A Mantra for the Digital Age + Jewish Student Leaders Tessa Veksler & Eden Yadegar

Being Jewish with Jonah Platt

Jonah Platt

Jewish Heritage, Being Jewish, Cultural Exploration, Diversity Of Judaism, Jewish Athletes, Personal Journeys, Religion & Spirituality, Faith And Spirituality, Judaism, Jewish Experience, Jonah Platt, Jewish Identity, Jewish Culture, Non-jewish Allies, Celebrity Interviews, Faith Conversations, Society & Culture, Jewish Food And Politics, Art And Judaism Sports

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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Jewish college students are standing up—and they’re not backing down. In this powerful episode of Being Jewish with Jonah Platt, Jonah sits down with two outstanding Jewish student leaders: Tessa Veksler (former UCSB Student Body President) and Eden Yadegar (Columbia University senior). These passionate advocates open up about what it's really like to be Jewish students facing antisemitism on college campuses today, no matter what you might see (or not!) on the news.

Armed with their voices, courage, and personal histories as daughters of immigrants who escaped anti-Jewish regimes abroad, they’re reclaiming Jewish identity, challenging misinformation and demanding visibility, safety, and truth. And they’re doing it all in some of the most charged environments in higher education.

Watch this episode on YouTube at: YouTube.com/@BeingJewishPodcast

We dive deep into:
✅ The shocking and pervasive rise of Jew hatred on college campuses
✅ The difference between more assimilated American Jews and those from families who fled persecution
✅ What Jewish student leaders are doing well — and where we need to go from here
✅ Engagement with the World Zionist Congress and global Jewish identity
✅ What inspires the next generation of Jewish advocates and how YOU can make a difference

Whether you're a Jewish student, parent, educator, or ally, this episode offers honest insight, personal stories, and empowering takeaways.

This episode is sponsored by PJ Library, the amazing non-profit that sends FREE age-appropriate Jewish storybooks and activities every single month to families with kids age 0-12. Did we mention, it’s free! Sign up today at pjlibrary.org/Jonah

Connect with our guests!

Follow Eden Yadegar on Instagram @edenyadegar
Follow Tessa Veksler on Instagram @tessaveksler

Host & Production Team

Host: Jonah Platt; Produced by Rainbow Creative (Executive Producer: Matthew Jones; Story Producer: Sean Leviashvili; Editor: Patrick Edwards); Consulting Producer: Bethany Mandel; Research Associate: Samantha Greenwald; Executive Assistant: Josie Rothschild; Creative Associate: Rachel Stern; Social Media Manager: Yuval Yosha; Graphic Designer Noah Bell

MENTIONED IN EPISODE

Transcript

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0:00.0	Shalom, Kavarim, Banot, and welcome to another very special episode of the world's number one Jewish podcast.
0:08.1	I have to ask for a small favor.
0:10.4	As an independent show, we don't have a massive marketing machine behind us.
0:14.6	Our growth is purely organic, fueled by dedicated viewers and listeners like you.
0:19.5	So if you would be so kind, please take 30 seconds,
0:24.0	head over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, find this show, and leave me a five-star rating and a short
0:30.0	written review. I love seeing all of your thoughtful and generous feedback. Some of it has even
0:35.0	made it onto the show and may again. And as of this recording,
0:38.7	we are just eight ratings away from hitting 500 on Apple. Crossing that threshold would be a huge
0:44.3	milestone for us. It's a small mitzvah on your part, but it really is the fuel that allows us to
0:50.0	keep these amazing conversations going. So thank you in advance. Unless you don't leave a rating,
0:55.9	in which case you're a butt head. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Sometimes I get
1:01.7	it wrong. Hard to believe. I know. But it's true. Sometimes my emotions get the best of me,
1:08.6	and I speak or act or post something impulsively,
1:13.0	which, as you might guess, doesn't usually work out. Just ask my wife. Weekly shout out to Courtney.
1:19.0	But look, we all make mistakes, right? We all let emotion get in the way of reasons sometimes.
1:24.2	It's part of being human. But what separates people of integrity from people of
1:28.3	in schmegrety is the assumption that we will get things wrong. So we need to be constantly
1:33.6	vigilant. And when we do err, we must swiftly and comprehensively work to erase or correct the
1:39.1	mistake and learn from it. Not exactly the most popular practice these days. Indeed, I've observed a very common
1:46.5	mistake that all of us make with regularity, yet rarely seek to clear up, and it falls under a
1:52.2	number of common cognitive biases, which, if you've been listening to this show long enough,
	...

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