Jay Deitcher
Aug 17, 2026
An ‘educate, don’t shame,’ approach will be central to the program’s philosophy
In their first partnership, the Ruderman Family Foundation and antisemitism education nonprofit Project Shema are teaming up to work with college campus administrators, counseling center staff and educators to help them understand how antisemitism impacts students today.
The partnership, announced exclusively in eJewishPhilanthropy, comes in the form of an 18-month, $220,000 grant to launch the program during the 2026–2027 academic year, with the goal of engaging 25 colleges and universities. Instead of a reactive approach, such as offering workshops on antisemitism only in the wake of an antisemitic event, the program will proactively and continually support students by integrating antisemitism education for groups such as administrators, counseling center staff and academic departments. Participating schools will sign a memorandum of understanding (a document that outlines shared goals, general expectations and a framework for cooperation) and Project Shema will then come in and deliver the training sessions for DEI offices, faculty departments — whatever group is interested, Michelle Zeitler, program officer for the Ruderman Family Foundation, told eJP.
The program is not looking to shame the professionals participating, Kara Wilson, chief strategy officer at Project Shema, told eJP. Instead, it will help them identify biases they may not understand.
“People are genuinely lacking context around Jewish identity, around the historic nature of antisemitism, how it’s shown up in different places across the world, but still has some pretty serious implications for the Jewish community,” Wilson said. “If you think about antisemitism as a systemic entry, we’re all steeping in it, unfortunately, and because of that you’re going to have ideas that you don’t even realize could be harmful.”
Another goal of the program is to influence the education of future mental health professionals to incorporate understanding of the impact of antisemitism on Jewish students. “If people at the top are receiving this information, they will have influence in the crafting of the coursework that students are receiving,” Zeitler said.
Project Shema understands why people might harbor antisemitic views, given the conspiracy theories about Jews rampant in today’s society, Wilson said, “and that’s OK as long as now you’re wanting to do something different.”
For over a decade, the Ruderman Family Foundation has invested in mental health initiatives for high school and college students. After the surge in antisemitism on college campuses and in K-12 schools post-Oct. 7, it became clear to Sharon Shapiro, community liaison and trustee at the Ruderman Family Foundation, that “this would be a good [time] for us to take our mental health expertise and connect it to antisemitism.”
The Ruderman Foundation, launched in 2002 by Morton Ruderman, the co-founder of healthcare technology firm Meditech, has heard from its campus connections that students have been going to Chabad and Hillel for mental health support because the schools didn’t have resources to support them professionally. The foundation reached out to Project Shema after hearing about its work with Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston, where Ruderman is headquartered, and the work it is doing to combat antisemitism alongside administration and student leaders at schools including Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania and Tufts.
The foundation liked that Project Shema — whose name comes from the Hebrew word for “hear,” in reference to its mission to teach skills that will help others hold productive dialogue about difficult topics like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — didn’t get “in your face” and scold people about antisemitism, Shapiro said.
Project Shema is reaching out to schools where it is already working, seeking interested campuses on which to launch the program. Clark University’s psychology department is the first to sign on.
Using a curriculum that was developed with Boston-based clinical psychologist Miri Bar-Halpern, whose work specializes in trauma, programming will be offered virtually or in person, depending on the needs and interests of each school.
Post-Oct. 7, antisemitism has surged on college campuses (though the number of incidents fell dramatically last year) as well as in the mental health field. An April Brandeis University study showed that 47% of Jewish college students surveyed reported experiencing prejudice on campus because of their identity, and 37% felt their campus was hostile to Jews. In the therapy world, several prominent mental health organizations have shared social media content that has blurred the distinction between criticism of Israel and antisemitism; therapists havepreached politics related to Israel and the Palestinian conflict in sessions; and online social work groups have shared blacklists of therapists deemed “Zionist.”
Project Shema wants to help people realize the impact of their actions on the field and on clients, especially if they truly want to be advocates of an inclusive society, Wilson said, so they can cultivate an environment where everyone can access learning. The program will teach participants about intergenerational trauma and the complexity of Jewish identity. Participants will contemplate case studies, seeking practical approaches to support students when issues arise.
While things are calming down on campuses, Shapiro said, “a lot of students talk about issues that they’ve had with professors, and that’s really a difficult thing to change. That’s only going to get worse. I just want it to be more comfortable for Jewish students to go onto any campus they want and to feel comfortable and not afraid.”