Unfor­tu­nate­ly, in today’s world, we still need ways to fight against the scourge of anti­semitism. Books such as this are impor­tant tools for teach­ing the next gen­er­a­tion to under­stand what they are up against and to offer strate­gies with which they can fight back. 

In the first sec­tion of Coun­ter­ing Anti­semitism & Hate, authors Lynne Azarchi and Har­lene Lichter Galen remind us of the need for action. They empha­size the impor­tance of encour­ag­ing young peo­ple to strength­en their iden­ti­ties and be proud of who they are, and they urge us to learn from his­to­ry in order to act effec­tive­ly and appropriately. 

Oth­er top­ics include empa­thy, the need to work togeth­er, the phi­los­o­phy and habit of becom­ing an upstander, and refusal to look the oth­er way when injus­tice occurs. Report­ing abuse to author­i­ties, using exist­ing laws, and under­stand­ing the resources at one’s dis­pos­al are all essen­tial tools. The authors exam­ine anti­se­mit­ic tropes and Holo­caust denial and give sug­ges­tions about how to han­dle them when they sur­face. They also pro­mote pos­i­tive, pre­emp­tive approach­es, such as com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice, tikkun olam, and fundrais­ing for help­ful caus­es. They weave in per­son­al sto­ries, famous quotes, and graph­ic dia­grams to illus­trate their points. 

The book also fea­tures a list of edu­ca­tion­al activ­i­ties that are prac­ti­cal rather than the­o­ret­i­cal. Azarchi and Galen dis­cuss in detail iden­ti­fi­ca­tion with Israel, tac­tics to help one remain calm in moments of cri­sis, assertive behav­iors, and the uses and dan­gers of social media. They also rec­om­mend jour­nal­ing, and pro­vide a list of edu­ca­tion­al movies. 

This is a use­ful hand­book that will help kids and their fam­i­lies make sense of a con­fus­ing world. It will instill in read­ers the con­fi­dence they need to con­tin­ue to nav­i­gate dai­ly life.