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Jewschool: Open Hillel Updates

Yesterday, the Open Hillel campaign, a student led initiative to change policies around permitted conversations on Israel on campus, presented their petition (801 signatures strong as of this writing) and letter to the Hillel International Board in Washington, D.C..."

Rabbi Brant Rosen: On Open Hillel, Open Debate and Open Minds

"As open debate and discussion have been indelible aspects of Jewish culture from time immemorial these attempts at muzzling students' voices are particularly egregious. Hillel International's guidelines (which are not obligatory for local Hillels) essentially ensure that there will be no honest and open Jewish conversations about Israel on campuses across the country. They will most certainly exclude growing Jewish student groups such as JVP — and they will also prevent Hillels from inviting co-sponsorship or dialogue with Palestinians, since almost all Palestinian campus groups support BDS.

"Trust me on this: this has everything to do with the Jewish establishment's fear of letting young Jews think for themselves on the subject of Israel..."

"Please join me in advocating for a Jewish student community that respects a plurality of Jewish student voices on Israel/Palestine. Please sign this petition by Open Hillel, a coalition of students that seek to change the 'standards of partnership' in Hillel International's guidelines and encourages local campus Hillels to adopt policies that 'allow for free discourse on all subjects within the Hillel community.'"

Vice Magazine: Open Hillel Campaign Stirs the Pot on BDS-Jewish Relations

"The issue came to a head at Harvard this January when members of the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) — a left-leaning political group within Harvard's Hillel — attempted to co-sponsor an event called 'Jewish Voices Against the Occupation' along with a BDS-supporting group, the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC). According to PJA chair Rachel Sandalow-Ash, despite informing adult advisors within Harvard Hillel and the Executive Director of Harvard Hillel, Jonah Steinberg, beforehand that the event would take place, 'as soon as it was known that the words Hillel and PSC would appear on a poster together, Hillel said they could not co-sponsor the event...'"

"Sandalow-Ash is clear when it comes to the ways which Hillel has harmed its stated mission of creating a politically pluralistic community on college campuses. 'What you're seeing, frankly, is a McCarthyist attitude,' she said. 'It's become stigmatized to have what people see as a dissenting view...there's a general unwillingness to speak with people on the other side.'"

Inside Higher Ed: The Politics of Joint Events

"Some students are organizing to ask Hillel to reconsider one of its long-held policies regarding event co-sponsorship..."

"Julia Wedgle, a Tufts University sophomore who signed the petition [...] said that she didn't see the petition as necessarily a question of being pro- or anti-Israeli or Palestinian. 'I don't think that by signing the petition, it means that you support BDS [the movement to boycott Israel and impose sanctions on the country],' she said. 'It means that you support free speech, and a variety of opinions.'"

Interview with Emily Unger on Jewschool

Check out this interview with Emily Unger, former chair of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance, about why Open Hillel began and what it hopes to achieve!

"After the initial events, we took some time to discuss the best course of action. We concluded that this issue was important enough — that our ability to work with Palestinians on campus and fully express ourselves within the Jewish community was at stake — that we should fight to have these policies changed. We had the option of simply distancing ourselves from Hillel and continuing to hold these more controversial events outside of the Hillel building, but we did not want to become disconnected from the campus Jewish community in this way. Hillel has always been my home on campus, and it felt wrong to me to give up and leave. After all, as the 'center for Jewish life on campus, Hillel ought to support all Jewish life. Thus, rather than quietly drift away from Hillel, we decided to stay and improve the organization from within."

Op-Ed in New Voices: Imagine a More 'Open Hillel'

"I am currently starting a chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace at Tufts. Although we are members of the Jewish community here, Hillel's Israel Guidelines exclude us because we support targeted BDS against the occupation. Ever since I publically acknowledged my support of Palestine, including writing an op-ed for the Tufts Daily about Hillel's Israel Guidelines, I have felt unwelcome at Hillel. I remain Interfaith Co-chair of Hillel's board, but I have lost much of my connection to the Jewish community here.

One of my favorite parts of Judaism is attending Shabbat services, but I have not done so since the beginning of last semester, because I’m afraid of what others at Hillel will say to me..."

The Tufts Daily: Online Hillel co-sponsorship petition gains Tufts signatures

The Jewish Daily Forward: Grassroots Student Groups Calmly Tackle Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Progressive Jewish Alliance and the Open Hillel campaign featured in an article on student-led movements addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

"Last November, PJA was scheduled to host an event at the campus Hillel, 'Jewish Voices Against the Israeli Occupation.' The event was co-sponsored by the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Hillel International told the Harvard chapter that the pro-Palestinian group's co-sponsorship was against Hillel guidelines. PJA was forced to move its event, said PJA Chair Rachel Sandalow-Ash. Her group criticized Hillel in a public letter for 'moving farther and farther from being "the foundation of Jewish campus life" that it claims to be...'"

