Non­fic­tion

#anti­semitism: Com­ing of Age Dur­ing the Resur­gence of Hate

September 1, 2021

#anti­semitism: Com­ing of Age Dur­ing the Resur­gence of Hate is a deep dive into how the rise in anti­semitism from both the polit­i­cal Left and the Right is impact­ing the iden­ti­ty devel­op­ment of Jew­ish Gen­er­a­tion Z‑ers. With glimpses into the minds of teens, par­ents, and edu­ca­tors from across the Unit­ed States, it explores issues from pre­sent­ing as Jew­ish to social media activism, anti-Israel sen­ti­ments, and inter­sec­tion­al iden­ti­ties. #anti­semitism is a snap­shot in time, with long-reach­ing impli­ca­tions: How will being shaped in a cli­mate of unprece­dent­ed anti­semitism cre­ate a new Jew­ish future?

Discussion Questions

#anti­semitism is a por­tray­al of how anti­semitism has pen­e­trat­ed social media, aca­d­e­m­ic insti­tu­tions, and mod­ern soci­ety. Saman­tha Vinokor-Mein­rath uses a series of anec­dotes to high­light the expe­ri­ence of the gen­er­a­tion now com­ing of age in the Unit­ed States. The author cor­rect­ly calls out overt and sub­tle anti­semitism across the polit­i­cal spec­trum. The book par­tic­u­lar­ly high­lights how the increas­ing preva­lence of anti­semitism has per­son­al­ly affect­ed the gen­er­a­tion that is devel­op­ing its Jew­ish iden­ti­ty. The pic­ture that emerges is both enlight­en­ing and fright­en­ing. While there are no mag­ic solu­tions, the first step in try­ing to over­come the new chal­lenges of an age-old prob­lem is to fair­ly and com­pre­hen­sive­ly describe the prob­lem, which Vinokor-Mein­rath has accom­plished bril­liant­ly in this riv­et­ing and read­able work.