Finding a Jewish Community at College

By Rachel Greenspan for Tablet Magazine   

On Wednesday, I had the honor of moderating a terrific, lively (that’s Jewish for “contentious”) panel at Israeli Presidential Conference. Titled “The Campus as a Crossroads in the Life of a Young Jew,” the session—which featured Natan Sharansky, Taglit-Birthright CEO Gidi Mark and Mark Yudof, president of the University of California—might have been a predictable mix of hand-wringing and skepticism over the impact of BDS and other anti-Israel activism at colleges, had it not been for the presence of two other panelists: Andi Gergely, the head of European Union of Jewish Students, an umbrella organization for 34 national Jewish student unions in Europe and the FSU, and Rachel Greenspan, an Israel Government Fellow at the Hartman Institute. I wish I could reprint everyone’s remarks here. In lieu of that, below is an excerpt from Rachel’s prepared speech, which I think gives a nice window into just how nuanced and demanding a conversation it was—and how nuanced and demanding the challenge is as a whole.—Alana Newhouse

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The left-wing double standard on Israel

by Amram Altzman for newvoices.com   

When the documentary “The J Street Challenge” was released in 2014, one of its main arguments was that while certain Israel advocacy groups who claim to be bipartisan are acceptable political advocates, left-wing political groups, like J Street, should be condemned as beyond the pale of acceptable conversation about Israel for disagreeing with the Israeli government. When Israeli right-wing group Im Tirtzu released an advertisement last week that publicly threatened members of left-wing groups, including the director of public outreach for Breaking The Silence, Jews who talk about Israel once again had the same reaction: Organizations like Breaking The Silence are beyond the pale of acceptable discourse, and should be condemned.

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Is there a Jewish Agenda on campus?

Zev Hurwitz for newvoices.com

When a UC Santa Cruz student leader is instructed to abstain from a BDS vote due to his allegiance to a “Jewish Agenda,” the proper response from the Jewish community is very simple: Such activities are anti-Semitic, and do not belong on diverse, pluralistic campuses.

This is only the latest case of anti-Semitism that has hit California campuses this year. Daniel Bernstein’s now-well-publicized story of pre-BDS vote harassment due to his involvement in a “Jewish agenda” demonstrates a hateful, naïve, and ineffective form of lobbying. Put simply, Bernstein was targeted for intimidation because he is a student leader of Jewish background, which is, by definition, anti-Semitic.

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7 Surprising Facts About Jews in U.S. Colleges

Hillel's 'Top Schools Jews Choose' ranking this year has some revealing insights about Jewish higher education in the U.S. and Canada.

Gabe Friedman for Haaretz

JTA - Hillel, the Jewish campus organization, released its annual fall college guide earlier this month — complete with rankings of “The Top Schools Jews Choose.” The figures are estimated by campus Hillels. Here are seven takeaways.

1. University of Florida has the most Jewish students of any North American college

University of Florida, with its 6,500 Jewish (out of 33,720 total) undergraduates, edged out other heavily Jewish public colleges, like University of Maryland and University of Michigan. Two of the top three and four of the top 20 public colleges are in Florida. The private college with the most Jews is New York University, with 6,000 (out of 24,985 total).


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