Roei Eisenberg and the Open Tent Young Jews Are Building Themselves

In an era where Jewish organizations boast million-dollar budgets and decades of institutional history, Roei Eisenberg launched a political movement with just $200 and a dream. What he had that legacy organizations didn’t: an Instagram account that spoke the language of millennial and Gen Z Jews who felt increasingly alienated from traditional communal spaces.

The result? ANU:A New Union, a party that ran for the World Zionist Congress, gathered nearly 900 signatures, built a follower base rivaling much larger Jewish organizations, and—most remarkably—transformed isolated college students into active community builders, all through the power of strategic social media engagement.

“For a new organization like ours, there was no question that we needed social media. Because we had no organization, no legacy organization behind us, no organizational institutional backing. We were contributing our own funding. And so we ran this election on a $200 Wix website.”

Speaking at the AZM biannual National Assembly, Eisenberg laid out not just a vision for millennial and Gen Z Zionist engagement, but a masterclass in how social media can build real, lasting community when wielded with intention and authenticity.

The Philosophy: Build or Destroy

Eisenberg’s approach to social media is refreshingly candid. He doesn’t romanticize it or dismiss it—he sees it for what it is: a neutral tool whose impact depends entirely on how it’s used.

“Social media is a tool and like a hammer, right? You can use it to build or you can use it to undo. And so we have to meet people where they are. Millennial, Gen Z, they’re on Instagram, they’re on TikTok, they used to be on Twitter. And so we have to be there.”

But simply being present on social platforms isn’t enough. Eisenberg emphasized that content must be intentionally crafted for the medium and the audience.

“You can’t create content just for the sake of creating content,” he explained. “You can’t post your newsletter on your Instagram feed or your prepared remarks. You can’t put a speech on there. You have to tailor your content on social media to the audience, to what is engaging, to what will they share, and to what will inspire them and touch their heart and get them to actually activate and do more than scroll or press like.”

This insight—that social media must inspire action beyond digital engagement—became the foundation of ANU:A New Union’s strategy. And the results speak for themselves.

The Story That Changed Everything

For Eisenberg, the true measure of success came not in follower counts or signature totals, but in a message from a college student he’d never met.

The Transformative Power of Connection

A college student who had been following ANU:A New Union’s content reached out after the election. She had felt profoundly isolated as a Jew on campus—until she discovered the organization’s Instagram account.

The student began sharing ANU:A New Union’s posts, and something remarkable happened. Other isolated Jewish students on campus started connecting with her. Digital engagement sparked real-world community.

“She said that when she started following us, she felt very lonely as a Jew on campus. And she started sharing our content and other Jews who were alone on campus started joining her. And she started to find a community. And more than that, she was motivated to build community.”

The transformation didn’t stop at social connection. Inspired by the sense of purpose and community she’d found, the student joined a synagogue near campus. But even that wasn’t the end of the story.

“She sent me a message saying, not only did I join the synagogue, but I saw the need. And I saw how important it is for us to step up and step in. And she actually joined the synagogue’s security volunteer group,” Eisenberg recounted.

The implications were profound. Here was a completely unaffiliated college student who, through Instagram content, had become an active community leader filling a critical security need at a time of rising antisemitism.

“Here she was a college student who was completely unaffiliated, disengaged from Jewish communal spaces, because she didn’t find her space, who is now stepping into community, who was stepping up into leadership, who was filling a need, papering over a crack in security at a time when we need security for our houses of worship more than ever. A college student motivated by an Instagram account.”

Expanding Reach Without Institutional Backing

The college student’s story exemplifies what Eisenberg sees as social media’s unique value proposition for grassroots organizing.

“Social media was a way for us to really expand our reach,” he explained. Without the infrastructure, mailing lists, or name recognition of established organizations, ANU:A New Union needed a different path to potential supporters.

Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms provided that path. But it required A New Union to create content that was genuinely engaging—not repurposed institutional communications.

By The Numbers

Budget: $200 for a Wix website
Signatures gathered: Nearly 900 (800 required)
Social reach: More followers than many legacy Jewish organizations
Platforms: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn (TikTok coming soon)

The uncertainty was real. “It’s an election. You really don’t know,” Eisenberg admitted. “And yes, our Instagram really took off and probably has more followers than a lot of Jewish organizations our size. But you still don’t know. It’s just people sharing your posts, right?”

Except it wasn’t just people sharing posts. It was people finding community, taking action, and transforming their relationship to Jewish life.

The Content Strategy: Inspiration Over Information

What made ANU:A New Union’s social media presence effective wasn’t just frequency or polish—it was the emotional resonance of the content.

Eisenberg frequently references the philosophy of entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, noting that “one piece of content can change everything.” But creating that transformative content requires understanding what motivates people to move from passive consumption to active engagement.

“Social media is like, it’s a tool, right? And like anything else, it’s how you use a tool to engage people… You never know what one post is going to do. When you use the tool in an effective manner, you’ll never know who’s going to be inspired, especially on the grassroots level.”

