My School District Posted In Support of Jews. Then, the Antisemitic Comments Started.

I never faced antisemitism as a child. Sure, the occasional swastika would appear at a park or near a local synagogue, but I still felt, for the most part, safe and accepted in my community. Maybe it was because my parents shielded me from it, or maybe it just truly wasn’t that prevalent at that moment. 

I can’t say my children will have the same experience. Today’s kids are growing up fluent in technology, with constant access to influencer culture and the opinions of strangers through YouTube, TikTok, Roblox and other social media platforms and message boards. The world is at their fingertips, unedited, often cruel and impossible to shield them from. They are also being raised in a time where antisemitic sentiment and incidents are at their highest levels in decades.

Maybe that’s why an online incident that occurred in our local school district upset me so much.

On April 29, our district dedicated a social media post to #EndJewHatredDay. I didn’t even know the day existed, but I was pleasantly surprised to see them acknowledge it. The district posted a simple blue square with a caption that read:

“End Jew Hatred Day is a time to reflect on the impact of hate and the responsibility we all share to foster respect and understanding in our communities.”

It felt nice to be seen and supported. But that feeling did not last long.

The comments on the fairly innocuous post were a cesspool of hate, ignorance and classic antisemitic tropes. There were claims that the Jews must control the school district and jokes about donations from Israel and AIPAC. There were threats of pulling children from the district. There was anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitic slurs. 

Seeing antisemitism spelled out online is always horrifying, but sadly never shocking. Still, I was uniquely upset by these specific comments. It’s one thing to know antisemitism exists broadly. It’s another to see it reflected in your own community and to consider how to prepare your children to navigate that reality. These hateful comments did not come from a random person or a bot; each one could have been written by a neighbor, a parent at school, my kids’ coach or a camp counselor. It felt very personal.

Despite my better judgement, I commented on the school district’s post. I requested someone monitor or turn off the comments; instead I was told to go back to Israel, called a rat and told the comments were justified based on the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza. It scared me. And if facing this as an adult impacted me in such a way, how do I prepare my elementary-age children to face this? 

I keep asking myself this question: How do I raise my kids to be proud of who they are and connected to their Jewish identity, while also preparing them for the reality that antisemitism exists in ways I didn’t have to confront at their age? How do I do this without causing extra fear or anxiety? How do I help them when I’m still coming to terms with this new reality myself?

Maybe there is no perfect answer. Maybe it starts with something simple, like the Star of David I wear every day: showing them what Jewish pride looks like. We’ll light Shabbat candles each Friday. They’ll attend Hebrew school and learn their history and traditions. We’ll tell the stories that were passed down to us and make sure they know their identity is something to celebrate, not hide. 

Maybe it’s OK that I do not have the answers. We are learning together. I want us to understand that although we can’t control the scary things around us, we can control how we react to them. I want us to know that Judaism can be a source of strength and celebration, not fear.  I want us to be kind, thoughtful and accepting of others — and I want us to be unapologetically proud of who we are. 

I don’t need our school district to pay lip service to a hashtag holiday about ending Jew hatred. I need them to actually support my children in their Jewish identity. But until they can do that — I will.