The bravest Jews in America are 15 years old — and they’re going back to school

Every August, American parents make back-to-school lists. Notebooks. Sneakers. A new backpack.

For many Jewish parents, another set of questions has joined that list. Should my daughter wear her Star of David, or tuck it inside her shirt? Should my son keep the Israeli flag sticker on his water bottle, or peel it off? When my kid asks for days off for Rosh Hashanah so early in the semester, how will the teacher respond?

I lead Jewish Student Union, a national network of more than 515 clubs serving over 21,000 Jewish teens in public and community high schools across the United States and Canada. Before Oct. 7, 2023, we estimate that we received roughly 15 to 20 requests a year from teens looking to start new JSU clubs. Since then, 473 teens have sought us out through our national system to request a club at their school. And that number captures only the teens who found us on their own. It doesn’t include teens who already know a local JSU staff member through community programming or a summer experience or who hear about JSU from a friend at another school and reach out directly.

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What those club requests tell me is that at a moment when being Jewish can feel complicated and even ostracizing, teens aren’t asking for less Judaism. They’re asking for more opportunities to find one another, build the Jewish community and take an active role in shaping it.

That desire for Jewish community is especially meaningful given the environment many of these teens are navigating. In Michigan, for example, Jewish students are heading back to school after a particularly difficult year for their community. In March, a terrorist attacked the largest synagogue in the state in Bloomfield Hills. 

And a few weeks ago, Michigan Democrats nominated Abdul El-Sayed for the U.S. Senate — a candidate who called the Israeli government just as "evil" as Hamas and has publicly questioned whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state. The Anti-Defamation League — an organization that almost never wades into campaigns — called him out by name for peddling antisemitic tropes.

Now imagine you're a Jewish sophomore at a public high school in Ann Arbor or West Bloomfield. You're watching these debates unfold in your own community while navigating the ordinary challenges of being a teenager. Conversations about Israel and Jewish identity don't stay confined to political campaigns or university campuses. They make their way into social media feeds, conversations with classmates and school hallways.

Adults spend a great deal of time worrying about how young Jews will respond to this moment. From my vantage point, I have the privilege of seeing their response every day.

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These teens aren’t hiding their Judaism to survive high school. They’re deepening it. Starting Jewish communities in their schools. Showing up for Shabbat dinners. Learning about Israel and traveling there. Displaying their Star of David necklaces proudly.

This summer, a senior in New Jersey transferred from a public high school with an active JSU club to a school without one. She could have simply left that part of her high school experience behind. Instead, she reached out to her former JSU adviser and asked for his help starting a club at her new school. She recruited her younger brother and sister, another senior and that student’s younger sister. Before school even began, they sat down with their JSU advisor to plan for the club fair, talk through leadership roles and brainstorm club activities.

Each came with a different reason for wanting JSU at their school. One wanted to help their peers see Jews and Judaism in a positive light. Another wanted more opportunities to learn about Judaism. A third wanted to create a space where Jewish students could feel safe and connected without everything becoming political.

Together, they began building the Jewish community they wanted to have at their school. And their JSU adviser will be there with them every week, with kosher food, engaging activities, Torah insights and, most importantly, a relationship they can count on.

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That relationship is at the heart of Jewish engagement. Across JSU, staff get to know teens as individuals, show up consistently in their lives and create spaces where they can ask questions, explore their Judaism and figure out what it means to them. A club may gather in a classroom during lunchtime, but those relationships extend far beyond a weekly meeting — into after-school programs, Shabbat dinners, volunteering opportunities, summer experiences and the many moments in between.

After two decades in Jewish education, I've learned that you can't tell a teenager to care about being Jewish. You have to give them opportunities to discover why it matters to them. That happens through relationships. Through community. Through experiences that allow Judaism to become something they live and choose for themselves.

Those foundations matter in every generation. At a moment when being openly Jewish can feel more complicated, they matter even more.

This back-to-school season, I have a request for every adult reading this. To principals and school boards: protect your Jewish students' right to gather, express their identity and build community as fiercely as you would for any other group of students. To parents: pay attention to what your teen is experiencing as a Jewish student. Ask questions, listen and make sure they know they have somewhere to turn. And to the Jewish community: don't assume that this generation is pulling away. Give them opportunities to belong, people who will invest in them and experiences that allow them to discover what being Jewish means to them.

The bravest Jews in America don't hold office. Some of them are 15 years old, gathering their friends around a table at lunch and choosing to build Jewish community where none existed before.

This September, they'll walk through their school doors with their heads held high. Our job is to make sure they never have to walk through them alone.