Chabad Billboard Campaign Doubles Down on Jewish Pride, Not Fear

“Non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism,” the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks famously said. This insight, which he credited to the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, sits at the heart of a new billboard campaign launched by Chabad this summer across New York City.

At a time when global antisemitism has left many Jews feeling afraid, much of the Jewish communal response has centered on heightened security and advocacy efforts. As necessary as some of these measures are, they have done little to break the deepening cycle of fear. Chabad’s campaign, titled “Born To Be A Yid,” takes a different approach: confronting Jew-hatred not with alarm, but with Jewish confidence and joy.

This approach is not new to Chabad — it reflects an approach the Rebbe championed for decades: the most powerful response to Jew-hatred is not to engage with the haters, but to invest in strengthening Jewish identity and Jewish life itself. This philosophy has in recent years found growing support, even among voices who spent years exclusively championing a more combative approach. A consensus is slowly emerging: the most vital investment Jews can make isn’t to fight Jew-hatred on the surface, but by building stronger, more confident, more joyful Jewish life. 

Chabad-Lubavitch’s new campaign puts this idea into practice — on some of the largest billboards in New York City. 

The campaign features candidly captured moments of Jewish joy, displayed on billboards at high-traffic locations across New York City: a Jewish couple under the chuppah, with the groom stomping on a glass; two Jewish children in yarmulkes and tzitzit, playing and laughing together. Both images prominently feature the words Born To Be A Yid above, with Chabad.org/JewishAndProud below.

The campaign will appear on a digital billboard in Times Square in the coming weeks, joining existing billboards at highest-traffic New York City crossings: one billboard sits at the northern tip of Staten Island, overlooking Staten Island Borough Hall and the St. George Ferry Terminal,  — a terminal that sees as many as 70,000 commuters daily. Another stands over the 3rd Avenue Bridge entrance to Manhattan from the South Bronx, a crossing used by as many as 80,000 vehicles each day. 

The campaign was directed by Chabad spokesman, Rabbi Motti Seligson of the Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center and Chabad.org, with billboard space donated at an estimated value of $200,000.

“The public knows all too well about the challenges we face,” Rabbi Seligson added. “We wanted to go in a different direction — one that is confidence-inducing and joyful. No one needs another billboard telling them how scared they should be. What we need is something that puts a smile on someone’s face and has them walking a little taller.” 

Rabbi Seligson says the campaign is already drawing interest from other parts of the country. “We already have billboards reserved in Florida and we’re looking for more partners who would like to bring this campaign to other cities across America.”

The campaign intentionally uses the Yiddish word “Yid”, Rabbi Seligson said, explaining, “we are speaking privately to fellow Jews and are happy for others to listen in. And when they do, they see Jews who are proud of themselves, and that earns respect.”

New York-based copywriter Avi Webb directed the creative, collaborating with designer Chana Snyder for the visuals. Photographs were selected from collections by photographers Zalmy Berkowitz (“Kids Laughing”) and Mendel Grossbaum (“Breaking Glass”). While the principal donor of billboard space chose to remain anonymous, Mr. Yossi Popack and Chabad of the UAE were instrumental in the campaign’s development. 

“We didn’t invent this idea — the Rebbe taught it decades ago,” Rabbi Seligson said. “What’s notable is how many others are arriving at it now, including some who spent years fighting antisemitism head-on. Don’t organize Jewish life around the haters. Build something so joyful, so strong, that the hate doesn’t matter anymore. And it’s how you fight darkness — with light.”