads the way with vision, strength and action, we must follow suit. We can continue to call out and decry the evils of antisemitism, and also acknowledge that this will never make it go away. 

As Albert Einstein is thought to have famously warned, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It’s time to confront a difficult truth: Continuing to fight antisemitism as we have for decades is the embodiment of Einstein’s definition of insanity. The old strategies haven’t worked, because clearly the needle continues to move in the wrong direction.

So here are a few uncomfortable questions: What if our responsibility isn’t to cure the world of antisemitism, because it’s not curable? What if we accept that and pivot, right now? What if instead, we invest in raising a generation of Jews who are unshakable, intrinsically at ease and emphatically proud?

Imagine a future where our children are so rooted in their identity that the hate becomes nothing more than background noise. What if the remedy for antisemitism is more semitism — in other words, getting more Jewish kids a Jewish day school education. 

Jewish day schools make Jewish children proud to be Jewish. Recent research has shown that 81% of Jewish day school alumni say being Jewish is very important to them, compared to 33% of Jews overall, and 85% of Jewish day school alumni feel a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people, compared to 48% overall. Jewish day schools build leaders, cultivate character and foster joy. In these schools, students learn that faith is a strength and that being a mensch is always the first path. They help kids develop “Jewish muscle memory,” habits of spirit and strength that have lifelong impact. They also normalize Jewish life so that being a Jew in the world does not feel strange, burdensome or something to be defensive about. Instead it feels positive, powerful and compelling.

At a time when Israel is showing the world what it means to lead, we must raise children who are just as courageous, not satisfied to wait or ask permission, but to move through the world as confident Jews who shape the future instead of reacting to it.

This is not just education. This is resistance.

Today, there are approximately 1.6 million Jewish children in North America, yet only about 2% of those from non-Orthodox homes attend Jewish day school; that’s roughly 25,000 out of a possible 1.3 million. We must raise that number as if the Jewish future depends on it, because it does.

While Jewish day schools are seeing some uptick in enrollment after years of decline, the existing schools simply don’t have the space to accommodate the numbers we must reach. To do that, we need more schools. Everywhere Jewish families live, we need Jewish schools. Tamim Academy alone has opened 16 new schools since 2020, with four more set to open this fall and dozens more in the pipeline. More than 60% of the students at our schools were headed to public or other private schools when they entered a Chabad preschool. When Tamim made it possible for those preschools to grow and expand into a full fledged elementary school of excellence, those families chose to stay. These schools are not just places of learning; they are engines of Jewish vitality, where children and their families grow confident, joyful and deeply connected to their heritage. 

For generations, we’ve spoken about Jewish values, education, continuity and communal responsibility. But our words don’t secure the future. Our actions do. We are at a crossroads, and what comes next depends not on what we believe or say, but on what we build for our children. We needn’t spend our energy worrying about who hates us and why. Like our brothers and sisters in Israel, we need victories. Victories that look like strong schools, confident children, in communities that stand tall. The time for talk has passed. The future belongs to the builders:

• Consider a Jewish day school education for your children or grandchildren.
  
• Schedule a tour of your local Jewish day school and see the vibrant community in action.
  
• Bring your children or grandchildren with you. Ask them if they can see themselves thriving there.
  
• Support Jewish day schools. Direct some of your charitable giving to one or more of the many Jewish day schools across North America. It’s a magical investment where every dollar transforms fear into resilience, bolsters identity where there was pressure to conform, replaces insecurity with confidence and quells pain with triumph.
  
• No school near you? Reach out — we can help bring one to your community. 

Let’s stop dwelling on the haters. Instead, let’s build a generation so deeply proud of their connection to our global Jewish family that they don’t need to be liked to know their worth.

This isn’t insanity. It’s a strategy, and it works.

Holly Cohen is the founder and CEO of Tamim Academy.

Mike Leven is a business executive and philanthropist. Inspired by Warren Buffet’s and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge, he founded the Jewish Future Promise to carry on his family’s commitment to Jewish life.