NYU Students Get Mock Eviction Notices

Students for Justice in Palestine delivered the flyers to campus dorm rooms

By Stephanie Butnick for Tablet Magazine

Mock eviction notices were delivered to students living in New York University dorm rooms this morning. “We regret to inform you that your suite is scheduled for demolition in three days,” the notices, which were delivered by the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, read. “If you do not vacate the premises by midnight on 25 April, 2014 we reserve the right to destroy all remaining belongings.”

The New York Post and the Times of Israel report that Jewish students were targeted with the flyers, which are intended to resemble eviction notices delivered to Palestinian homes in parts of Israel. Students for Justice in Palestine denied the claim on their website, saying they distributed more than 2,000 flyers throughout two dormitories.

The eviction notices are a tactic frequently employed by the student group; its Northeastern University chapter was suspended last month for distributing similar flyers. The group was reinstated on probation earlier today.

NYU spokesman John Beckman commented on the flyers, telling the Post, “NYU encourages free speech and the free exchange of ideas, but our hope is that the discourse – including debate on controversial issues – will be conducted in a fashion that is mature and that is meant to elicit thoughtful discussion rather than simply provoke.”

That college campuses should be places dedicated to fostering and upholding constructive dialogue—even, or perhaps especially, when it comes to contentious issues—happens to be a criticism recently leveled at NYU. Responding to the university’s American Studies department sponsoring a less-than-balanced conference on Israel last month, which organizers tried to keep private and out of the press, Liel Leibovitz wrote that a university “is—or should be—open to all ideas, to myriad points of view, to discussion, to dissent.”

There will certainly be no shortage of discussion about the eviction notices across campus in the coming days. Whether that conversation rises to the level of productive discourse is, ultimately, up to the university and its students.

‘Go Down, Moses’: Engaging With My Complex Musical Heritage at Passover

As a black classical singer, I avoided singing negro spirituals—until Yiddish music helped me hear them in a new way as a Jew

By Anthony Russell for Tablet Magazine

The first time I heard a live rendition of “Go Down, Moses” was at the first Passover Seder I ever attended. Somewhere around the third cup of wine, a room full of Jews sang the classic negro spiritual in lively fashion, followed almost immediately by “O Freedom,” another classic negro spiritual.

A feeling of bewilderment and paranoia began to steal over me: Why are they singing these songs? Are they looking at me? Do they expect me to know these songs?

That was six years ago, before I converted. Now that I’ve formally been a Jew for a couple of years, being the only black man in Jewish spaces has lost some of its initial awkwardness. Still, when a black man decides that he is going to attend shul regularly, he doesn’t have to look for awkwardness—it will find him. There was the time I unwittingly stood on the wrong side of the mechitzah while visiting the Carlebach Shul; it was the only section with any room, so I thoughtlessly went there. Oftentimes other Jews, well-meaning and otherwise, are the source of awkwardness, like the time a synagogue greeter stopped me to request that I wear a kippah before entering the sanctuary with a stern statement: “This is the custom of our people.” I was somewhat embarrassed to have to show the greeter that I already had a kippah on my head—my own kippah, in fact.

At that first Seder, I was my own source of awkwardness. I wouldn’t say I’d been actively running away from negro spirituals, but I’d spent 15 years as an African-American classical singer scrupulously avoiding singing them. That Seder was indeed a “night of questions,” implicated as I was by the question of the Wicked Child: What does all this mean to you?

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Why the Jewish College Student Survey Matters to You

newvoices.com

For all its hype, the Pew report missed a lot of college-aged Jews, and therefore might have missed a lot about us. Two professors from Trinity College in Connecticut, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, hope to get the true picture of who we are and what we want by creating an online survey accessible here that they hope will reach as many Jewish students as possible.

New Voices editor Derek M. Kwait interviewed Professors Kosmin and Keysar via email about their goals for the survey and what it means for us.

Please define “college student.” Is a 22 year-old Jew who never went to college ineligible to participate in the survey? Is a middle-aged Jew just starting college now eligible?

The survey is primarily aimed at current American college students since it is a comparative study with our 2013 national student survey and a 2012 U.K Jewish Student survey.

Older students are eligible, although we expect most of the students to be 18-22.

Similarly, how are you defining Jews?

The respondents decide if they are Jewish or not. This is the wording of the introduction:

We would like you to complete this survey if you consider yourself to be Jewish in any way, such as by religion, culture, ethnicity, parentage or ancestry.

We wish to cast the net wide in order to capture a full spectrum.

As in our previous studies, we prefer to let the respondent self-identify, to empower him/herself to be part of the Jewish community. As we know from other studies, Jews do not like to be told how to be Jewish. And the issue of “who is a Jew” is very sensitive.

Why is it important for young Jews to participate in this survey?

Young adults are under-represented in most surveys of Jews, which are directed to households reached by landline telephones. Ours is geared to the younger generation because it is online – the medium is the message.

It is important for many young Jews to participate. It increases the chances that diverse opinions will be expressed and that the survey will better represent the diversity of young people today.

The powers that be will listen to young people if they are willing to give their views and communicate their opinions. So we need lots of students to participate – there is power in numbers.

Please encourage your readers to participate in the survey by following this link
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Hillel Guide to Passover-Download

Passover is the most celebrated Jewish holiday throughout the world, commemorating the Israelites’ exodus from a life of slavery in Egypt to freedom. On the first two nights of Passover, many Jews hold a seder (literally 'order'), consisting of a series of readings and rituals, and we retell the Passover story. The seder is an annual Jewish ritual in which groups of people—families, friends, communities, and even groups of strangers—gather for a time of reflective conversation about freedom.

A Freedom Themed Passover in Israel
Hillel Israel celebrated Passover with the children of migrant workers to highlight the values of freedom and liberty. Israeli students joined with the Kibbutzim Seminary’s student union at a unique event that combined elements of the traditional seder with material relevant to the children’s lives, emphasizing the themes of freedom and liberty. The children shared their families' personal story of the journey to freedom with their Israeli hosts.

"This event cast Passover in contemporary terms, making it relevant to young Israelis and underscoring Hillel Israel's desire to promote Jewish renewal and communal responsibility among our students,” said David Ya’ari, then CEO of Hillel Israel.

Asking Big Questions:

If you’re hosting your own seder, check out our Passover guide!

Our award-winning Ask Big Questions initiative gives students the opportunity to have conversations about topics that matter to everyone, in order to understand each other, understand ourselves, and make the world a better place.

With that in mind, we created the “Are we free?” Passover guide to inspire conversation and create understanding among Jewish students – and all seder participants – about the big questions concerning freedom’s meaning, for what they are thankful and for whom they are responsible. The guide can help make the Passover ritual one that will deepen students’ connection to Judaism, our people and our practice. Download it now

For more Passover news, check out our    page.