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Fighting food allergies becomes another ritual at synagogues, schools and camps
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives.
(JTA) — No challah on Shabbat for those with celiac disease or wheat allergies. No cheesecake for Shavuot for those with dairy allergies. No mishloach manot gift packages on Purim for kids with severe allergies to the treats inside.
Synagogues and other Jewish organizations are seeing a rise in the number of children and teens who suffer from food allergies, and are adjusting to make sure that no one is endangered or feels left out – from nut-free policies to separate gluten-free kitchens.
For some, however, such accommodations aren’t enough to make them feel part of the mainstream.
“I try not to let it get the best of me, but in the back of my mind I’m like ‘wow, I really wish I could try what everyone else is trying,’” said Micah Pierandri, 17, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who often feels disconnected from others during community events involving food.
More children and teens are being diagnosed with food allergies than ever. In 2007, only about 4% of children in the United States under 18 reported food allergies, but last year the number more than doubled. A 2020 review of hospital admissions data showed a global increase in hospitalizations for anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life threatening allergic reaction. One study found that 37% of children in an Orthodox Jewish community had food allergies.
Food allergies can have a significant impact on a person’s mental health. Up to 40% of parents of children with allergies said that they would associate the word “isolating” with their child’s allergy, according to a study by Allergy UK. And while many synagogues are taking steps to become more allergy friendly, holidays and religious events involvinging food can be a struggle for many children and teens with food allergies.
“I’m that allergy kid that has to sit out or bring their own dessert or their own food to events,” said Pierandri.
Pierandri, who has an airborne allergy to peanuts and severe allergies to pecans, walnuts, soy and eggs, often brings her own food to synagogue events. This can make her feel separated from the rest of the Jewish community during the holidays, even if her food is similar to her peers.
Tu Bishvat and Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, are especially difficult to celebrate because of the foods that are involved. On Tu Bishvat, the springtime New Year of the Trees, it’s customary for people to eat nuts and try fruits that they haven’t tasted before. For Pierandri, who has oral allergy syndrome, eating most fruits could cause an allergic reaction. Many Israeli dishes contain sesame or nuts, and her mild sesame allergy and severe nut allergies mean that she struggles to find foods that are safe for her to eat on Yom Ha’atzmaut, forcing her to choose between bringing her own food or eating before she goes.
By listing the ingredients in all food dishes at events, Beth El Temple Center in Belmont, Massachusetts makes it easier for people with food allergies to be included. Around 10% of students at their religious school have allergies. Though the number hasn’t changed much over the past few years, it is high enough that all teachers are notified about students’ allergies, said Joan Perlman, its director of education.
“It’s important to accommodate people with food allergies because it aligns with our core value of being an inclusive community,” said Debbie Ezrin, executive director of Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Maryland. To her, inclusivity means making sure that everyone feels like they belong. Their congregation is a nut-free facility and works to accommodate people with food allergies during any event involving food.
Josephine Schizer (left) at dinner with a friend. (Courtesy)
“While the synagogue adheres to traditional Jewish dietary laws, we always ask people to share their dietary needs and do our best to accommodate them,” said Rabbi Daniel Kaiman of Congregation B’nai Emunah, the synagogue that Pierandri attends.
She also feels like her food allergies have stunted her BBYO experience. “Part of me feels like it’s not really having food allergies, it’s more like people not being cautious,” Pierandri said. She’s been to multiple chapter and regional events where there have been peanuts even though people are aware that she has an airborne allergy.
“This is one of the areas where we really try to make sure that we’re accommodating our teens and I think it’s a small step we can take towards creating a supportive, inclusive, welcoming environment,” said Drew Fidler, director of BBYO’s Center for Adolescent Wellness.
Like many other organizations, BBYO has seen an increase in the number of teens with allergies over the past decade. All of BBYO’s conventions are peanut and tree nut-free in order to accommodate teens with nut allergies, and the organization also offers vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free meals by request.
