Elaine Chaya had quite the impressive resume. She was a popular fashion and lifestyle blogger who worked with brands like Uniqlo, Abercrombie & Fitch, DSW, and Crocs, and appeared on E! News, PopSugar, and Cosmopolitan.
In 2018, she created an Instagram campaign called #WokeUpThisWayChallenge, where people would post their real lives on social media; she ended up partnering with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, and celebrities from “Glee,” “Pitch Perfect,” and “Pretty Little Liars” posted their own versions of it.
During the pandemic, her focus began to shift to mental health and education – she was homeschooling for other people’s children at the time – and her Jewish journey.
“I started to embed Judaism into my social media because I was becoming more spiritual,” she said. “I was keeping Shabbat.”
When Oct. 7 happened, Elaine, the daughter of Iranian Jewish immigrants, decided to fully embrace her Judaism, stand up for Israel, and fight antisemitism on her feed. She wasn’t afraid to declare to her 87,000+ Instagram followers: I’m a proud Jew – and nothing will stop me from speaking up.
She made videos of herself talking about the hostages, commenting on the situation in Iran, and urging people to live their life with faith in God.
“In life, you don’t know what the future holds but what I’ve learned from all of this is that if you continue to work on yourself & have faith everyday— life will one day show you why your hardships were meant for something,” she wrote to her followers, while sharing a photo of herself in a shirt emblazoned with the Hebrew word “Emunah”, faith.
Elaine, who is based in Los Angeles, is on a mission to inspire Jews, to fight against antisemitism, and strengthen her people, one post at a time.
“The more I posted about Judaism, the prouder I became,” she said. “Once you start working that muscle, it becomes stronger and stronger.”
Growing up in LA
Elaine’s parents escaped from Iran when they were teenagers after the Revolution occurred and the country fell to extremists. It became unsafe for Jews there, so many left for America. Her dad left when he was 18, and his mom was 13. They met in LA and went on to marry and have two daughters, Elaine and her sister.
LA is home to thousands of Iranian Jews, so Elaine and her family felt right at home.
“There was a big community of people from my parents’ schools in Iran who came here, so we didn’t feel alone,” she said. “We brought our unity and our culture over here.”
Even though Elaine went to public school, she never experienced antisemitism growing up. It was at UCLA, where she went for undergrad, that she first saw pro-Palestinian groups on campus.
“They put up their ‘apartheid wall’ one week a year,” she said. “But I felt safe as a Jew there. I was active in Hillel and worked for the rabbi. There were a lot of Jewish students at UCLA. I didn’t feel so scared.”
Elaine and her sister chose UCLA because it’s where their mom went to school; it became a second home for her.
“It was a home for me, too,” Elaine said.
Antisemitism at Home
When pro-Palestinian groups took over UCLA this past semester, defacing the legendary Royce Hall and putting up encampments, it felt personal for Elaine.
“It was really disappointing,” she said. “I looked at UCLA in such a high regard. It was the place that was welcoming Iranian Jews at a time when they weren’t welcome in their own country. It was devastating to see all the graffiti and what people did to the school.”
Elaine attended a pro-Israel rally on campus and saw that the encampments were behind a barricade. She stayed far away.
“I didn’t talk to the protestors,” she said. “I saw them. But honestly, I was scared.”
On her Instagram, she posted a picture that said “College is for education, not antisemitism” as well as a video of a Jew blowing a shofar at UCLA. She wrote, “In Judaism, we hear the shofar during two of our most major holidays: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when we’re in the deepest of our prayers and closest connection to Hashem. Being on this completely cleared campus after the chaos the past weeks felt surreal. But I really felt Hashem. Please God hear our prayers, help repair this world & BRING OUR HOSTAGES HOME.”
Though it was disheartening to see what occurred at UCLA, it gave Elaine the push she needed to keep pursuing her goals of increasing Jewish pride, while pursuing education for the Jewish and non-Jewish communities as well.
Educating on Judaism and Israel
Elaine created Workshop 8Teen, a program that aims to empower Jewish high school students with education so they can stand up to Jewish hate. She did the first launch in San Diego in April, and taught the students about topics like, “What is genocide?” and “What is occupation?”
“We tell them how to combat it if someone says something to you about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said. When Jewish students are faced with this, they will know what to do.”
She also wants to educate non-Jewish people and form allyships with those who aren’t extremists.
“We need people who aren’t Jewish to stand up and say something,” she said. “There are a lot of Jews on social media making an impact, but we need people outside of the Jewish community to start speaking up for us as well.”
Even though Elaine gets a lot of hateful comments on her posts from the anti-Israel, antisemitic crowd, she keeps going because she knows she’s making a positive change. She encourages others to do the same.
“People say, ‘I want to do Instagram, but it’s just not my thing,” she said. “Everyone has a strong suit, and everyone has something they can provide during this time. For me, that’s social media. For this mom I befriended, it’s fundraising for helmets for the IDF. Another person I know is an amazing fashion design who making jackets with a Star of David on them. There are different ways to contribute.”
She continued, “Do what feels authentic and exciting for you. Own it… and get involved in some sort of way, in any way you can.”
