My Personal Story: From Blog Posts to Book
The purpose of “My Personal Story” and these blog posts is to combine them into a published book entitled Safe Schools for Jewish Students: An Educator’s Guide to Preventing Antisemitism and Strengthening Belonging.
Go here for the full Table of Contents.
Introduction – My Personal Story of Antizionism as a Hate Movement in an Oakland School
My Personal Story
In my fourteenth year of teaching, I joined a charter school in Oakland, California, full of optimism for the new year. During our opening professional development, we were to practice how to respond to student expressions of hate speech.
When I spotted a student-made poster reading “Palestina Libre (Free Palestine), End the Occupation,” I used that as an example of how such displays could be perceived as one-sided and potentially hate speech toward Jewish students, even though the school had no Jewish students. The conversation quickly turned to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. All my colleagues at the table defended the sign and expressed strong political views against Israel.
Over the following weeks, I spoke several times with colleagues and administrators about my concerns. I pointed out district policy that requires all sides of controversial issues to be presented with factual balance and without personal political bias. Despite my requests, the displays remained, even one that accused Israel of committing genocide.
The perpetuation of the hostile environment caused me significant stress and loss of sleep, and I sought constructive ways to address them. I suggested posting an Israeli flag next to the Palestinian flag, connecting the two with a dove of peace. I suggested bringing in outside organizations with expertise in both antisemitism and Islamophobia to help staff navigate such issues in a balanced way.
No results.
As the semester progressed, I noticed student posters that framed historical events in ways that were incomplete or factually inaccurate, placing the blame of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Theodor Herzl and the Balfour Declaration.
One day, I spotted how one of the posters blamed the conflict on “the imbalance of power between the Jewish settlers and the indigenous Palestinian population.”
Upon seeing that poster, I hastened to the office and demanded to speak to the principal. Instead of meeting with the principal, I was sent home. That night, I was placed on administrative leave. Days later, I was terminated from my position for yelling in the office, and I was offered $5,000 to not disparage the school.
I didn’t accept the offer.
This is not just my personal account. It is an example of how well-intentioned equity conversations can fail to protect all communities equally, and how educators need clear tools and frameworks to recognize and address antisemitism in the same way they do other forms of bias.
Who This Book is For
Safe Schools for Jewish Students is especially designed for educators and school administrators. The goal is to help facilitate an understanding of what qualifies as antisemitic behavior so that Jew-hatred at schools is prevented and Jewish students feel welcomed.
While I could write tomes on each subtopic, the design of the book is with the educators and administrators in mind. These beautiful people work hard to make the school year flow smoothly while putting students first that most of them don’t have time to read a textbook. So, I’m limiting each section to brief information, hoping that the content is compact while also delivering a significant impact on the context.
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Author Biography of Safe Schools for Jewish Students
Ezra Barany loves riveting readers with Jewish thrillers. His first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the art of writing novels with his wife and book coach Beth Barany. A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats working on the next book. Ezra, not the cats.
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