Our Story
October 8, 2023 was a day of reckoning, awakening and realization for American Jews. The shock from the massacres was doubled when Parents saw the joyous, righteous celebration throughout our educational system. Teachers and students, colleges and high schools, in person and on social media. How could this happen?
The reckoning was for ignoring or allowing our children’s schools to become infiltrated with hateful, violent antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
The awakening was to the existence of a decades-long, intelligent, patient and coordinated campaign by groups that want Jews wiped off the face of the earth.
The realization was that Jewish parents were going to have to work together to first stem and then reverse the tide.
We had a lot of catching up to do. But where to start? How could Jewish Parents “skill up” and be as – or more – effective advocates than the groups that had tainted our schools in the first place?
JLIS was created as a solution to this problem in January 2024. The ADL convened a small group of parents who were community leaders, former independent school trustees, and former Heads of School to build and test a simple, straightforward, and scalable approach that any layperson could quickly master.
By January 2025 JLIS’s “test” had reached 40+ Los Angeles area schools and tens of thousands of students. In March of 2025, JLIS will expand nationally with a kickoff presentation at ADL’s annual conference.
