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Fear, anger, and pain are real, but they don’t justify hatred or dehumanization.

Strong disagreement and accountability can coexist with dignity and respect.

Kids need to learn to identify emotions, question assumptions, and consider the impact of their actions.

Co-authored with Bridget Harris

A few months ago, Sesame Street posted a simple message for Jewish American Heritage Month. The spirit of the post was unmistakable: celebration, inclusion, belonging.

Yet the comment section rapidly filled with vile antisemitism before it was turned off. A post from Sesame Street—created to help children grow “smarter, stronger, and kinder”—became a target for contempt.

Kindness was met with hate.

For parents, educators, and all of us who care about young people, this is not simply a social media story. It is a developmental story. Children are watching how adults respond when fear rises, anger hardens, people disagree, groups are blamed, and cruelty is excused as humor, politics, or “just how people talk online.”

The Jewish High Holy Days are a time to gather and reflect. They’re also an apt moment to ponder what feeds “isms” like antisemitism—and, critically, what we can teach children and teens so they do not inherit the dangerous spiral of “You hate me, I hate you; you hurt me, I hurt you back.”

Feelings Are Information, Not Instructions

Antisemitism, like other forms of group hatred, often begins with a story—a story built out of fear, anger, grievance, humiliation,........

© Psychology Today