A global wave of antisemitism followed the October 7 Hamas massacre, and, ever since, Jewish schools have been working to protect their students in this new paradigm.
Dealing with antisemitism became one of the major topics of concern at the Yael Foundation 2024 conference on education in Cyprus last Monday.
Following October 7, the Foundation reached out to its over 60 academic affiliates to check what they needed and what they had, providing budgets for everything from armed security to cameras.
A catch-22 for Jewish students
Yael Foundation CEO Chaya Yosovich told The Jerusalem Post that some parents and students don’t feel safe at public schools, so they want to go to Jewish schools where they feel safer – but at the same time, Jewish schools are targets for antisemitism.
Yosovich said that in France some public school administrators called Jewish schools asking them to take Jewish students because they didn’t feel that they could protect them.
Yakov Monsonego, the founder of the Beit Aharon School, is no stranger to anti-Jewish terrorism. His eight-year-old daughter, Myriam, was murdered in the 2012 Toulouse school shooting.
He said that operating in the same country as this tragedy, “we’re the first to know that we need to work on security.”The Beit Aharon School has 24/7 security and a seven-meter fence.
“It sounds like a military base, but we prefer to know that it’s secure,” said Monsonego.
While there have been no direct incidents at his school, they increased their already high security. He said that the Yael Foundation had contacted them and that it was “good to know that an organization is behind us.”
The students had not been learning directly about the October 7 terrorist attacks at the school, but the students have been engaged in daily prayers for Israel, its soldiers, and the hostages.
“One of the major tools we have is prayer,” said Monsonego.
Monsonego said that an increasing amount of his school’s alumni were choosing to go to Israel for university. He said that many don’t feel comfortable at French universities, because they have to hide their Jewish identities. He knew of one medical student who left during a class break and returned to find her notebook vandalized with curses about Jews. She made aliyah soon after.
Most of those who could make aliyah left in 2012, said Monsonego.
“There’s always been antisemitism, and we need to strengthen ourselves against it by teaching Jewish tradition,” he said.At Barcelona’s Colegio Hatikva, principal Ari Messer said that they have been proactively engaging with lessons on Jewish tradition as well as marches, cultural events, and diplomatic events in support of Israel.
Messer said that some community members have families impacted by the massacre, and some have children who are lone soldiers in the IDF.
While the school hasn’t experienced any direct antisemitism either, Messer said that the atmosphere in the country had been troubling, with Jews being harassed on the streets, campuses, and at day schools in Catalonia.
Security had been raised much higher, especially during cultural events but he said that there had been cooperation with the government and praised local security forces for very good relations.
Rio de Janeiro Bar-Ilan School Principal Rafael Cozer Antaki had fewer words of praise for the Brazilian government, and the atmosphere created by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.
While some in the community were concerned, Antaki said the speech by Lula also raised the Jewish community’s awareness of its own identity.
Antaki said that many students began to see antisemitism on social media, and he had to fire a teacher over a post accusing Israel of genocide.
The principal said that they discussed October 7 with students according to their age group. One of the school’s alumni was killed at the Supernova music festival.
Some were afraid to have students go out with their uniforms, which have Stars of David on them, said Antaki. Like the other schools, Antaki said that security had been upgraded.
In sharp contrast to Lula, Buenos Aires Ilan School director Yosi Ludman said that since the election of President Javier Milei, who is close to Judaism, instead of hearing people call out “Jew!” in the street they now heard “bravo!”
Ludman said that there had been an increase in antisemitism in the country since October 7, “but I feel like less than the rest of the world.”
As always, security has been improved just in case.