The Huffington Post: Harvard and the Israel Debate

"When it comes to the topic of Israel, some hawkish members of the secular Jewish community appear to follow in the antediluvian footsteps of the shtetl. That anyone in our broader Jewish community is shunned for holding a nonviolent opinion is a travesty for both our people and our religion. The face of the younger Jewish community is constantly continuing to change, and it is important for everyone — including the much needed philanthropists at Harvard — to take note.

But more importantly, these people must remember that giving those with seemingly dissenting opinions a platform to speak doesn't necessarily mean that they agree with them. It's just a sign of respect."

The Harvard Crimson: Students Object to Hillel Policies

"A group of Harvard students has launched a campaign protesting international Hillel policies banning partnerships with student groups that 'support boycott of, divestment from, or sanctions against the State of Israel.'

The campaign, called Open Hillel and spearheaded by the Hillel-affiliated student group Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance, officially launched Jan. 31 with a petition to Hillel International that had already gathered more than 430 signatures as of press time early Thursday morning..."

Open Zion: College Organizing And The BDS Controversy

"Students know that co-sponsorship does not equal endorsement. It has to be that way. If a student group contacts your organization saying they have a speaker they want to bring to campus and would like your co-sponsorship, how can you be sure their speaker will say 100 percent things your organization agrees with? You can't. Thus it's implicitly understood that you will co-sponsor on principle, because you believe this is the type of discussion or event that should be happening at your school. [...] Sharing views, whether or not they are your own, is a worthy thing to do in an academic setting. And you understand that working collaboratively on events is often the only way to afford any programming at all."

"I am against BDS, but I've reached this position through many long, difficult conversations trying to wrap my head around what it is about it that I agree and disagree with. I'm grateful that J Street U, the student wing of the liberal pro-Israel group, gave me the opportunities to hold those discussions, and even exposed me to speakers who do support it in order to challenge me."

Mondoweiss: Harvard Jews battle Hillel's censorship of BDS discussion

"We keep a close eye on community organizing inside the Jewish community because that community is so crucial to the US discourse on the Middle East and because an exciting movement of enlightened younger Jews is now taking on the extremely-conservative leadership of the community over the issue of Palestinian human rights..."

"The second story is more hopeful, a petition at Harvard from Jews to Open Harvard Hillel, to allow discussions about boycott to take place inside the Jewish community. Note that this petition is pleading with Jewish community leaders to allow discussion between Palestinians and Jews on campus..."

Op-Ed in the Binghamton University Pipe Dream: Conversation Shouldn't Have Caveats

"Unless Hillel wishes to be just another extremist advocacy group that denies the existence of opposing views, it ought to take a step into reality. Representing the Jewish body of this University carries a certain weight and unless it embraces more open dialogue, Hillel should make clear its political, rather than religious, objectives.

Unyielding support of Israel is not a prerequisite for Judaism and dissenting views are not inherently radical. Organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, have made this school of thought mainstream and have thus strangled reasonable debate and left the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unresolved for far too long. Hillel — especially if it wishes to be a representative organization — should not jump on that bandwagon..."

The Jewish Daily Forward: Students Protest Hillel's BDS Ban

"A Harvard Jewish student group has launched a national protest of Hillel rules barring partnerships with groups that back boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

Local campus Hillels have cited the rules in recent decisions to cancel events, deny recognition to student groups, and, in one case, to expel a student from Hillel leadership..."

"'At Harvard, the Palestinian community is willing to have dialogue, and it saddens me to see Hillel as the roadblock to that,' said Emily Unger, a Harvard senior and a former chair of Harvard's Progressive Jewish Alliance, the group organizing the campaign..."

At Binghamton University: Hillel student leader ousted for hosting a pro-BDS speaker

"Leaders of Hillel at Binghamton asked Benjamin Sheridan to resign from two Hillel-related positions after he violated a national Hillel policy — which Hillel believes to preserve pro-Israeli pluralism, but that others say prevents a holistic discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — by bringing a Palestinian activist to speak on campus earlier this semester.

Sheridan organized an open screening of '5 Broken Cameras,' a documentary about non-violent Palestinian activism, and a talk on campus by Iyad Burnat, the brother of the filmmaker who is featured in the film, for Dorm Room Diplomacy (DRD), an apolitical international student organization that coordinates weekly teleconferences between American and Middle Eastern students..."

Op-Ed in the Tufts Daily: Is Hillel truly "the foundation for Jewish campus life" for all Jews?

Harvard Political Review: When People Are Occupied

Op-Ed in New Voices: Open Dialogue at Hillel?

Op-Ed in the Harvard Crimson: An Open Hillel

Mondoweiss: After Harvard Hillel drops event due to donor pressure, progressive Jewish org calls out 'political litmus test'

The Harvard Crimson: Hillel Cancels Event Reservation