Our Story

​As early as 2014, our co-founder and CEO, Oren Jacobson, began noticing a shift in how conversations around Israel and Palestine were unfolding. Conversations among people who otherwise shared values and goals would quickly become polarized. Over time, ideas and rhetoric that undermined Jewish inclusion and safety were increasingly going unnoticed or unaddressed. Other Jewish leaders privately shared similar concerns, describing exclusion, both formal and informal, from spaces they had long been a part of. Many of those leaders would later help launch Project Shema.

 

These trends have become more visible in recent years, particularly in the wake of October 7, 2023, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and the subsequent global rise in antisemitism. For many, this moment is especially difficult to navigate while holding both the reality of rising antisemitism and the devastation in Gaza simultaneously.

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At the same time, these dynamics were taking a broader toll. Trust eroded. Dialogue broke down. Non-Jewish peers and leaders saw the strain, but felt uncertain of how to engage constructively without causing further harm. The coalitions and institutions these movements depend on were being weakened.

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It became clear that this was not simply about disagreement—or even primarily about intent. There was a lack of shared context, language, and skills to engage with empathy across differences. The social and professional costs of engaging were high, making it easier to stay silent, avoid the conversation, or default to rigid positions.

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Project Shema was created to address two interconnected challenges shaping this moment. First, rising global antisemitism, particularly the ways anti-Jewish ideas and biases travel alongside discourse around Israel and Palestine. Second, the ways these conversations were fracturing diverse coalitions and institutions committed to progress and pluralism.