“They just want to participate and feel normal and be a part of what’s going on,” she said about members who might feel excluded because of their allergies. At its international convention and summer programs, BBYO has a dedicated area for special meals so that teens with dietary restrictions are able to eat during meals.
Many Jewish summer camps are taking similar steps towards inclusion. “We always tell families that food should never be a reason that campers cannot be at camp or participate in Jewish life,” said Rabbi Ami Hersh, director of Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, New York.
Around 10% of the 800 campers that attend each session have food allergies, a larger percentage than in past years. The camp has a dietary specialist who works with each family to find alternative meals for campers. It’s important that the alternative meals closely mirror what the other campers are eating “so that no one’s feeling left out or excluded based on food needs,” Hersh said.
“I think that sometimes food needs and allergies are misunderstood as something that people are just being difficult about,” he said. “No one wakes up in the morning and says ‘I really wish I had a food allergy.’”
After noticing an increasing number of campers with celiac disease, NJY Camps, an organization that runs five Jewish summer camps in eastern Pennsylvania, opened a dedicated gluten-free kitchen in 2011.
Taking care of children with food allergies costs US families over $25 billion each year. When parents have to provide food for their children, it can be expensive and isolate the child even further. In a study by Dalhousie Medical School, all 56 gluten-free products tested were more expensive when compared to their regular counterparts.
At NJY Camps, the camp charges the same for the gluten-free meal plan as for the regular meal plan. “We don’t charge families extra despite the additional cost, it is simply a courtesy provided to those who need it,” said Carrie Youngs, director of Camp Nah-Jee-Wah, its camp for younger kids. Within the last five years, they’ve had as few as 30 and as many as 60 gluten-free campers register for each session.
The gluten-free kitchen has separate staff, equipment and serving area to avoid cross contamination. Like Ramah Day Camp, NJY Camps try to make the gluten-free meals match the regular meals being served that day so that campers with dietary restrictions won’t feel left out.
“Because we’re a kosher camp, some allergies are just a good fit,” she said. The camp doesn’t have to make accommodations for allergies like shellfish because shellfish aren’t kosher. Camp Nah-Jee-Wah is also completely peanut free in order to accommodate campers who have airborne peanut allergies.
Before arriving at camp, families are able to meet with an allergy liaison who ensures that all of their needs are met. “We just feel that accommodating campers and giving them the most incredible camp experience is important for their upbringing,” Youngs said.
Eating away from home can be scary for people with food allergies, especially when those allergies are life-threatening. “My house is the space where I feel most comfortable when it comes to food,” said Josephine Schizer, 21, a sophomore at Harvard University. She’s allergic to eggs, dairy, sesame seeds, chickpeas, kiwi, lentils and peas, but thanks to her school’s Hillel, she’s been able to eat safely while she’s away from home. She’s developed a relationship with the Hillel’s dining hall staff and made them aware of her food allergies. They’ll often make special meals for her so that she’s able to eat.
Her allergies don’t usually make eating a problem during Jewish holidays, but on Passover, a holiday that imposes additional dietary restrictions, she struggles to find nutritious meals because there are fewer options. “Many of the options that I could normally eat are out of the question during Passover because of the holiday or have egg in them because flour gets replaced with egg,” Schizer said. Nearly everyone in her family has allergies, making it easier for her to celebrate Jewish holidays at home.
“I think it’s harder when I’m in places that aren’t my own home,” she said. “It’s harder, but it’s still doable.”
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Africa Becomes Center of Global Terrorism Amid ISIS Revivals, Al Qaeda Alliances
Islamic State – Central Africa Province released documentary entitled “Jihad and Dawah” covering group’s campaigns in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and battles against Congolese and Ugandan armies. Photo: Screenshot
Both independent analysts and the United States government have identified rising Islamist terrorist threats across Sub-Saharan Africa as a growing concern, now positioning the region at the center of attention regarding global jihadist terrorism.
Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), has started a series of visits to African partners, starting with Ethiopia, Somaliland, and Puntland.
