56% of American Jews changed behavior in the past year over antisemitism fears, survey finds
(JTA) — Most American Jewish adults are altering their behavior due to fears of antisemitism, according to a new survey commissioned by the American Jewish Committee and published Wednesday.
When asked in late 2024, about 56% of respondents said they changed their behavior in the preceding 12 months, up from 46% in 2023 and 38% in 2022.
This figure includes respondents who said they avoided wearing clothing or displaying items that might identify them as Jewish, such as Stars of David; chose not to post content on social media that could reveal their Jewish identity or views on Jewish issues; or stayed away from certain places due to concerns for their safety or comfort as a Jewish person.
The AJC said the survey was designed to capture how American Jews have experienced antisemitism in the year-plus following the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The results largely align with findings from other surveys, further documenting the rise in antisemitism.
The survey was conducted in October and November via a phone and online questionnaire with 1,732 participants meant to be representative of all American Jewish adults, with a margin of error of 3.3%.
Much of the survey focuses on public perceptions and concerns about antisemitism.
A Long Island Jewish school creates a living memorial to alumnus killed on Oct. 7
(JTA) — Hundreds of students, teachers and alumni gathered in the hushed gym of the Schechter School of Long Island on Jan. 24 as the school unveiled a banner with the number 24 and the words “Hero of Israel.”
The ceremony, retiring the basketball jersey of Schechter alumnus Omer Neutra, was the school’s latest effort to remember a beloved soldier killed in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The same day, the school on Long Island’s north shore held a Siyum Tanakh in his memory, a tradition in which a community studies chapters of Jewish texts. In Schechter’s case, the community collectively learned all 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible.
Recognizing Neutra’s impact as a student-athlete and leader, Schechter, along with the help of members of the community, dedicated a new scoreboard in his name and secured funding to enhance athletic facilities and equipment. Starting this year, the school has also introduced a graduation award to recognize a senior who embodies Neutra’s values of selflessness, leadership and inclusion.
A grant to study Hebrew is ‘woke DEI,’ Ted Cruz says
(JTA) — A grant to study linguistic differences between Hebrew and English was flagged as an example of “woke DEI grants” in a new database released by Sen. Ted Cruz.
The database is part of ongoing Republican efforts to justify significant cuts to federal research funding and diversity programs under President Donald Trump.
The $226,000 grant, given by the National Science Foundation to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2022, was flagged by the Texas Republican senator’s team as having an inappropriate focus on “gender.”
But according to the description of the research in Cruz’s own database, the sole mention of gender in the grant’s description is in reference to the fact that the Hebrew language (like many) assigns gender to nouns.
The UMass grant was also one of seven in Cruz’s database of Biden-era grants that stated an intent to promote partnerships between American and Israeli research institutions — something that did not appear to mitigate opposition from Cruz, an avowed supporter of Israel.
Google Calendar no longer shows Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month
(JTA) — Google Calendar has removed International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month from its default display in the United States, part of a broader removal of cultural and ethnic observances from the app.
The removal is being noticed now as companies across the United States roll back a range of diversity, equity and inclusion measures following the Trump administration’s directives against DEI. But Google told tech news outlets in recent days that the changes to the calendar date back to mid-2024 and have to do with workload rather than government policy.
“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” the tech giant, which is valued at $2.3 trillion, told The Verge.
In addition to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Jan. 27, and Jewish American Heritage Month in May, the observances that no longer automatically appear include Pride Month and Black History Month.
JD Vance to visit Dachau on Thursday, the latest VP to tour the Nazi camp
(JTA) — Vice President J.D. Vance will visit the site of the Dachau concentration camp on Thursday, the latest in a string of senior U.S. officials to travel to the former Nazi camp.
Vance will visit Dachau before heading to the nearby Munich Security Conference, an elite national security gathering, multiple outlets reported on Tuesday. He wrote on social media that his visit to Europe is focusing on artificial intelligence policy.
But one Jewish group criticized Vance’s impending visit due to controversy over ties between the far-right and the Trump administration. Top Trump adviser Elon Musk stirred considerable controversy last month when he made a gesture that resembled a Nazi salute, then made Holocaust jokes on social media. More recently, Vance pushed Musk to rehire a staffer who had publicly self-identified as a racist.
