Who Teaches Judaism in America? The National Faculty Audit
The widest audit ever conducted of who teaches Judaism at U.S. universities — 2,499 faculty, 313 schools, nine anti-Israel petition campaigns. 51.9% are on the record against Israel; 72.3% at the Ivy League. Reported as a trend, no names.
OLAM RESEARCH · NATIONAL AUDIT
The widest audit ever conducted of who teaches Judaism in America finds more than half the faculty publicly on the record against Israel. 51.9% have endorsed boycotts of Israeli universities, signed BDS petitions, or branded Israel an apartheid or genocidal state. At the Ivy League: 72%. Columbia leads the country.
A study by olam.business and the Ronn Torossian Foundation | August 2026
This is the broadest publicly documented audit of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies faculty ever conducted in the United States. It examined 2,499 faculty and institutional records across Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, Hebrew language, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies programs at American universities, cross-referencing every record against nine publicly documented petition campaigns, organizational membership records, and public statements spanning May 2021 through Spring 2026.
This study documents a trend, not a handful of outliers. It names no individuals. It counts them — and the count is the story.
📥 Download the full 2,499-record database (Google Sheet) — institutions, fields, titles, and the specific documents signed.
Read the full study: methodology, institutional analysis, and complete findings →
More Than Half — and Rising
51.9% of records are publicly on the record against Israel. At the Ivy League, 72.3%.
1,298 records — 51.9 percent of the total audited — belong to faculty publicly on the record against Israel: endorsing boycotts of Israeli universities, signing petitions that brand Israel an apartheid or genocidal state, demanding an end to U.S. military aid, or joining anti-Zionist faculty organizations. Among 1,014 faculty specifically identified as teaching in Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, Hebrew, or Holocaust Studies, 401 — or 39.5 percent — are on that record.
At Ivy League universities, the rate is significantly higher: 240 of 332 records — 72.3 percent — are on the record against Israel. Every Ivy League university has multiple faculty members meeting the study criteria.
Fourteen holders of endowed chairs — positions funded by Jewish philanthropists to strengthen Jewish scholarship — are among the signatories.
The direction is one-way. The March 2025 "Not in Our Name" letter has gathered 3,400+ signatures, the largest single petition in the documented record — and every campaign since 2021 has drawn more names than the one before it.
Columbia Tops the List
One school posted 41 faculty on the record. The top 12, ranked.
| Rank | Institution | On record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbia University | 41 |
| 2 | Princeton University | 35 |
| 3 | Penn State University | 32 |
| 4 | New York University | 31 |
| 5 | Yale University | 30 |
| 6 | University of Chicago | 28 |
| 7 | Brown University | 27 |
| 8 | University of Michigan | 26 |
| 9 | UC Berkeley | 25 |
| 10 | UCLA | 24 |
| 10 | Stanford University | 24 |
| 10 | University of Washington | 24 |
By a separate national barometer of faculty boycotters, NYU ranks worst in the country, with 148 documented. The concentration is heaviest exactly where the prestige is.
What Counts — and What Doesn't
Boycotts, BDS, apartheid and genocide claims count. Policy criticism doesn't.
A record is counted only for a publicly documented act against Israel: endorsing the academic boycott of Israeli institutions, describing Zionism as settler colonialism in a signed petition, signing petitions that characterize Israel's military conduct as genocide, calling for the end of all US military aid to Israel, or holding leadership or membership in FSJP or JVP.
Supporting a two-state solution, criticizing specific Israeli government policies, opposing settlement expansion, or calling for accountability regarding civilian casualties are explicitly excluded from this study's classification. These are mainstream positions inside Israel itself — the study measures hostility to the state, not ordinary political argument.
Nine Petitions. Five Years.
From ~100 names to 3,400+. The documented paper trail, 2021–2026.
| Campaign | Date | Signatories |
|---|---|---|
| May 2021 JS/IS Declaration | May 2021 | ~100 JS/IS faculty |
| Palestine and Praxis | May 2021 | 7,500+ academics |
| AcademicsForPeace (4 petitions) | Aug 2023–Mar 2024 | 700–1,300+ each |
| JS Ceasefire Letter | Oct 2023 | 100+ |
| 1,200 Jewish Professors vs IHRA | May 2024 | 1,200+ |
| "Not in Our Name" | March 2025 | 3,400+ |
| U Michigan Jewish Faculty Letter | March 2025 | 297 |
| U Michigan Commencement | Spring 2026 | 1,488 |
Donor Cash, Turned on the Donors
Fourteen endowed chairs — funded to strengthen Jewish scholarship — sit among the signatories.
