My Story
I was raised with the Jewish teaching of b’tzelem Elohim—the belief that every human life is sacred, and that honoring this truth is not passive but lived. My parents taught me that our tradition is a responsibility.
As I grew older, family letters dating back over a century brought that lesson deep resonance. I learned how my great-grandmother Jennie, as a child, fled her town again and again to escape pogroms. Her mother would hide her children in separate fields, hoping that if one was found, others might survive. Within a few years, every Jew in their village was exiled, and all of their homes were burned to the ground.
When I look at the lopsided family tree from my childhood home, I see entire branches severed from the trunk. Traveling the world, I’ve met many others bearing similar losses, their ancestral and family trees uprooted by hatred and violence.
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I've seen how unprocessed pain, fear, and hatred pull us into polarization and dehumanization. I’m deeply concerned by the absolutist, binary frameworks our culture is embracing. I’ve also witnessed the alchemy that education, community, and human connection offers.
This is why I have committed my life force- my life's work - to empowering people to nurture compassion and communicate across differences.
My Work
Zach Schaffer is an accomplished facilitator, educator, and organizer who has dedicated his career to empowering people to nurture compassion and communicate across differences.
Zach’s work draws on expertise in depolarization, storytelling, and advocacy. He has trained thousands of leaders worldwide at organizations including Harvard, Columbia, Salesforce, Amazon, the American Red Cross, the Department of Justice, and The Guggenheim.
As the co-founder of Project Shema, Zach helped to shape a new national approach to antisemitism education rooted in depolarization, compassion, and storytelling. In this work, he developed and delivered trainings globally to advance Jewish inclusion and safety inside healthy pluralistic societies.
Now, he works independently with corporate, nonprofit, governmental, university, and religious partners to help leaders customize approaches to antisemitism and polarization with compassion, clarity, and warmth.
Zach serves on multiple boards and lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where he enjoys hosting, poetry, and riding his motorcycle.