Masha Merkulova, founder and executive director of Club Z, says few in the "flashy" news want to talk about the quiet, shrugged-off incidents of antisemitism, but those "kernels" are indicative of what is taking place in the United States. And that worries her.
At the end of 2025, for example, an administrator of a mom group she is part of on Facebook posted a picture of a mom, dad, and two kids lighting Menorah in celebration of Hanukkah.
This group of moms out of a "highly, highly educated" suburb of a metropolitan area "imploded on itself because people started complaining about why are we putting a Jewish picture on our group?" Merkulova accounts.
That may seem insignificant, but she says "expecting Jews to be invisible in our society" is a big deal.
"We're acceptable as long as we're invisible, and the moment we show up publicly, people feel entitled to push us back out," she laments.
A second example in this "familiar pattern" involves a superintendent from what Merkulova regards as a "highly educated" place who said at the start of the new year that going forward, his district will avoid using the term "swastika" to describe Nazi imagery "out of respect for its long-standing cultural and religious significance to Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain communities."
"As a district, we remain united in condemning hate in all forms," he added, which leaves Merkulova wondering about inclusion.
She points out that context matters.
When a swastika is drawn on a school bathroom or desk, nobody assumes it is a religious symbol; everyone knows it is a Nazi symbol, and Merkulova says kids need to be educated about that.
"It's not about not seeing our Hindu neighbors; it's about acknowledging the fact that Nazis have appropriated their symbol and that when it appears on posters, in prints, during the protest, it is a Nazi symbol. We cannot name it anything else," she submits, calling this another example of non-Jews telling the Jews how to understand antisemitism.
Another recent case involves a group of 10-year-old kids walking home from school together when one of the little boys told the Jewish girl in the group that he is "with Hitler."
"This is what normalization of Jew hatred looks like," Merkulova insists. "Children don't invent Hitler worship on their own; they absorb it from the society that allows it, that normalizes it."
In Mississippi, Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, has been charged with starting a fire inside the famous Beth Israel Congregation synagogue, which he has reportedly referred to as a "synagogue of Satan."
She says the Left has been plagued by Jew hatred for years, and now, the Right is also infected with it. She immigrated to America because she thinks it is the best place in the world, but eventually, every society will reveal itself in how it treats its Jews.
She says it is time for people to find reputable sources, learn about their Jewish neighbors, and make a choice in this moral test.
Believing that antisemitism is a problem that is solved in homes, Merkulova encourages Americans to understand that the United States' foundational principles are based on Judeo-Christian values and that western democracy is based on Jewish values.
"As a Jewish mom, I have told my kids ... to start studying Hebrew really seriously, because I don't know if there's going to be a future for Jews in the United States," she shares. "That is a painful, painful thing to realize."