Fourteen holders of endowed chairs — positions built by Jewish philanthropists to strengthen Jewish education — are among the signatories. They sit at Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Brandeis, Penn State, Lehigh, George Washington University, Clark, Wake Forest, the University of Louisville, the University of San Francisco, UMass Amherst, Stockton, and the University of Washington — where a single chair-holder's signature cost the program its entire $5 million endowment, pulled by the donor. The money meant to defend Jewish scholarship now funds its opposite.
By the Numbers
The full count — one table.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total records audited | 2,499 |
| Records of faculty publicly against Israel | 1,298 (51.9%) |
| Jewish Studies faculty on the record | 401 of 1,014 (39.5%) |
| Ivy League records against Israel | 240 of 332 (72.3%) |
| Institutions with at least one flagged professor | 313 |
| Endowed chair holders on the record | 14 |
| FSJP chapters documented | 130+ |
| Largest petition ("Not in Our Name") | 3,400+ signatories |
How We Counted
2,499 records, compiled roster by roster and cross-checked against nine campaigns.
Faculty rosters were compiled from publicly available university websites during July and August 2026, covering every institutional member of the Association for Jewish Studies (70+), every US center listed by the Association for Israel Studies (~30), and additional degree-granting programs. Each record was cross-referenced against nine documented petition campaigns using university affiliation, department, academic title, and public signatory lists.
The study explicitly excludes support for a two-state solution, criticism of specific Israeli government policies, opposing settlement expansion, and calls for accountability regarding civilian casualties.
Read the full methodology, institutional analysis, and complete findings →
The Trend
Not a handful of outliers. A majority — and growing.
This is the widest audit of its kind ever conducted, and the trend it captures is unmistakable. The share of faculty on the record against Israel rises with prestige — highest at the Ivy League, highest again in the endowed chairs — and it climbs year over year, every petition larger than the last. A June 2026 AP-NORC poll found a third of American Jews now accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza. That number does not appear from nowhere. It is taught.
The uncomfortable conclusion the data forces is this: a large and growing share of Diaspora Jewish academic life — including many of the scholars paid to teach Judaism itself — now stands among the enemies of Israel and the Jewish state.
Get the 2,499 Names
The complete database — institutions, fields, documents signed.
📥 Download the full 2,499-record database (Google Sheet)
The database records every audited faculty member's institution, title, field, and the specific petitions or statements signed. It is sortable by institution, by petition, and by category, and will be updated annually.
Corrections, additions, and verification requests: contact olam.business.
This study was conducted by olam.business and the Ronn Torossian Foundation.
Ronn Torossian is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. He is the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many professors who teach Judaism in America are publicly on the record against Israel?
1,298 of the 2,499 records audited — 51.9% — belong to faculty who have publicly acted against Israel. Among the 1,014 faculty specifically teaching Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, Hebrew, or Holocaust Studies, 401 (39.5%) are on that record. At the eight Ivy League universities, the rate jumps to 240 of 332 records — 72.3%.
Is this the largest study of its kind?
Yes. At 2,499 records across 313 institutions and nine petition campaigns, it is the broadest publicly documented audit of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies faculty ever conducted in the United States.
What exactly did the audit count as being "against Israel"?
A publicly documented act: endorsing the academic boycott of Israeli universities; signing a petition calling Israel an apartheid state, Zionism "settler colonialism," or Israel's military conduct "genocide"; calling to end all U.S. military aid to Israel; or holding leadership or membership in Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) or Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Each entry is tied to a specific, named document.
What was deliberately excluded so the audit wouldn't overcount?
Support for a two-state solution, criticism of specific Israeli government policies or the current prime minister, opposition to settlement expansion, and calls for accountability on civilian casualties. The study notes these positions are mainstream inside Israel itself and does not classify them as anti-Israel.
Which universities have the most faculty on the record against Israel?
Columbia leads with 41, then Princeton (35), Penn State (32), NYU (31), and Yale (30) — followed by University of Chicago (28), Brown (27), Michigan (26), UC Berkeley (25), and UCLA, Stanford, and the University of Washington (24 each). By a separate national barometer, NYU tops the country with 148 documented faculty boycotters.
Does the study name individual professors?
No. The published study reports the trend in aggregate — by institution, field, petition, and rank — rather than singling out individuals. The point is the scale of the shift, not any one scholar.
Is the full database public?
Yes. It is publicly downloadable, sortable by institution, petition, and category, updated annually, and open to corrections and verification requests.
