Prominent historian and Jewish studies scholar Pamela Nadell joined the ongoing debate over the effectiveness of legacy Jewish organizations on Tuesday, arguing that they play a crucial role in educating non-Jews about antisemitism. 

“It is impossible to consider dismantling legacy organizations that uncover potentially extremist attacks and that educate Americans — not Jewish Americans, we don’t need this education — about antisemitism and all forms of hate. We need to continue doing this work,” Nadell said at the conclusion of the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference in Manhattan in a conversation with the group’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt. 

Nadell was referring to a recent speech by conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, in which he questioned the necessity of Jewish civil rights groups like the ADL, which Greenblatt has pushed back on. 

Nadell, the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History at American University and director of the school’s Jewish studies program, spoke as America prepares for its 250th anniversary this July. The anniversary comes at a fraught moment for American Jewry, which is reeling from recent synagogue attacks in Mississippi and Michigan while grappling with the implications of rising antisemitism on both the far left and right, exacerbated by social media. 

Nadell said the current moment is unprecedented. “It’s really hard to make sense of this moment because when we think of the era [of when] antisemitism was at its highest peak in America, it was the 1930s and 40s,” she said. “What ADL’s predecessors were fighting back against was by and large antisemitism coming from the right, [such as] a plot to kidnap 20 prominent Hollywood Jews and hang them in hopes of sparking a nationwide pogrom that would keep the U.S. out of [World War II].” 

Nadell ended with a message of resilience for American Jewry’s next 250 years. She quoted the biblical psalm “those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.” 

“I’m sowing in tears,” said Nadell. “Maybe I won’t be around to reap in shouts of joy but I hope my children and grandchildren will.” 

The second day of the ADL’s annual two-day conference kicked off Tuesday morning with an address by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who also conveyed a message of resiliency, as he was awarded with the group’s Changemaker Award.

The society “we want to build — a society of dignity, tolerance and respect — will not be built by one leader or one organization, it will be built by all of us standing together,” Kraft, founder of the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, told attendees. 

“We must refuse to accept a world where hatred is normalized and insist that our country live up to its noblest values,” continued Kraft.  “We’re living in a time of rising division. Too many voices are trying to pull people apart. That’s why we must stand closer together… refusing to let hate define who we are as a country.” 

The conference opened on Monday with Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, calling out two Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) — during his State of Hate address, accusing them of perpetuating antisemitism.

Elsewhere at the conference, Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York, said that those who like posts that “cheer” the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel “are antisemitic,” an apparent reference to social media posts liked by New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji, the wife of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.  

Bob and Nancy Milgrim, the parents of slain Israeli Embassy staffer Sarah Milgrim, also addressed the gathering on Tuesday.