The next generation is stepping up to counteract hatred through the new MoCo Teens Against Antisemitism fellowship. The cohort of 12 high school students from across Montgomery County created social media and other peer-to-peer projects to address and reduce antisemitism in the community.
On April 23, the participating students presented their individual project ideas to the cohort in preparation to present their projects to an audience of 200 community members in early May.
“I think that everybody has the capacity to do something,” Abby Newburger, the program director of the fellowship, said. “It doesn’t have to be that you’re standing in front of 5,000 people giving a speech; leadership comes in all shapes and sizes.”
Montgomery County in Maryland houses one of the highest Jewish population densities in the nation, with 10% of its residents identifying as Jewish and serving as home to 45% of all Jewish Marylanders. The rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States hasn’t spared Montgomery County — the region’s public schools have experienced an “acute rise” in antisemitism in recent years.
In early 2024, Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance representative Rebecca Kotok and Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School’s Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus came together to discuss the uptick of antisemitism in Montgomery County and what could be done. They launched MoCo Teens Against Antisemitism, hoping to provide high schoolers with the opportunity to learn more about combating antisemitism.
Funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Natan Fund, the fellowship aims to teach about the history and impact of antisemitism and about the importance of leadership in times of need with six weekly meetings from March 5 to April 23.
“We started with defining what antisemitism is and we talked about the history and its prevalence in today’s world,” Newburger said. “We recently talked about antisemitism in social media and online and how the online sphere contributes to the perpetuation of it.”
Subsequent sessions covered strategies for combating antisemitism and what youth leaders can do. Fellows heard from guest speakers and local leaders, including Rabbi Adam Raskin of Congregation Har Shalom and Andrew Friedson, the Montgomery County District 1 council member.
Each fellow was paired with a Montgomery County teacher as a mentor to guide them through their projects.
Marin Rosenthal-Strisik, a junior at St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac, is one of the teens participating in the fellowship. She applied to the program in early 2025 seeking a way to further get involved in the community.
“I’ve been involved with a lot of different Jewish programs sort of for my entire life, and it’s something that I feel passionate about,” Rosenthal-Strisik said.
She welcomes the opportunity to be in a room of Jewish peers, a stark contrast to the Episcopal private school she attends.
The fellowship offers a “very comfortable, open environment” that allows candid discussion, Rosenthal-Strisik said. She was particularly moved when Rabbi Raskin shared an instance during an interfaith Thanksgiving service when an imam went off script from his prepared speech on gratitude and said something that was “directly antisemitic regarding the war in Gaza.” Raskin, “the Jewish representative” in the room, wanted to walk out but chose to stay and speak up on behalf of the other Jewish community members present.
“I used this example to discuss what to do when we are caught off guard and taken by surprise by an antisemitic/anti-Zionist barrage,” Raskin said in an email to Washington Jewish Week.
As a student who’s both observed and experienced antisemitic comments made by her classmates, Rosenthal-Strisik felt emboldened to share her own experiences with the group after Raskin’s openness.
“I also really enjoy learning about Israel and the history of Israel and antisemitism because that’s not really something I learned a lot about in school,” she added.
Rosenthal-Strisik’s project is a campaign to combat antisemitism, composed of an 18-minute educational video and a website with resources that aim to combat antisemitism.
“The goal is to empower high school students with valuable and actionable knowledge and to combat the Jewish hate that they encounter in their daily lives,” she said.
The name of her project, 18ToEndHate, incorporates a number that holds significant meaning in Jewish tradition: “It means life,” Rosenthal-Strisik said.
She hopes that after viewing her video, fellow teens will create their own 18ToEndHate to present within their schools, synagogues and community spaces. The videos aren’t all about antisemitism; teens are encouraged to explain why they’re proud to be Jewish and discuss their favorite Jewish traditions.
“I think it’s more impactful for people to be more in touch and proud of their Judaism,” Rosenthal-Strisik said.
“This [project], to me, incorporates everything that we have been talking about. I am able to be involved in the Jewish community in my area; I’m spreading a message that I think is very important and hopefully it has somewhat of an impact so that other Jewish teenagers don’t have to face the comments that I’ve been told. I don’t want anyone else to hear that; it’s heartbreaking to hear.”
The MoCo Teens Against Antisemitism Summit, titled “Empowering the Next Generation: Fighting Antisemitism Together,” is scheduled for May 4 from 4 to 6 p.m. at CESJDS’ Upper School campus. Register to attend for free at cesjds.org/pages/moco-teens-fellowship/summit.