“The whole reason I came here is because we have shared threats,” Anderson said. “I’m not new to this region; I understand what the issues are, and we’re here to help empower our African partners to address these threats in a united way.”
Just last week, AFRICOM coordinated with the government of Somalia to strike Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Shabaab targets.
“As we face the growing security threats, including the rise of terrorist activities in East Africa, the Sahel, and West Africa’s coastal regions, the collective efforts are more important than ever,” Anderson said. “Together we can build a more prosperous and secure future for the United States, for Africa, and most importantly, for our children.”
Anderson’s trip came after the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point released a report last month showing that, last year, 86 percent of all terrorism-related deaths occurred in just 10 countries, with seven of them in Africa and five in the continent’s Sahel region.
The report explained how the Sahel — a belt that runs across the African continent and is also called the Sahelian acacia savanna — dominates the map of terrorism deaths today.
“Where once the global terror threat was concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa, today it is centered in the Sahel, specifically in the tri-border region between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger,” the report’s four authors wrote before noting that, according to the 2025 Global Terrorism Index, the region comprised more than half of all terrorism-related deaths last year.
“The data shows that while countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, and Nigeria have been largely steady when it comes to significant impact by terrorism over recent years, Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, chief among them) have experienced a steep increase,” the analysts assessed. “In 2023 and 2024, Burkina Faso was most impacted by terrorism globally.”
Regarding the specific groups responsible for these slayings in the Sahel, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies primarily blamed an al-Qaeda-affiliate, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which it identified as being responsible for 83 percent of deaths in the region.
In August, a report from the Observer Research Foundation argued that “the African continent remains the principal theater of global jihadist activity.”
Colin Clarke and co-author Anoushka Varma, both of the Soufan Group, described the threat of JNIM. The group “has entrenched its position as the deadliest terrorist group in the Sahel, escalating attacks across Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, while making inroads into Benin, Ghana, and Togo — countries that had largely avoided jihadist violence until now,” they wrote. “In the first half of 2025, JNIM claimed to have carried out at least 280 attacks in Burkina Faso — double the number recorded during the same period in 2024 — and was responsible for approximately 8,800 fatalities across the Sahel that year.”
Another region of the continent drawing the concern of counter-terrorism analysts is the Horn of Africa (HOA), where the West Point researchers identified the “critical case” of the “the triangular confluence that has developed between the Houthis, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and al-Shabaab.”
Despite the Houthis being backed by Shi’ite Iran and operating primarily out of Yemen, the West Point report noted that “there is even evidence that the Houthis have collaborated with Islamic State Somalia [a Sunni group], coordinating on intelligence and procurement of drones and technical training.”
Clarke and Varma also explained the unique threats operating in the HOA in their analysis, explaining that “both the Islamic State–Somalia Province (IS-Somalia) and al-Qaeda’s Somali affiliate, al-Shabaab, remain key drivers of regional instability.”
In April 2025, they wrote, al-Shabaab “launched a renewed offensive in Middle Shabelle, regaining territorial control not seen since the Somali federal government’s counteroffensive in 2022.” The analysts also identified that “IS-Somalia has attracted foreign fighters from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, and even among the Somali diaspora in the West.”
In addition to the increased violence in the HOA and Sahel African regions, two other alarming trends in terrorism that West Point’s researchers named are the wide involvement of Iran with organized crime gangs and the decreasing ages of first-time terrorist suspects.
The report stated that over the last five years, Iran has conducted 157 foreign operations, with 22 involving criminal groups and 55 involving terrorist groups. These range from “Hell’s Angels gang members in Canada to the Kinahan Cartel in Ireland.”
Likewise, the age range of terrorism offenders has transformed.
The authors stated that many analysts have identified “a new wave of extremism among children” and that “across Europe as a whole, nearly two-thirds of Islamic State-linked arrests in 2024 involved teenagers. This included the infamous August 2024 plot by three males aged 17 to 19 targeting a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria.”
In 2024, the United Kingdom reported that 20 percent of its terrorism suspects were legally classified as minors.
