College students thrust into campus spotlight as Israel advocates

Ed Wittenberg, Jewish Cleveland News

Becky Sebo and Daniel Pearlman seemed to be on parallel paths as advocates for Israel while growing up in different suburbs on Cleveland’s East Side.

Sebo, of Pepper Pike, and Pearlman, of Solon, spoke about how their experiences shaped them and the challenges they faced while defending Israel on their college campuses at the launch event for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s 2016 Campaign for Jewish Needs Sept. 10 at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood.

Sebo, 23, graduated from Ohio University in Athens in the spring. Active in BBYO as a teenager, she said she discovered Israel as a sophomore at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights.

“I was accepted into Cleveland’s Ambassadors for Unity program, and a spark was ignited in me,” she said. “That year I participated in a cultural exchange with an Israeli teen living in our sister city, Beit She’an, and then made my first journey to Israel. I was hooked.”

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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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Check out Jvillage’s High Holiday+    page.

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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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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