In the wake of crucial advocacy meetings in Washington with Ambassador Mark Walker, Dirshu Nasi Rabbi David Hofstedter organizes an international coalition of Rabbanim, askanim, and Jewish leaders to confront the alarming rise of global Jew-hatred
In a move with far-reaching implications for Jewish advocacy and shtadlanus on the world stage, Rabbi David Hofstedter, Nasi of Dirshu, has announced the establishment of a Global Jewish Forum to Combat Antisemitism. The Forum will unite prominent Roshei Yeshiva, major international askanim, and influential Jewish leaders from across the Olam HaTorah and the broader Jewish diaspora, creating a unified front to aggressively confront the rise of global Jew-hatred.
The initiative comes on the heels of extensive high-level meetings on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. State Department. Chief among them was a comprehensive, face-to-face conversation between Rabbi David Hofstedter and Ambassador Mark Walker, Principal Advisor on Global Religious Freedom at the State Department. The two engaged in a serious discussion about the dangerous climate of intolerance facing the Jewish people today.
Ambassador Walker was direct in his message: passive measures are no longer sufficient. Personal advocacy - showing up, walking into an office, looking a lawmaker in the eye - carries a weight that no letter or email can replicate.
"It is absolutely critical that you not only call or write to your congressman, but that you actually come down to his office and meet with him - and express your feelings about the rise in antisemitism," Ambassador Walker urged. "The fact that you're taking the time to come to Washington D.C. has an impact unlike any other type of approach."
Responding to this call, Rabbi David Hofstedter moved swiftly to build a permanent structure capable of executing this vision on an international scale. The newly formed Forum will serve as a centralized hub, mobilizing Jewish leadership to engage in targeted, high-impact diplomatic missions aimed at securing the safety of Jewish communities worldwide.
The spiritual and historical weight of this mission came to the fore during the meeting, when Rabbi David Hofstedter shared a deeply personal reflection - the anguish of his own grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who lost almost his entire family.
"I remember he many times opened his heart and with such acute pain, he told me that he could not understand: 'What was the world doing, what were the Jews in America doing when six million of their brethren were being exterminated, murdered in cold blood? Were they going to the ball game?'" Rabbi David Hofstedter recounted.
Ambassador Walker strongly affirmed the sentiment, noting that the threat is clear and present - particularly from state actors like Iran, whose public proclamations call openly for the destruction of both Israel and America. "That is exactly why we must respond to this behavior and stand up to this," Walker said.
In what has become the founding mandate of the new Forum, Rabbi David Hofstedter issued a direct charge to the Jewish community at large. "The message to the Jewish people is: don't put yourself in a position where you are going to have to explain to your grandchildren or great-grandchildren why you didn't do anything when you could have," he said. "We must be proactive. You can pay a small price now or a greater price later."
The Global Jewish Forum is slated to convene its opening session in the coming weeks, bringing together communal leaders and international figures to lay out a multi-tiered strategic roadmap. By combining traditional discrete lobbying and direct advocacy with the global infrastructure that Dirshu has built over decades, the Forum aims to ensure that the voice of Klal Yisrael is heard clearly and effectively in the highest corridors of international power.