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Amid campus tensions, CUNY steps up outreach to Brooklyn yeshivas
The City University of New York is boosting its outreach to Jewish high schools as tensions over antisemitism allegations continue to flare on some of its 26 colleges across the five boroughs.
On Tuesday, CUNY chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and Brooklyn College president Michelle Anderson visited Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School, a Modern Orthodox school in Brooklyn where students study halacha, Talmud, and Tanakh alongside secular subjects.
Their visit focused on promoting a dual enrollment program that allows students to take Brooklyn College courses without leaving the building. Teachers at the high school were hired as adjunct faculty for Brooklyn College to teach college-level subjects including calculus, physics, English composition, algebra II, and “American pluralism.” Students who pass the courses earn college credit.
While CUNY has partnered with New York City public schools to offer the dual enrollment program since 2000, it opened the program to independent religious schools only last year. This fall, 78 students from religious schools participated, including students from Joel Braverman and Magen David Yeshivah School in Brooklyn.
The visit to a yeshiva from top-level CUNY administrators also came amid fallout from an interfaith event at CUNY’s City College last month, where a speaker urged Muslim students to leave in protest because a “Zionist” was present.
“You’re in shock? We’re not, we’re used to it,” a Jewish student says in a recording of the event reviewed by the Forward. “That’s how interfaith goes at CCNY.”
Ilya Bratman, Hillel director for multiple campuses in the CUNY system and the Jewish representative at the event, told the Forward in a phone interview that the incident unfortunately typified the climate Jewish students face at CUNY.
“Whenever the college has tried to create interfaith opportunities, they often end up in this kind of environment — terrible, overwhelming,” Bratman said.
In a statement, a City College spokesperson said the school “has zero tolerance for acts of hate or bigotry of any kind and will promptly take all necessary and appropriate actions to address any such discrimination and remedy its effects.”
During Tuesday’s visit, CUNY administrators did not directly discuss the incident but said the yeshiva partnership reflects a broader commitment to making campuses welcoming to Jewish students.
“The pilot shows that we want to be able to attract students from the yeshivas,” Matos Rodríguez said. “There’s things out there in the world that we have to navigate, but we want to continue to send signals about what we consider to be important.”
Anderson highlighted that Brooklyn College received an “A” from the Anti-Defamation League’s Campus Antisemitism Report Card. She touted the school’s active Hillel, Judaic Studies department and accommodations for Jewish holidays.
Jacob Hanan, a Joel Braverman junior taking four dual-enrollment classes, said Jewish life is central to his college search — and Brooklyn College is currently at the top of his list.
“I look for programs that have a healthy environment, not that much antisemitism going around, as well as other Jewish students on campus I can interact with, and maybe a Hillel to make it easier to practice,” he said in an interview with the Forward.
Rebecca Weinwurzel, another junior in the program, told the Forward she’s been grateful for the opportunity to take more challenging courses. She, too, is considering Brooklyn College, partly because of her experience in the dual enrollment program.
“I do see a lot that Brooklyn College is one of the schools that will knock down any antisemitism that comes their way very quickly,” she said. “And that is a very big plus for me.”
The post Amid campus tensions, CUNY steps up outreach to Brooklyn yeshivas appeared first on The Forward.
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I was interrogated by Israeli authorities — I know why they’re terrified of peace activists like me
Two weeks ago, I was on my way home from Israel after leading young Jewish activists across the country to meet with Israelis and Palestinians fighting for peace and justice. But just as my plane at Ben Gurion Airport was beginning to board, I was called to the gate desk, where I was told that I would be further questioned by airport security.
I was interrogated and searched for the next hour; one security agent accused me of having suspect political motivations because my checked luggage contained materials sympathetic to Israeli pro-democracy protesters and Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. They were trying to scare me. I felt, viscerally, how much Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants to deter American Jews from aiding Israelis and Palestinians working toward peace and shared security.
