Dealing with the Anti-Israel Movement on Campus: Advice to Students and Their Parents

North American college campuses are often the setting for bitter disputes over Middle East politics, often driven by the global anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In this video, Washington Institute Executive Director Robert Satloff offers practical advice on how to address anti-Israel activism on campus and engage constructively on the politics of the Middle East. He recommends specific ways for students to learn whether their professors endorse the BDS agenda and how to promote constructive dialogue. An historian who is a longstanding observer of the academic world in the U.S. and abroad – and the parent of a college freshman -- Dr. Satloff offers useful ideas and helpful resources for parents and students looking for help in combatting anti-Israel activity on campus.

Chai Ceremony

A Jewish way of sending young people off to college

By Rabbi Julie H. Danan for MyJewishLearning.com

The following ceremony is an adaptation of havdalah, the ritual for ending Shabbat. which includes blessings over wine, fragrant spice, a multi-flamed candle, and one known as Hamavdil explicitly commemorating the shift from Sabbath to weekday. Reprinted with permission from Ohalah.org.
Background

The “chai ceremony” is an innovative ritual celebrating the life passage at age 18. Chai means “life,” and the young adults, having finished high school, are embarking on a new chapter in their lives.

Chai equals 18 in gematria (Hebrew numerology), and most young adults in our culture make this transition at about age 18. The chai ceremony is centered around havdalah, the traditional ritual separating Shabbat from the days of the week. It is also a time of separation, as our young adults go to college. (Even if they continue to live at home, the nature of the relationship will change.)

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Acapella Underdogs Score Big Hit

The 'other' Yeshiva University acapella group gains success with new YouTube video.

Carly Stern for The Jewish Week

Swarms of crowds hurriedly shuffle amidst the bright lights of Times Square. Energetic young children bounce up and down and wave their hands rapidly as if answering an urgent question in class. And, in between it all, a group of 11 college-age, kippa-clad young men in crisp white shirts and matching pink ties belt out a rendition of the Gad Elbaz hit, “Hashem Melech.”

This isn’t any average street performance. It is the setting of the hit music video by the Yeshiva University-associated a capella group, the “Ystuds,” that has generated over 90,000 YouTube views in less than a month.    

“Our friends and families are really excited about it,” said second-year group member Jonathan Green, who joined after transferring to YU from the University of Toronto.  “They sometimes are more on top of the view count than I am.”

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Verbal abuse against Jewish students now ‘fact of life’ on US campuses

By Amanda Borschel-Dan for The Times of Israel     

Jewish students on campus are still feeling the aftermath of last summer’s Gaza War, according to a new Brandeis University report. Findings reveal that during the 2014-2015 academic year, one in four Jewish college students was blamed for Israel’s actions during the war, and nearly three quarters of students experienced anti-Semitic comments.

While physical harassment is still relatively rare, “verbal harassment is apparently a fact of life for a substantial portion of young Jewish students,” according to the report, “Antisemitism and the College Campus: Perceptions and Realities,” released at a special media event in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the authors also found that preliminary surveys conducted immediately following the war indicated an increased level of connection to Israel throughout the school year.

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In Case You Missed It: Obama Speaks on National Jewish American Heritage Month

National Jewish American Heritage Month: What It Means to Be Part of the Jewish American Community

By Tanya Somanader for WhiteHouse.gov Blog

Jewish American values are woven into the fabric of American life and have shaped the progress we’ve made as a country. That history has fundamentally shaped the President’s personal views and leadership. As he told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg:

"To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics. There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law."

Today at 11:00 am ET, in honor of National Jewish American Heritage Month, President Obama will address the Adas Israel congregation in Washington, D.C., the first synagogue in the U.S. to be addressed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Watch his remarks live: