October 7 shattered more than just our sense of security – it exposed a fundamental failure in how we prepare Jewish youth for the world. In the months that followed, Jewish students faced unprecedented hostility on campuses across America, so the consequences of this failure became impossible to ignore.
I founded the pro-Israel group Club Z in 2011 because I saw this crisis coming. Back then, Jewish institutional leaders dismissed the need for advocacy training as alarmist thinking. “American Jews have never been more accepted,” they assured me. Today, those same institutions are scrambling to provide the training they once called unnecessary.
But the problem isn’t just a lack of advocacy skills. We’ve created an artificial divide that has left our youth eloquent on every social justice issue except their own. This separation wasn’t accidental; it reflected a deeply held belief that Jewish particularity should take a back seat to universal values.
For decades, the Jewish community has relied on Hasbarah – literally “explanation” in Hebrew – as our primary response to antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. This approach, rooted in the belief that opposition to Israel and Jews stems from misunderstanding, assumes that if we just explain ourselves better, others will accept us. We’ve presented Israel’s technological innovations, organized cultural exchange programs, and explained Israel’s humanitarian aid efforts.
But Hasbarah has failed us because it approaches Jewish advocacy as a public relations campaign rather than a fundamental right to self-determination. Jews are perpetually explaining ourselves to others, seeking their approval, rather than unequivocally asserting our right to exist. Hasbarah treats advocacy as something we do in response to attacks rather than a core component of Jewish identity and education.
Consider these scenarios I have witnessed. Maya, a high school junior, organizes climate action campaigns but can’t articulate why anti-Zionism is a mask of antisemitism. Josh, a college sophomore, leads campus initiatives supporting “undocumented migrants” but remains silent when professors justify violence against Israelis. Emma, active in social justice causes, can’t explain that Jews are indigenous to Israel when challenged about “colonialism.” These students can list its Nobel Prize winners, but they can’t articulate why Jewish self-determination is not up for debate.
These aren’t isolated cases—they represent a generation of American Jewish youth taught to champion every cause except their own. We’ve created Jewish educational programs that are essentially progressive activism with a Jewish veneer.
We need to do better because while we taught conflict resolution and coexistence, other groups taught their children to stand firm in their identity. While we emphasized universal values, they developed focused advocacy programs. While we perfected our explanations, they asserted their rights. The results are evident across campuses, high school classrooms, and social media platforms.
This educational failure is also apparent in how our students handle antisemitism. When other minority groups identify discrimination based on their lived experience, their perspective is respected. Yet when Jewish students identify anti-Zionism as antisemitism, they face endless demands to “prove” their experience of discrimination.
We must move beyond Hasbarah’s defensive posture to an approach that integrates advocacy into every aspect of Jewish identity.
The destruction of the Temple isn’t just ancient history – it’s the foundation for understanding Jewish indigenous rights and diaspora identity. Medieval blood libels aren’t merely historical curiosities – they’re the template for recognizing modern antisemitic conspiracy theories. The Spanish Inquisition isn’t just a tragic chapter—it’s a lesson in how quickly acceptance can turn to persecution.
This approach requires that Jewish educators and institutions acknowledge the following:
- Advocacy skills aren’t extra-curricular – they’re essential for our survival.
- Jewish pride isn’t optional – it’s fundamental to our continuity.
- Self-defense isn’t aggression – it’s a basic right.
- Jewish experience isn’t theoretical – it’s lived reality that requires no external validation.
Critics will claim this approach is too focused on conflict rather than cooperation. But October 7 and its aftermath demonstrated the price of excessive accommodation.
To prepare our Jewish youth, we must:
- Integrate advocacy skills into every aspect of Jewish education.
- Teach media literacy and public speaking.
- Connect historical persecution to contemporary antisemitism.
- Empower students to identify and combat antisemitism in all its forms.
- Build pride in Jewish identity, history, and heritage.
- Assert our Jewish rights.
We need to create a generation of American Jews who are both knowledgeable about their heritage and empowered to defend it. This means moving beyond the false choice between universal values and Jewish advocacy and the limitations of traditional Hasbarah. It means teaching our children that standing up for themselves with confidence, pride, and dignity doesn’t diminish their ability to stand up for others. This educational shift is necessary for our children’s future.
Masha Merkulova is the CEO of Club Z, a Jewish Zionist space for teens to connect to each other, Jewish history, and Zionism.
This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Adam Milstein.