But it didn’t intimidate me. Instead, it left me feeling more convinced than ever that it’s crucial for Jews around the world to take direct action for equality and justice in Israel and the West Bank. Because for every American Jew who, like me, has to endure a little ordeal with airport security, there are millions of Palestinians and Israelis facing far worse repression. And it is our duty to stand with them.
As the director of young leadership and education at the New Israel Fund, an organization that has spent decades building movements that advance freedom, security and equality for all people under Israeli control, I had led a delegation of young people on a trip through Israel and the West Bank, where we met with Israeli peace activists who survived the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023; Negev Bedouin communities demanding the government given them access to water and electricity; and humanitarian organizations fighting to bring desperately needed aid into Gaza.
In my luggage were materials that reflected my politics, among them a poster I had gotten at a protest in Tel Aviv that said, “Only peace will bring security,” and two books — the graphic novel Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City and Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture — that I had purchased at The Educational Bookshop, a renowned Palestinian cultural center in East Jerusalem that Israeli authorities have raided multiple times since Oct. 7.
The first agent to examine me asked about those materials, as well as some T-shirts that referred to Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, with a profanity. “If you believe in peace and human rights for all people, then why are these messages so one-sided?” the security agent asked.
I said that I didn’t think they were. Israelis want peace: At well-attended protests led by the Hostage Families’ Forum throughout the war in Gaza, attendees demanded a deal to end the fighting in exchange for a return of the hostages. And most Israelis oppose Ben-Gvir, viewing his Jewish supremacist vision — which would see Israel annex the vast majority of the West Bank, and violent Jewish extremists given a pass — as a major threat to the future of their country.
Then, two agents led me into another room with an array of scanners and equipment. I started to sweat. Just before my trip, two Jewish American activists were deported after volunteering in the West Bank. They were slapped with a 10-year ban from entering Israel. Could that happen to me?
One agent asked me if I visited the West Bank, and who I’d met with. I thought of my friend Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian peace activist murdered by an internationally-sanctioned settler in July.
As soon as I had landed in Israel, I’d rented a car and drove to Awdah’s village of Umm al Khair, to visit his family, whom I’d gotten to know when I lived and worked there as a human rights activist in 2022. As Awdah’s three children, all under 5, ran around our feet, I handed a bouquet of flowers to his widow. Awdah’s cousin recounted how he and a dozen other members of the community had been arrested and tortured for days immediately after Awdah’s killing. With tears in his eyes, he told me how he had been forced to miss Awdah’s funeral — which took place only after a bureaucratic standoff with the authorities, who held Awdah’s body for 10 days before finally releasing it to his family.
His killer, in contrast, was detained for a single day. Upon his release, his gun was returned to him. The police claimed that they couldn’t pursue further investigation for lack of evidence, even though there were multiple videos of the shooting, including Awdah’s own.
Yes, I had visited the West Bank, I told the agent. I’d met with some friends who are struggling to be free.
What I didn’t say: Despite my fury over Awdah’s murder, when I visited Umm al Khair, and stood over the stain of Awdah’s blood on the concrete where he was killed, I felt an odd sense of calm wash over me.
Violence and hatred are magnetic: they have the power to call out the evil in all of us. I’ve felt that disturbing call myself. But I’ve also felt how nonviolence can counteract that dark magnetism. I’ve seen thousands of Jews from Israel and the diaspora choose to intercede in situations of oppression, to be a protective presence against settler and state violence, and to try to use our bodies to repel cruelty and domination. I’ve seen it work in places like Umm al Khair, and that’s why I have hope.
More people who believe in freedom, equality and security for all people need to engage in this work on the ground. Because the authoritarians and Jewish supremacists who wish to repress our movement are, in fact, scared of Jews and Palestinians who partner together. They’re scared because we are bonded not by blood and soil but values and visions of a shared future.
What we want is simple: a land where all Israelis and Palestinians can live free from repression and violence, build homes and watch their families flourish, and travel with whatever books they want. This is the future that my Israeli and Palestinian friends are fighting for. And I will, too, by any nonviolent means necessary.
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