RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Religious leaders and business leaders are working together to combat anti-Semitism. Thursday night, The Raleigh Chamber hosted a talk called Supporting Our Jewish Community as part of its Courageous Conversation series.

The panelists shared their experiences being Jewish both personally and in the business world.

“I really hope that they listen to these stories, that they hear something that they haven’t heard before or even if they heard it before that they can empathize with them,” said Dr. Torri Staton, the VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity for the Chamber. “I hope that they can learn practices and ways that they can make their spaces more inclusive of the Jewish faith and of the Jewish culture and I really hope that they’ll take this information and share it with somebody else.”

Anti-Semitic beliefs are at the highest level in decades, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary CEO Phil Brodsky calls this points to anti-Semitic flyers in Raleigh neighborhoods and anti-Semitic statements from celebrities, including Kanye West, as just some examples.

“I think this is a historic moment for the Jewish people in America,” Brodsky said.

He also points to a survey from the website Resume Builder that 1 in 4 hiring managers are less likely to move forward with Jewish applicants.

“More than anything else building relationships and common ground that’s how you overcome not only anti-Semitism but any  hatred,” Brodsky said.

Brodsky said three solutions to combating anti-Semitism are report hate crimes, stay proud of your identity, and call out anti-Semitic remarks from colleagues or friends.

“Pull your friend aside, say hey I’m not sure if you knew this, but what you said it carries anti-Semitic undertones, I wanna make sure you knew about that,” Brodsky said.

Eric Solomon is the Rabbi at Beth Meyer Synagogue; he said events like the one the chamber held are important to combatting anti-Semitism.

“Clearly education and conversations like this is a big piece of it,” Solomon said. “People are welcome to come to our community center, JCC, come to synagogues and learn, but also it’s open-hearts, curiosity, venues to discuss, a willingness to learn, and that has been the case by and large all over the place.”

The speakers point out that less than 1% of people in North Carolina are Jewish.

“The Jewish community is relatively small, but it’s growing, so we recognize that not everyone knows about the Jewish community this is a chance to learn more to be open-hearted about it,” Solomon said.