Words to Action

Overview

Words to Action: Empowering Students to Address Antisemitism is an interactive education program for middle, high school and college students designed to empower and equip them with constructive and effective responses to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, including:

  • Stereotypes and prejudice
  • Vandalism
  • Harassment
  • Hate speech
  • Anti-Israel incidents
  • On campus protests and encampments

The Need for this Program

Words to Action (originally known as Confronting Antisemitism) was created in the 1980s in response to a comprehensive survey of Jewish students in New England and in Colorado conducted by ADL. The findings indicated that middle and high school students were regularly experiencing antisemitic comments, taunts, harassment and graffiti in the halls and classrooms of their schools and in their neighborhoods and communities. Rather than standing up to this prejudice, many students remained silent, both in the face of oppression and later, when they returned to their homes and families. Today, as this type of antisemitism continues, many college students also face another form of antisemitism fueled by anti-Israel sentiment.

Today, antisemitic incidents, including incidents in schools, are at their highest levels ever recorded by ADL since we began keeping records in 1979. Antisemitism and anti-Israel bias are sadly part of our students’ reality, particularly at times of heightened violence in Israel.

Words to Action in the Mountain States Region

Each academic year, over 1,000 students in the Mountain States Region are impacted by Words to Action. Trainings are held in dozens of locations in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming including at schools, synagogues, youth group settings, summer camps, universities and more. Programs are conducted by a cadre of trained Words to Action facilitators, and trainings are customized to suit the audience and interest of each group. Supported by generous grants from the Rafael Levy Memorial Foundation, Rose Community Foundation,  the Strear Family Foundation and others, ADL is able to provide our customized programs free of charge.  Programs can be delivered in person or online for any number of students.

For more information or to schedule a training, please contact the Mountain States Regional Office at 303-830-7177 or mountainstates@adl.org.

The Changing Face of Antisemitism

ADL’s most recent Audit of Antisemitic Incidents indicates that almost 80 antisemitic incidents happen every month around the country, many of them involving children, teenagers and young adults. Incidents range from verbal and written taunts promoting antisemitic stereotypes to threats of violence and physical assaults. The is even more alarming considering that the majority of incidents go unreported. And, antisemitism is on the rise.

Recent ADL-commissioned focus groups of high school students confirm that antisemitism continues to be a part of the lives of Jewish students today. Participants report hearing jokes and stereotypical remarks about Jews’ appearance, customs and behaviors; seeing swastikas on school desks, bathroom walls and locker doors; and pennies being thrown at Jewish students. Antisemitic cyberhate also invades the once safe haven of students’ homes, including as part of the chat in video game platforms.

On college campuses, escalating BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel) campaigns ignite highly politicized debates that isolate supporters of Israel, generate hostile environments and single out Jewish students. High profile academics, charismatic speakers, and influential student leaders have presented the Israeli-Palestinian situation in a one-sided manner, blaming the conflict solely on Israel and largely ignoring Palestinian terrorism and violence. Sometimes, this blatantly anti-Israel rhetoric crosses the line into antisemitism. During the current war in Gaza, one college student reported that a classmate told him that he didn’t want to be in class with a “Jewish Zionist,” and that he supported Hamas.

Words to Action helps Jewish students, young adults, family members, teachers and community members address the changing face of antisemitism by:

  • increasing their understanding and awareness of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in their lives;
  • countering antisemitic stereotypes and anti-Israel myths with accurate information;
  • providing resources and skills to strategically respond to antisemitism in any form, from insensitive or biased comments to hate-motivated incidents.

For more information on Words to Action:

For more information or to schedule a training, please contact the Mountain States Regional Office at 303-830-7177 or mountainstates@adl.org.