Brandeis University President's Initiative on Antisemitism

JCC Executive Seminar 2024

The Brandeis University President's Initiative on Antisemitism was pleased to partner with the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America to offer “Navigating Israel and the Rise of Antisemitism,” a four-day seminar to address the specific needs of Jewish Community Center (JCC) senior executives. 

Held on the Brandeis campus from July 14 to 17, 2024, 50 executives comprising 23 two-person teams of CEOs and senior executives from JCCs throughout North America attended. They gained foundational knowledge about antisemitism, gleaned insights from research, and interacted with communal leaders to hone skills for practical application. Professionals left reinvigorated and with a greater degree of confidence to enhance organizational effectiveness and consider new pathways for countering antisemitism.

The seminar recognizes that antisemitism forms well before matriculation into a college or university and that biases reverberate far beyond institutions of higher education. JCCs are ideal partners given their wealth of community services — early childhood education, health and wellness programs, and civic engagement — which draw 1.5 million people through their doors every week, 500,000 of whom are non-Jewish. The JCCs also reach a large number of North American Jews who do not participate in other communal institutions — whose Jewish life is centrally identified with the JCC.

The dramatic rise in antisemitism following October 7 and ongoing efforts to delegitimize Israel have become urgent challenges. We understood quickly that our JCCs needed training and support to leverage their local influence to meet this moment...

After four days of learning and networking, these 50 JCC senior professionals came away more knowledgeable and confident, armed with common language and resources to help them lead and thwart antisemitism, proudly stand with Israel, and fight all forms of Jew-hatred. We are deeply grateful for this important partnership and believe we now have a proven and effective model worthy of replication and scale across all JCCs and Jewish leadership organizations.

– Jennifer Mamlet, acting president and CEO, JCC Association of North America