New York-area college students invited to submit ideas for Israel advocacy, fighting anti-Semitism

The World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomatic Corps (JDCorps) and the Consulate General of Israel in New York announced Campus Pitch, a program inviting college students to pitch creative new approaches to advocating for Israel, fighting anti-Semitism, and building stronger interfaith relations on New York and tri-state campuses.

“We are excited to announce an opportunity for students to pitch innovative ideas about broadening the conversation on Israel and forming new partnerships on campus,” said Ido Aharoni, consul-general of Israel in New York. “The initiative is a platform to inspire out-of-the-box thinking across the tri-state area this academic year.”

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The High Holidays are upon us, check out our High Holidays Spotlight Kit

Students: Yom Kippur a balance of challenges, traditions

Shayna Posses, USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent

Though considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, many colleges do not give students Yom Kippur off, instead excusing individuals who choose to opt out of classes.

As Samantha Klasfeld and her friends sat down to break their Yom Kippur fast freshman year, commotion erupted in the crowded restaurant.

Students spotted actor Bill Murray entering the dining room and engulfed him in a sea of camera flashes.

Klasfeld's table wasn't interested.

"Everyone was running to take pictures with him, and we were stuffing our faces," the 21-year-old Cornell University senior said. "We were more excited about food than a celebrity."

For Jewish college students like Klasfeld, celebrating Yom Kippur at school can be difficult. The Day of Atonement requires observers to abstain from food and drinks for 25 hours while praying for forgiveness for the year's sins.

Though considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, many colleges do not give the day off, instead excusing individuals who choose to opt out of classes. This year, the holiday runs from Friday evening to Saturday evening, a welcome break for typically conflicted students.

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The High Holidays are upon us, check out our High Holidays Spotlight Kit

  

101 College Grants You've Never Heard of

collegescholarships.org

 You May Be Leaving Thousands On the Table

Most college-bound students are looking for ways to supplement their education fund. It’s nearly impossible to pay for a college education without some form of financial aid. Loans, both federal and private, help thousands of students every year finance their education, but that money needs to be repaid – and with interest.

Before considering any form of education loan, students need to investigate possible grants for which they may be qualified. Grant money for college never has to be repaid, and there are a wide array of grant programs designed to benefit every kind of student, and every course of study. Thousands of organizations, both public and private, have grant money to award to students who are struggling to cover the costs of their college tuition.

Proper Research Will Lead You to the Grants You Need

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Salem on the Thames

Richard Landes for The American Interest

At Connecticut College, the outrage machine claims another victim.

Academics like to think of themselves as autonomous thinkers, and academia—meaning literally the protected realm of free speech—gives professors not only the right to speak their minds but also, via the institution of tenure, protection against losing their livelihoods by displeasing those more powerful than themselves. The fact that civil polities treasure safe spaces for free speech attests to their progressive bona fides. Especially in our times, when new social networks can turn ominously feral, one would hope that academics and their institutions, especially small, face-to-face college communities, could return that investment and resist anonymous, predatory, crowd behavior.

Yet mob rule is precisely what happened this past semester at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, along the Thames River. Over the course of the past spring semester, philosophy professor Andrew Pessin was driven from campus based on a malevolent reading of a Facebook post in which he depicted “the situation” in Gaza as one in which the Israelis had confined a “rabid pit bull” to a cage, while animal rights activists protested for the poor beast’s release. Although Pessin didn’t specify in the text, he and a commenter did make clear that this metaphor referred to Hamas terrorists, not to the population generally.

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