St. Louis-based Be the Narrative, a Jewish nonprofit that works to combat antisemitism and build leadership skills among Jewish teens through its signature Student to Student program, is partnering with Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to further expand the scope of the program nationwide.
“We’ve been looking for a program that will help Jewish students, notably teens, gain confidence and give them the skills to talk about being Jewish and to engage with non-Jews in the community, especially when there is so much negative information circling around in the rise of antisemitism,” said Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of JFNA. Fingerhut and Shira Hutt, executive vice president of JFNA, were in St. Louis Monday for a reception at the St. Louis Club where the partnership announcement was officially made.
“Frankly, we’ve been looking for great programs that introduce the Jewish community in a very personal way to those who do not have a lot of experience with Jews and the Jewish community,” Fingerhut continued. “We really love the content and respect the structure of the Student to Student program, and we have the capacity to bring it to scale.”
John Kalishman, who co-founded Be the Narrative with Joe Pereles in 2022, said that with this partnership “we will have the opportunity to extend our reach, our access to more resources and have greater visibility, which will all help to strengthen (Student to Student) and take it to as many cities as possible. It really allows us to move Student to Student from being run by a small organization in St. Louis to a program run by the largest, most important Jewish organization in the country.”
Kalishman and Pereles founded Be the Narrative as a way of expanding the success of Student to Student, an educational program that brings Jewish high school juniors and seniors into schools where students have little-to-no contact with Jews. By listening to Jewish teens from the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Recontructionist movements, as well as the unaffiliated — and asking them questions about their Jewish identity, traditions, values and practices — students unfamiliar with Judaism can learn firsthand about the religion, which can help to dispel stereotypes and breakdown prejudice.
The program was begun in 1992 by Batya Abramson Goldstein, then-executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), with roughly six student presenters and a handful of schools. Over the years, it steadily grew in the St. Louis area, with more than 118 Jewish high school juniors and seniors serving as presenters and 4,122 area non-Jewish students participating in the 2023-24 school year, according to Lauren Abraham, director of Student to Student in St. Louis.
“When creating Be the Narrative our dream was to make a lasting contribution in the fight against antisemitism,” said Kalishman, who along with Pereles, acquired all “licenses and intellectual property” of Student to Student from the JCRC when they formed Be the Narrative. “We envisioned offering our Student to Student program nationwide, and now as a part of JFNA, we will have a much greater opportunity to expand the Student to Student program into more high school classrooms around the country.”
From 2017 to 2020, thanks to grants totaling $45,000 from a national Jewish foundation, Student to Student was able to expand into nine cities, where the program is operated through their local federation and/or JCRC. Since Be the Narrative was formed, Student to Student has continued to grow as even more federations and JCRCs have licensed the program through Be the Narrative. Today, Student to Student is in 25 cities, including Jacksonville, Fla.; San Diego; Las Vegas; Portland, Ore. and MetroWest, N.J.
“We have shown over the past few years that the Student to Student program can be replicated in both large and small markets,” said Pereles, who like Kalishman is a former JCRC board chair. “The model we created is both scalable and sustainable. We know what it takes for a new licensee to be successful and how to ensure consistent program quality across markets.”
Since its formation, Rabbi Andrew Terkel has served as CEO of Be the Narrative while Fawn Chapel, who since 2003 has been involved with the Student to Student program in St. Louis, is now Be the Narrative’s program director. Both Terkel and Chapel are expected to stay in their current positions as part of the partnership with JFNA, and Be the Narrative will continue to be based in St. Louis.
Kalishman and Pereles credit Terkel for raising Be the Narrative’s national profile by speaking about Student to Student at conferences and being invited to address different leadership groups. “It was only a matter of time before national Jewish organizations started to pay attention to what we are doing,” Kalishman said.
The time came in June 2023 when Terkel presented at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations meeting. It was there he met Hutt, JFNA’s executive VP, who was more than impressed with the Student to Student program. Then, in the aftermath of Oct. 7 and the continued rise of antisemitism, the idea of a partnership between Be the Narrative and JFNA gained even more traction.
“Our work took on a new urgency after Oct. 7 in being a positive force for Jewish kids in high school as well as to affirm and build strong Jewish identities in a difficult time,” said Terkel. “I can’t speak for JFNA, but it I think they’re looking at it as a vital part of a strategy to help combat antisemitism.
“Deep down, I believe that if there was a Student to Student presentation in every classroom in America, the Jewish people would be having a better time right now,” he continued. “More people would understand us. More people would know who we are and maybe be a little resistant to some of the misinformation out there.”
