The Shofar Report: A Call to Defend Democracy and Confront Antisemitism
The Shofar Report is a call to defend both democracy and Jewish safety. It is the Nexus Project’s answer to Project Esther, which is the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for using weaponized claims of antisemitism to undermine democratic institutions.
We reject that vision. For Nexus, democracy and Jewish safety are inseparable, and protecting democracy is a foundational strategy for combating antisemitism.
The Shofar Report offers recommendations to strengthen protections for civil rights and democratic institutions, invest in education, and build cross-community alliances, including tangible steps that policymakers and community leaders can and should take to achieve these goals, including:
- Fully fund comprehensive education initiatives — including Holocaust education, media literacy, and programming that teach about diverse Jewish contributions to American society, as well as the history of antisemitism alongside other communities’ histories.
- Ensure vigorous enforcement of existing civil rights laws by providing adequate funding for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Justice’s civil rights programs, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s activities.
- Focus enforcement on clear cases of discrimination and harassment while protecting political expression and academic freedom.
- Secure funding for nonprofit security grants and ensure that grantees and sub-grantees are not beholden to an administration’s ideological whims on issues like diversity or immigration.
Implementing these recommendations requires sustained commitment to democratic values and rejection of authoritarian shortcuts that leave communities more vulnerable. Success means fewer antisemitic incidents and hate crimes; a society more knowledgeable about Jewish history and antisemitism; stronger interfaith and intercultural relationships; and communities more resilient against extremist recruitment. In short, success looks like democracy.
These recommendations are followed by essays addressing urgent challenges: Rabbi Seth Limmer on ensuring Jewish safety; Amy Spitalnick on rejecting the false choice between protecting Jews and protecting democracy; Hannah Rosenthal on the links between antisemitism and xenophobia; David N. Myers on defending academic independence; Eric Ward on how attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion fracture pro-democracy coalitions; Judith Lichtman on resisting cynical claims of antisemitism used to weaken civil society; and Dov Waxman and Jeremy Ben-Ami on how US foreign policy hinders efforts to combat antisemitism.
Finally, the Shofar Report turns to a series of in-depth essays that trace the forces shaping this moment. Lila Corwin Berman examines how the historical narrative of American exceptionalism for Jews obscure antisemitism’s ties to other hatreds. Itamar Mann and Lihi Yona explore how policing criticism of Israel risks placing Jewish identity in the hands of courts. Joshua Shanes traces the persistence and manipulation of antisemitic tropes, including their use to deflect criticism. And Irwin Kula reflects on why younger Jews are challenging the architectures of safety and power embraced by older generations. Together, these essays deepen our understanding of the past and present — and give us language for imagining a better future.
This is the Shofar Report. Now is the time to heed its call.
Table of Contents
Policy Recommendations: Fighting Antisemitism by Protecting Democracy
Antisemitism and Jewish Safety
Antisemitism and the Attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Antisemitism and the Attack on Civil Society
Antisemitism and US Foreign Policy
A Language for and From Here: Introducing the Shofar Report, Part II
Antisemitism in the “Golden Land”?
Governing Jews: Antisemitism, Pluralism, and the Role of Law in the Trump Era
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