Eighty-one years after the liberation of Auschwitz, antisemitism remains a deadly reality for Jews around the world.
From Manchester and Milan, from Brooklyn, New York to Boulder, Colorado and now Bondi, Australia and Jackson, Mississippi, attacks on Jews have forced Jewish communities to invest tens of millions of dollars into metal detectors, concrete blockades, surveillance equipment and trained, armed personnel.
While there is government funding for some of these efforts, and authorities are committed to the safety of Jewish communities, the onus is on Jews themselves for attaining the highest level of security.
Simultaneously, there is a less visible, equally insidious cost as antisemitism also chips away at Jews’ confidence in their identity and institutions, their mental health, and their place in broader society.
Indeed, The Washington Post’s September 2025 polling makes clear that Jews feel increasingly isolated and scared about being publicly Jewish, echoing growing sentiment we have heard from Jewish communities abroad and right here in the United States.
Amid anxiety and loss, there is a growing thirst for connection
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
We hear stories of children facing bullying. Families, including non-Jewish family members, feel anxious and lost after friendships and support networks evaporate.
Jews’ allies in many aspects of their lives have turned away. Students report hiding their Jewish identities. Poor, elderly, and sick Jews face growing isolation and insecurity, increasingly afraid to ask outsiders for help as caregiving professionals are increasingly exposed as antisemitic. Above all, many feel a loss of agency to be proud Jews.
They fear being associated with Jewish causes, in Jewish spaces, and are especially wary of expressing a connection with Israel, irrespective of their opinions about the policies of its government. This litmus test is clear: “give up Israel” — where half the world’s Jews live — or stand alone.
Yet, there is also a growing thirst for Jewish content and connection. Jews previously unconnected to Jewish life, Israelis expats (conflated by others with the actions of the land of their birth), and Jews who have migrated from other locations to Europe are turning to local Jewish communities for these connections.
As we are reminded on this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, antisemitism often accompanies global upheaval.
In the past, as societies became increasingly antisemitic, persecution pushed Jews into poverty and isolation. Jews required social and emotional aid, communal connections for spiritual sustenance, and — if they were fortunate enough to escape persecution — aid in transit and as they settled in new lands.
This moment is different. Most Jews do not live amid state-sponsored antisemitism. The increased threat is instead at the grassroots, where the impact of rising antisemitism and growing anti-Israel sentiment often intertwine. The result is burgeoning needs that must be met to ensure Jewish well-being and safety and to stave off further threats to Jewish inclusion and advancement in our societies.
Three ideas to address rising antisemitism
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has long addressed these issues in overseas Jewish communities with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, and other local and international partners.
From World War I-era pogroms through the Holocaust, from Soviet oppression to terrorist attacks on Jews from Argentina to Paris, we’ve been caring for vulnerable Jews outside the U.S. for more than a century, setting them on a path for a stronger future.
To address rising antisemitism, we believe three steps need to be taken, leveraging knowledge from work we are doing around the globe.
- First, Jews must regain agency over their identities and spaces, combining security and preparedness with investments in new Jewish programming tailored to those turning to the Jewish community for support for the first time. By pairing the two, we can create secure spaces that offer a range of educational, cultural, and religious offerings where Jews can celebrate their heritage meaningfully and safely. Promising results in Brazil demonstrate this approach is critical for building resilience and restoring the confidence that so many Jews lost over the past few years.
- Second, tailored mental health interventions can address the anxiety and trauma felt by many in the Jewish community, especially youth. In public schools, youth often feel ostracized, subject to the social message that being Jewish or associated with Israel is a danger. Many have fled to Jewish schools and we must create sanctuaries for traumatized children in these spaces — like work being done in the Netherlands — promoting trauma-awareness training for staff, stronger parent engagement, and individual support for students’ diverse mental health needs.
- Third, isolation in the most vulnerable members of Jewish communities — like seniors, low-income residents, and people with disabilities who now avoid help from those outside the community — must be addressed and investments made in social support that pairs human services with connection to other Jews. Programs are being piloted in France that connect young Jewish volunteers with seniors, offering them companionship and access to social support.
Above all, people of goodwill must listen as growing numbers of Jews express a lived experience of fear and ostracization. After all, antisemitism is not just the responsibility of Jewish communities. It is a barometer for the direction our societies are taking, and it is time we correct course.
Ariel Zwang is CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Eliot M. Arnovitz is an Atlanta-based real estate executive and Jewish community leader.
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