There are moments in history when the classroom ceases to be a space apart from the world and becomes, instead, one of its frontlines. Teaching a course on contemporary antisemitism during a time of war is one of those moments. The boundaries between academic inquiry and lived reality blur. Students do not enter the room as passive learners; they arrive as witnesses, participants, and, at times, as targets.

This is not an abstract subject. It is not safely confined to the past, nor reducible to the familiar horrors of the twentieth century. Contemporary antisemitism is dynamic, adaptive, and increasingly embedded in political discourse, digital ecosystems, and social movements. In times of conflict—particularly in the Middle East—it intensifies, mutates, and often cloaks itself in the language of justice, resistance, or moral urgency The challenge, then, is not simply to teach about antisemitism, but to teach through it.

Since February, the classroom has once more become a space of tension. Students bring in fragments of the world outside, either through viral videos, protest slogans, headlines, or personal fears. Some Jewish students sit with a quiet vigilance, measuring whether it is safe to speak. Others, deeply engaged in........

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