By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

Social media influencer and advocate Shai Albrecht offered a challenge to the dozens of women gathered at Temple Beth El on February 3 eager to take their advocacy for Israel and the Jewish community to the next level. 

“In this time,” she told the audience for the “Find Your Voice” event, “you cannot not take action.” “This time” is this particularly troubling time of elevated antisemitism and anti-Zionism, on the rise since Hamas attacked Israel and took hostages to provoke a war. She said that America’s Jewish Federations have been at the forefront the Jewish response, as they typically are.

Tama Tamarkin, co-chair along with Naomi Schachter of this Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley Women’s Philanthropy empowerment program, set the stage for Albrecht. “Shai has used her voice to stand with and for Israel even when it was difficult,” she said.

Albrecht began by tracing her own Jewish advocacy back to her grandfather, who grew up in pre-WWII Poland and survived the Holocaust in part by hiding under a neighbor’s outbuilding. A few years later, he fought for Israel in the armed struggle to preserve the newly founded nation. “Because my saba and others took action to defend Israel,” she said, “Israel declared victory.” 

The Hamas attacks on Israel and the war that followed have become the latest major turning point in thousands of years of Jewish history. “My memory is now split into life before October 7 and life after October 7,” Albrecht said. “October 7 shook us like an earthquake. An earthquake cracks the foundation.”

Albrecht was in Israel with her husband and three kids that day. It was an important first trip to Israel for the family taken together. “We wanted our kids to know Israel would always be their safe space,” she said.

Then the family woke up on the morning of October 7 to alarms blaring. “My heart was beating so loudly I could hear it,” Albrecht said. She soon found herself in a stairwell, holding her 5-year-old daughter with her 10-year-old son standing next to her. Her middle daughter wasn’t there.

“Paz was nowhere to be found,” Albrecht said, “and sirens from missiles were continuing nonstop.” Fortunately, they did find her quickly, taken into a safe room by an alert couple when the alarms went off.

“We didn’t know it then,” Albrecht said, “but the earth was shaking and our foundation was crumbling.” Life in Israel and for Jews all over the world changed in that moment. More than ever in recent years, Jews would need to stand up for their Israel and for one another everywhere.

At this point, Albrecht pointed to three lies that she and so many others had been telling themselves about the Jewish situation in the world. First, Israel had seemed to be a generally safe place, all caveats considered. Worries of the distant past were largely in the distant past. “In our day and age, this could not be real,” she said. “We have our own air force!”

The second was that people the world over would receive the misinformation that soon spread rapidly about the war and Israel as lies. “They will finally see evil for what it is,” she said. Then anti-Israel and antisemitic protests began popping up everywhere. And continued. And grew. She was forced to conclude, “The world would not see evil for what it is.”

The third lie was that, even after realizing lies No. 1 and 2 were lies, a tendency to think “someone else will deal with it” remained. But someone else will not deal with it. It’s up to you, Albrecht said. 

“Faced with this, people like you and me created American Jewish Federations,” she said of the nationwide nonprofit network founded after Israel’s independence to advocate and raise funds for Israel and Jewish people. “Salvation will come through our actions.”

Albrecht emphasized that she had no intention of becoming an advocate when she started out on social media. Back then she was giving people physical fitness guidance. But being stuck in Israel with her family for three weeks after the Hamas attacks and witnessing the global reaction changed everything for her. 

“You see these horrendous lies,” she said. “I had a platform on social media and I decided I’m going to tell the truth.” People began to see what she saw and appreciated her efforts and contributions. “That is how you create a platform.”

That doesn’t mean all went well from then on. Not everyone has warmed to her commentary. “I have received death threats, been banned from Instagram and TikTok,” she said. “And told to shut up. I will not shut up.” 

She said there’s no reason other women cannot follow in her footsteps, becoming vocal advocates in ways that take advantage of their own personalities, strengths, and passions. She recommended taking action through Jewish Federations, with their decades of built-up resources, hard-earned first-hand experience, and extensive national and global network. 

“I cannot not take action,” Albrecht said. “Salvation will come through our actions.”

Be part of the Women’s Philanthropy effort building and advocating for the Jewish community in the Lehigh Valley, in Israel, and elsewhere by contacting Lee Kestecher Solomon, director of community engagement, at [email protected] or 610-821-5500.