Orthodox Jewish TikTok creator Melinda Strauss is no stranger to antisemitism on her social media platforms, but the hate has only increased in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza.
On any given video of Strauss’s, but particularly videos that mention or focus on Israel, she receives anti-Zionist and antisemitic hate. Still, she doesn’t let the comments get to her.
“There’s always been antisemitic hate. It used to be a lot more Holocaust jokes back in the day,” Strauss told the Washington Examiner. She joked she almost “kind of missed those right now” in comparison to the influx of anti-Israel hate.
“Suddenly, Zionism has taken on some evil interpretation,” Strauss said. “The hate kind of transferred from one thing to another thing.”
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, there has been an uptick in anti-Jewish hate. According to a report from the Anti-Defamation League, between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7, 2023, there were a total of 2,031 recorded antisemitic incidents in the U.S., up from the 465 incidents during the same period in 2022, a 337% increase year-over-year.
Strauss said the hate can be “exhausting,” but noted that it’s not worth spending too much time thinking about because it takes away from time “focusing on the good that I could put out into the world.”
In 2019, Strauss began making lifestyle videos on her TikTok account, @therealmelindastrauss. Soon, she realized a lot of her viewers were asking her questions about Orthodox Judaism.
“I would say, ‘Okay, guys, I’m getting off[line] for Sabbath.’ And people are like, ‘What’s that?’ And I would eat something kosher, and people would say, ‘What’s that?’” Strauss said.
She then began posting Q&A-style videos about Jewish life in response to questions from viewers. Strauss answers questions ranging from “Does a kosher kitchen need two dishwashers? and “How to make a kosher B.L.T.?” to more serious topics such as “Will there be consequences on college campuses for Jew hatred?”
“The more people understand us, the less hate there is for us. We don’t need people to agree. We don’t want people to convert. It’s not like that. It’s just sharing our culture,” Strauss explained. “I like to say that I’m fighting antisemitism through Jewish education.”
Her account on TikTok has amassed more than 1.3 million followers. She said the mantra behind her account is simple: There are no stupid questions.
“If you’re too afraid to ask because you think it’s stupid but it’s just going to sit there in your mind, and you’re going to start seeing your own conclusions and never really have an answer,” Strauss said.
“Ask the questions that sound stupid, they’re not as stupid as you think they are, or maybe they are. But who cares? Let’s have some fun,” she continued.
On the topic of hate comments, Strauss said she leaves the comments up to allow her audience to see the hate she gets. She does have some parameters put up on her account of words she does not allow in her comment section, Strauss said, to protect her “own sanity.”
Many in the pro-Palestinian movement have expressed that their movement is not antisemitic at its core and that the movement differentiates anti-Zionism from antisemitism. Strauss still said she receives comments about the conflict on videos that are entirely unrelated to Israel. She believes these types of comments are antisemitic in their nature.
“When [they’re] like, ‘but this isn’t antisemitism’, ‘I’m like, but you’re [commenting] on a video of me talking about kosher food,’” Strauss said. “They just proved to me and reminded me and others that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Strauss explained that she believes those who leave hate comments usually are dissatisfied with their own life. She believes it is not worth fighting with them as she has “too many good things in life to focus on.”
“When somebody’s like, ‘Your forehead is really big,’ I’m like, ‘Cool. I hope you’re getting better.’ It’s not about me,” she explained. “They’re not worth arguing with. I know that they’re just coming from a place of ignorance, and it’s just not worth my time to fight with them.”
Throughout the war, Strauss has still traveled to Israel, which has prompted hate comments on those videos. She said war is never a good thing, especially this war, but she doesn’t see the same outrage from people over the Russian war in Ukraine, for example.
She said she tries to focus on the positive aspects of her travel because “more people love watching the videos and seeing Israel,” than there are people who dislike them.
“That’s not just Jews, but Christians and people of other religions who just love being able to see Israel. And I know that every time that I’ve gone since Oct. 7, it’s going to do good things,” she explained.
When asked if she ever considers not posting online due to the hate, Strauss said, “Never.”
She said that each year in January, she picks a word of the year to follow her, with this year’s word being “louder.” Strauss said “louder” to her means continuing to speak out.
“I believe in educating people to help with tolerance and with spreading more love,” Strauss said.
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She said not posting would be “giving into” antisemitic hate. Strauss added that she encourages people to “speak up” against hate, even if they do not have a wide following like herself. She said even reaching just one other person matters in terms of curbing antisemitism.
“If someone has a lot of passion for it and wants to speak up and is afraid to, this is a really good time to start, because there’s so much hate in the world,” Strauss said. “People think that there’s more hate than there are good people, but the good people are out there, they’re just quiet.”
