hmTv at HMTC Podcasts Ep 459: Disrupting Hate with Ken Schachter and guest Jessica Levin on hmTv
Disrupting Hate (Ep. 459)
Host: Ken Schachter | Guest: Jessica Levin
In this important episode of Disrupting Hate on hmTv, Ken Schachter speaks with Jessica Levin, Executive Director of the TEL Institute, about a powerful but often overlooked idea: antisemitism cannot be understood unless people first understand the Jewish story.
Founded with writer Dara Horn, the TEL Institute is developing educational curriculum designed to address antisemitism not as a simple prejudice, but as a recurring historical lie that has adapted itself across centuries. Levin explains why many educational systems focus almost exclusively on Jews as Holocaust victims, and how that limited framing unintentionally leaves students unable to recognize modern forms of hatred.
The conversation explores the Institute’s eight-lesson framework, which teaches Jewish civilization as a 3,000-year narrative of ideas, dissent, resilience, and survival. Levin discusses how tyrannical societies historically reacted to Jewish nonconformity, how media across different eras amplified misinformation, and why social media today accelerates the same patterns. The episode also tackles one of the most debated issues on campuses and in public discourse: the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and why education, not slogans, is the only durable response.
Rather than trying to win arguments, the TEL Institute aims to cultivate skepticism, curiosity, and critical thinking so students can recognize propaganda and resist manipulation. The goal is simple but ambitious: make understanding who Jews are as common as learning about the Holocaust.
A thoughtful and timely conversation about education, identity, and the challenge of confronting hatred in the modern information age.