‘I was scared to be Jewish’: Some NYC teens mask their names amid rising antisemitism | JTA

This article was produced as part of the New York Jewish Week’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around New York City to report on issues that affect their lives.

On her Uber app, Sivan’s name is Alexandra. Noa tells people her name is Nina. Michal goes by Micky in car services and when ordering coffee.

These days, some New Yorkers with Jewish-sounding names are providing fake names when they interact with strangers. They say the motivation is to feel safer around town, given the spike in antisemitism in New York City and elsewhere after Oct. 7. Most wish they didn’t have to hide an important part of themselves, but they do so to protect themselves physically and emotionally.

Sivan, 19, who attended private high school in Manhattan, decided to start using a non-Hebrew name right after Oct 7. She made the decision after hearing a story from her friend, Ellie, who said she was asked by an Uber driver if she was Jewish. When Ellie, to be safe, reflexively lied and said, the driver allegedly responded: “Good, because if you were I would have killed you.” 

“I was scared,” said Sivan, who started using her middle name when calling a car service. “It was the first time in my life I was really scared to be Jewish. I had always learned about the Holocaust, but I never thought it would be me.” 

“It makes me sad that we live in a world where you can’t use your name because you’re scared of being killed,” Sivan added. (While real first names are used in this article, the interviewees requested that any personal identifying information, including their last names, not be published, highlighting just how unsafe some Jewish teens in New York City feel.) 

This year alone, the Anti-Defamation League reported over 1,000 antisemitic incidents in New York City – the highest count of antisemitic incidents in any U.S. city since the organization began recording these instances in 1979. Specifically, the report showed a spike in antisemitism and harsh anti-Israel rhetoric targeting those who are visibly Jewish. 

Antisemitism is hardly a problem exclusive to New York City. More than half of Jewish Americans report experiencing some form of antisemitism last year (2024-2025). The ADL reports that antisemitic incidents in the USA hit a new high in 2024 — more than 25 antisemitic incidents a day. 

Recently, the Slovakian-Canadian model Miriam Mottova was kicked out of an Uber in Toronto after the driver assumed Mottova was Jewish based on a phone call she was having in the car. According to Mottova, the driver said she “does not drive Jewish people.” Since going public with her story, Mottova claims that “scores of people” have reached out to her with similar stories about Uber. 

Last year, Lindsay Friedmann, the New Orleans-based director of the ADL’s South Central Region, “received reports of Uber drivers canceling rides after learning their passengers were Jewish or refusing to drive to Jewish locations,” according to The Media Line. Many of those masking their Jewish identities were students at Tulane University. 

Friedmann, too, shortened her name on her Uber profile, using only her last initial. According to the publication, a ride with “a driver displaying a Palestinian flag confirmed her decision.”

While neither Uber nor Lyft has a phone number riders can call if they experience harassment, riders can file complaints on the car services’ apps. According to an Uber spokesperson, “our specialized teams carefully review reports of this nature and take appropriate action, which includes removing individuals from the platform.”

In New York, despite regulations meant to protect New York City residents from “prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, and discrimination, bias-related violence or harassment,” many Jewish teens living in New York City feel unsafe. According to an ADL report from October, the antisemitic trends in 2025 “provide evidence of a sustained pattern of harassment, intimidation and violence that threatens Jewish New Yorkers’ sense of safety and belonging.”

A Washington Post poll conducted in early September found that about 42% of Jewish Americans reported avoiding publicly wearing, carrying or displaying anything that might identify them as Jewish in the previous year, a notable rise from similar questions in earlier years. 

The issue is a family matter for 14-year-old Rowan, an eighth grader who lives in Yorkville, and his mom, Michal. Michal recently heard a story about an Uber driver who asked a friend’s teenager if he was Jewish; when the son lied and said “no” to avoid any confrontation, the driver revealed he would have kicked the friend out if he was. 

Rowan does not feel a need to hide his name because it is not a typical Jewish-sounding name. His mom still advises him to remain vigilant for his safety and not to invite problems by revealing his Jewish identity. 

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