Chabad-Lubavitch this week unveiled “Born to Be a Yid,” a billboard campaign appearing across New York City that encourages Jews to embrace their identity with pride.
The billboards feature images of a bride and groom beneath a chuppah and two children wearing yarmulkes and tzitzit, alongside the slogan and a link to Chabad.org.
Unlike many recent Jewish-awareness campaigns centered on antisemitism or security concerns, Chabad said the initiative is intended to inspire Jewish pride rather than fear. Organizers said the efforts reflect the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who emphasized strengthening Jewish identity and Jewish life as the most effective response to antisemitism.
“The public knows all too well about the challenges we face,” Motti Seligson, a spokesman for the Chabad movement and the campaign’s director, told JNS. “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.”
The campaign comes as antisemitic incidents in the United States remain at historic highs. The Anti-Defamation League reported a record number of antisemitic incidents in 2024, extending a surge that followed the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza.
“Born to Be a Yid” billboards have appeared at several high-traffic locations in New York City, including near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and the Third Avenue Bridge connecting the Bronx and Manhattan. Chabad said a digital billboard in Times Square is planned in the coming weeks, with similar campaigns expected to launch in Florida and additional cities under consideration.
Seligson said the campaign deliberately embraces the Yiddish word Yid. While Jews have long used the term as a neutral or affectionate self-description, it has also been used as an antisemitic slur. Chabad hopes to reclaim it as a public expression of Jewish pride, he told JNS.
“We are speaking privately to fellow Jews and are happy for others to listen in,” he said. “When they do, they see Jews who are proud of themselves, and that earns respect.”
The billboard placements were funded through an anonymous donor’s advertising credit worth about $200,000 with Heritage Outdoor Media, covering the cost of the campaign’s billboard space.
The campaign was directed by Seligson in collaboration with New York copywriter Avi Webb and designer Chana Snyder, using photographs by Zalmy Berkowitz and Mendel Grossbaum. Chabad said Yossi Popack and Chabad of the United Arab Emirates also helped develop the initiative.
“Don’t organize Jewish life around the haters,” Seligson told JNS. “Build something so joyful, so strong, that the hate doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It’s how you fight darkness,” he said. “With light.”
