Jay Ruderman has been an activist his entire life. He has long advocated for social justice for people with disabilities, ensuring their visibility in Hollywood productions. Through his work as president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, he’s been able to make meaningful change.
“The reason I have been an activist is because it’s allowed me to take issues I care deeply about and be more impactful,” he said.
“The reason I have been an activist is because it’s allowed me to take issues I care deeply about and be more impactful.” – Jay Ruderman
Ruderman laid out his life’s work and guide for activists in his 2025 book, “Find Your Fight: Make Your Voice Heard for the Causes that Matter Most,” which received praise from actresses Geena Davis and Marlee Matlin, along with Abraham Foxman, national director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League. Now, he’s sharing his wisdom on what’s happening today in a post-October 7 world: intimidation of Jewish institutions disguised as “activism.”
Along with advocating for those with disabilities, Ruderman is also a fierce supporter of Israel; in the past, he served as a liaison between the IDF and diaspora Jewry and as a deputy director for AIPAC. What he’s seeing today – even where he lives, in the Boston area – is not activism.
“It’s intimidation,” he told the Journal. “There is a website in Boston now taking every Jewish person who has ever been supportive of Israel and putting their name on it. This is not the first time this has happened. That’s not activism. They aren’t trying to better society. They’re trying to intimidate and target people.”
Ruderman also witnessed this at his daughter’s school, Columbia University, when the anti-Israel encampments were taking place and anti-Israel students seized part of Columbia’s library.
“The university did not fundamentally understand the difference between free speech and intimidation,” he said. “My son is at NYU, where they have excellent leadership and respond to antisemitism right away. Leadership makes a difference. When the administration, president, and board of directors stand up and say, ‘We are not going to allow you to intimidate a whole class of people,’ things stop. When there are consequences, things stop.”
Instead of using intimidation, in his book, Ruderman lays out effective activism tactics, like appealing to people’s hearts and minds.
“There are too many people who are not trying to find solutions and better society. Instead, they are trying to rip society apart for their own personal gain,” he said. “Activism should be about changing our world for the better.”
Ruderman also believes in the importance of finding like-minded activists and joining together.
“Activism involves building coalitions,” he said. “The most significant activism I have been involved with has been on the issue of disability rights. I wasn’t alone. I did it with other people.”
In a time when college campuses are rife with antisemitism and antizionism, Jews are under attack online and off, and Israel is a target on the left and the right, what makes Ruderman hopeful?
“It gives me hope to stand up for myself and what I believe in,” he said. “Even when you suffer setbacks, you have to be persistent. Persistence has a benefit. It’s how real things get done.”
From the perspective of a long-time activist, Ruderman said that during this time of intimidation, “Jews should not be afraid to stand up and speak out… We shouldn’t be intimidated. Speak up and believe you are on the right side of history, because you are.”
A father of four – with three of his children at three different universities right now – Ruderman said he sees how younger Jews are being intimidated to move away from their culture, religion, and history.”
The author encourages younger Jews to be proud of who they are.
“You come from a line of thousands of years of people who were proud of who they were and deeply cared about their people and religion,” Ruderman said. “Whether you’re looking at American Jews or Jews anywhere in the world, we’ve always been thrown out of places and attacked and we have survived. This is especially during a difficult time when people are trying to pull us apart. We must stand together.”
He continued, “As Jews, we have been through a hard time lately. But there have been many, many worse times. We will survive. And we will be strong.”
