Jewish Federations of North America and Be The Narrative, a nonprofit program that increases Jewish awareness in classrooms and works to combat antisemitism, announced Tuesday that the St. Louis-based organization has joined the Federations system as part of the Community Relations team.
   

Be The Narrative is widely known for its successful “Student to Student” program that brings Jewish high school juniors and seniors into schools where students have little-to-no contact with Jews.
  

“We’ve been looking for a program that will help Jewish teenagers gain confidence and offer them the skills to talk about being Jewish, and to engage them with non-Jews in the community, especially when there is so much negative information in the rise of antisemitism,” said Jewish Federations CEO and President Eric D. Fingerhut. “We have tremendous respect for the structure of the Student to Student program and we have the capacity to bring it to scale.”
 

The announcement was made at Federations annual General Assembly.
 

Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, antisemitism has reached record highs around the globe. Anti-Israel protestors have taken over college campuses, city council meetings, and there has even been encouragement by these antisemitic leaders to hold school walkout days.
  

That’s one big reason why Jewish Federations have reimagined their approach to Community Relations team over the last year — to create new strategies and provide local Federations with the tools and resources they need to push back against this aggressive behavior and to educate the community about Jewish stereotypes. 

The organization was co-founded in 2022 by John Kalishman and Joe Pereles to expand on the success of “Student to Student.” By listening to Jewish teens from the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements, as well as the unaffiliated — and asking them questions about their Jewish identity, traditions, values, and practices — students unfamiliar with Judaism can learn firsthand about the religion, which can help to dispel stereotypes and breakdown prejudice. 

Rabbi Andrew Terkel serves as the CEO of Be the Narrative, which is based in St. Louis. 

“Our work took on a new urgency after Oct. 7 in being a positive force for Jewish kids in high school as well as to affirm and build strong Jewish identities in a difficult time,” said Rabbi Terkel. “Deep down, I believe that if there was a ‘Student to Student’ presentation in every classroom in America, the Jewish people would be having a better time right now. More people would understand us. More people would know who we are, and maybe be less people would be less susceptible to the misinformation being spread about Jews and Judaism.”