For ANU:A New Union, effective content meant creating space for authentic expression. Post-October 7th, many young Jews felt caught between organizations that demanded uncritical support for Israeli government policy and those that seemed to minimize Jewish trauma and security concerns.

“What we found, especially post-October 7th, is that people were looking for a space and a community that would accept them and where they felt that they could bring their entire whole selves, their authentic beliefs, where they didn’t have to hide what they cared about and what they believed in. And they were able to show their support for Israel and also voice some of their criticism of what was happening, of Israeli government policy.”

This nuanced positioning—simultaneously pro-Israel and open to policy critique—resonated deeply with millennials and Gen Z Jews navigating complex identities on college campuses and in progressive spaces.

The Big Tent with Clear Walls

ANU:A New Union’s social media success stemmed partly from its clarity about boundaries. The organization welcomed supporters across the political spectrum—AIPAC and J Street supporters alike—but maintained clear values-based requirements for entry into the tent.

“When we talk about open tent, sometimes it’s just a word, right? Like, oh, we’re open tent. We can do amazing things,” Eisenberg acknowledged. But effective big-tent organizing requires defining the edges.

“I would say one of the very important things about building a new tent and a big tent, it is clearly defining what the walls are, where the edges are, right? And so obviously running for the American Zionist movement, for the World Zionist Congress, you have to be a Zionist to be in the tent.”

The three tent poles—peoplehood, pluralism, and peace—provided a framework flexible enough to include diverse perspectives while maintaining coherence. And on social media, this clarity helped potential supporters quickly understand whether ANU:A New Union was their political home.

“For the wall, the wall was very basic,” Eisenberg explained. “Do you believe in Palestinian sovereignty and a two state solution? Do you believe in human rights for everyone? Not just Jews, right?”

The question of empathy became central to the organization’s identity. Could supporters extend care to all people created in the divine image? Could they hold space for both Jewish particularism and universal human rights?

“There’s no question in the pain of October 7th how important it is to help rebuild Israel, to be there for our Israeli brothers and sisters, to our family and for the Jewish people across the world who really were suffering from a shocking and horrifying wave of antisemitism. But also see that one of the Jewish values that brings us here, right, is caring for the stranger, welcoming the stranger, knowing that we were all created in the divine image, Jewish and not.”

From Dream to Reality

When people questioned whether Eisenberg could actually build a political movement from scratch, he returned to first principles.

“Why do you think you can do this? I said, well, this entire movement began with the dream. So I believe in the power of dreams to motivate. And I also know that it takes action to turn a dream into reality.”

The proof of concept came in stages. First, gathering 900 signatures—proof that the idea resonated beyond Eisenberg’s immediate network. Then, watching the Instagram following grow. But the real validation came in stories like the college student’s transformation.

“There was a moment when we got the signatures, all new slates have to get 800 signatures. And I think we got almost 900,” Eisenberg recalled. “So at this moment, I was like, okay, there’s at least 900 people who believe in this who are not my friends, who are not just people I know from work. Okay, that’s a great proof of concept.”

But signatures and followers remained abstract until they translated into changed lives and strengthened communities. The uncertainty persisted through election day.

“There was so much grassroots effort. There were so many volunteers who sweat and stayed up late and donated. But we didn’t know. It’s an election. You really don’t know,” Eisenberg said.

The college student’s message changed his perspective. Social media hadn’t just spread information—it had catalyzed real community building and leadership development.

The Future of Digital Organizing

ANU:A New Union’s success offers a blueprint for other organizations seeking to engage younger Jews. The lessons are clear: meet people where they are, create content that inspires action, maintain clear values while building big tents, and measure success not in metrics but in transformed lives.

For Eisenberg, the question isn’t whether social media matters—it’s whether organizations will use it to build or to simply broadcast.

“We have to create the kind of content that is actually engaging, right? You can’t create content just for the sake of creating content,” he reiterated. Content must “inspire them and touch their heart and get them to actually activate and do more than scroll or press like.”

As ANU: New Union expands its presence across platforms—Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and soon TikTok—the organization remains focused on this core principle. Digital engagement is valuable only insofar as it leads to real-world community and action.

The college student who went from isolation to synagogue security volunteer embodies this principle. She represents thousands of young Jews seeking authentic community in a fractured time.

And she found it through an Instagram account run by an organization with a $200 budget and a big dream.

For those interested in learning more about ANU:A New Union’s work, Eisenberg directs people to their Instagram account and website at anewunion.org. The organization is also active on LinkedIn and Twitter, with plans to expand to TikTok.

As the Jewish world continues grappling with post-October 7th realities and generational divides,  ANU:A New Union’s model suggests that the future of Jewish engagement might not require massive budgets or institutional backing—just clarity of vision, authentic content, and a willingness to meet young Jews where they already are: on their phones, scrolling through Instagram, searching for community.