{"id":932579,"date":"2026-07-13T19:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/932579\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T19:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:03:13","slug":"nyc-teens-turn-stickers-into-a-new-form-of-jewish-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/932579\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC teens turn stickers into a new form of Jewish activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was produced as part of\u00a0the New York Jewish Week\u2019s Teen Journalism Fellowship<\/a>, a program that works with Jewish teens around New York City to report on issues that affect their lives.<\/p>\n

Henry spent 20 minutes carefully typing and dragging black and white images onto his screen in Canva. Just as the instructor was about to put away the printer, the 13-year-old Upper West Sider, jumped up, eager to hold the sticker he had just designed.<\/p>\n

Moments later, Henry and his classmates each held a 4\u201d x 6\u201d thermal-printed sticker featuring a Star of David and the text, \u201cIsrael is not committing a genocide, Hitler did. Stand up for what is right, not what is easy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Henry was one of 35 7th graders participating in a sticker-making workshop led by the Hatikvah Collective at Rodeph Sholom Middle School in May. The workshop taught students how to design stickers, and how to translate their artworks into a form of public advocacy that is easy, cheap, safe and can reach a wide audience. (Because of the age of the participants, last names are being withheld.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founded in New York City by Elisha Fine, Hatikvah Collective aims to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism with creativity. The organization focuses on creating thermal-printed stickers and \u2018zines featuring pithy notes and images. Inspired by the Kidnapped Poster Campaign<\/a>, a movement started by Israeli NYC-based artists to raise awareness about hostages taken by Hamas after Oct 7, Hatikvah Collective posts their stickers on lampposts and crosswalks in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you see a lamppost you think about the message a sticker on it portrays,\u201d said Theo, a 13-year-old student and Upper East Side resident, after completing the workshop. His sticker said, \u201cLet\u2019s help each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should all help each other and not think negatively,\u201d he said. Theo also admires how stickers can be turned into action. \u201cSigns help [during protests] and they get a message literally above people\u2019s heads,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fine, a historian and social worker, said that the organization began as a response to people who began tearing down hostage posters<\/a> in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack. Gabe Meister,\u00a0a lawyer and father of two, isthe main artist of Hatikvah Collective. \u201cPosting on social media wasn\u2019t enough,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to do something more\u201d for the Jewish community on the days following October 7.<\/p>\n

Oliver, 13, said that he didn\u2019t give much thought to the stickers he saw around his Long Island City, Queens neighborhood, but the Hatikvah workshop gave him a new perspective. \u201cEvery time I see a protest sticker, I will think about it more,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He designed a Holocaust remembrance sticker, with \u201cremember\u201d in Hebrew (zachor) written inside a Jewish star with candles surrounding it. When people look at his sticker, he hopes they will remember the Holocaust and \u201cwhy it was so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie, a Conservative Jewish Upper East Sider, said that the workshop opened her eyes to different forms of activism. \u201cWhen people walk around on the streets, they don\u2019t choose to see the stickers, it just happens,\u201d the 12-year-old said. \u201cThis means that their mindset could change from just walking around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also designed a Holocaust remembrance sticker, and that she wants people to \u201cfeel hopeful that we don\u2019t forget the Holocaust\u201d when they see her design.<\/p>\n

Jonah, 13, said the stickers feel like a safe form of activism. \u201cEven if people see me putting up the stickers, are they [really] are going to stop me? If I\u2019m at a protest things could go bad quickly,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His sticker reads:\u201cEveryone has a place, stand up to Jewish hate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He and his friends have been posting the stickers on lampposts and crosswalks around their Upper East Side neighborhood. \u201cI just kind of put them up whenever I\u2019m walking around in the city, and I see them around my school. It feels good to do something,\u201d Jonah said.<\/p>\n

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