Authors Emily Schrader and Blake Flayton provide a pithy primer on Jewish history, Israel, and geopolitics in an easy-to-reference trope-busting book, Edited & Illustrated by Kimberly Brooks
Following the eruption of antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of October 7, Jewish students and their families are looking to increase their knowledge about Israel, the Middle East, and the religions of the region. Emily Schrader and Blake Flayton’s 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College: An Illustrated Guide provides a pithy primer on Jewish history, Israel, and geopolitics in an easy-to-reference trope-busting book for any Jew, especially current and future college.
Concise and digestible, 10 Things Every Jew Should Know includes crucial current and historical information, along with easy-to-understand maps, so that students can better stand up for themselves on the quad and in their community to combat an ever-hardening web of misinformation. Sections include Who Are You, Israel, The Neighborhood, The Occupation, The UN, Lies and Misconceptions, The Media, The Campus and more. The authors want Jewish students to feel empowered to reassert the values, ideas, and ideals that have sustained Jewish life and culture through millennia.
Both Schrader and Flayton, influencers in the Jewish advocacy space, launched careers after their own personal encounters with college antisemitism and virulent hatred of Israel at their universities in America. “As a political science major, I initially had no intention of becoming involved with the issue of Israel until I encountered my first ‘Apartheid Wall’ at USC and realized I was in an environment drenched in hate and misinformation about Jews and Israel,” says co-author Emily Schrader. “I ultimately moved to Israel in reaction and feel passionate about giving college students the information they need in a way that is easy to understand.”
“American Jewry is at a crossroads,” says co-author Blake Flayton. “For the first time in years, bigotry directed at our community is rampant, and ground zero for this turbulence is the campus. Students need more than just the same-old talking points. They need a resource that tackles each and every lie lobbed at Jews and Israel.” Brooks’ crisp outline and often whimsical illustrations offer lightness and metaphor, making subjects scannable and palatable to a wide audience.
10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College, published by Griffith Moon, is available wherever books are sold including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Independent Booksellers.
AUTHORS
Emily Schrader is an American-Israeli journalist and human rights activist from Israel focusing on Israeli and Iranian affairs. She is an anchor at ILTV News and a writer at Ynet News. She has appeared on major news outlets including FOX and Piers Morgan. Schrader is known for her concentration on the plight of the people of Iran. She became active in the Jewish space after her experience with antisemitism as an undergraduate.Emilyschrader.net
Blake Flayton is an American born Israeli writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Jewish Journal, Tablet Magazine and his substack, Bourgeois Nationalist. Flayton is the co-host of the Podcast We should All Be Zionists with Dr. Einat Wilf, former Member of Knesset. M.A. Candidate, Religion and Politics at Bar-Ilan University. bflayton.substack.com
EDITOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Kimberly Brooks is an American artist and author known for her oil paintings addressing subjects of history, memory and identity who exhibits in museums and galleries internationally. Her illustrated book The New Oil Painting (Chronicle Books) is a regular best-seller in its category. She has two Jewish children who attended college recently, which also inspired her to partner with Schrader and Flayton to create this book. kimberlybrooks.com
CHAPTERS of 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College
Who Are You: A brief history of the Jewish people, different types of Jews, and an overview of what it means to be Jewish.
Israel: The Nation: A brief overview of Israel today, the land, the people, the history, and the movement for Jewish independence: Zionism.
The Neighborhood (The Middle East): A brief historical and geopolitical survey of Israel’s neighbors in the Middle East.
The Big O (The Occupation): A review of the origins of “the occupation,” the players, and how it manifests itself today.
The Stick Up: An examination of how foreign money, in the name of helping “refugees,” funds terrorism in the region.
The United Nations: A review of an organization which, despite its original intentions, serves as a reputational theater for theocracies and dictatorships to mask their abuses by obsessing over the only Jewish state.
Lies and Misconceptions: A review of the nature and history of antisemitism and its most prominent representatives.
The Media A review of the role media, particularly social media, plays in fueling antisemitism.
The Campus: A review of the shifting college landscape and specific ways students can navigate and participate in defending the Jewish people.
The Future: A review of what is in store for Israel geopolitically, for the Jews in the Diaspora, and actions Jews can take to defend themselves, stay better informed, and thrive
