An opinion piece by the leader of Jewish Student Union (JSU), a network of school clubs, describes a sharp rise in Jewish teenagers in the US and Canada seeking to form or join Jewish clubs at their high schools since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. The author argues that, rather than concealing their identity amid rising antisemitism, many Jewish teens are responding by becoming more visibly and actively engaged with their Jewish heritage, forming new school communities and taking on leadership roles.

JSU says requests to start new clubs have jumped from roughly 15–20 a year before October 2023 to 473 since then, across a network of more than 515 clubs serving over 21,000 teens. The piece cites Michigan as an example of a difficult climate, referencing a March terrorist attack on a synagogue in Bloomfield Hills and the nomination of Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, criticised by the Anti-Defamation League for alleged antisemitic rhetoric. It closes with an anecdote about a New Jersey student who, after transferring schools, worked with siblings and peers to establish a new JSU chapter for varied personal reasons, from countering negative stereotypes to creating a safe, non-political space for Jewish students.