NUJLS and Jewish Voice for Peace conferences!

The weekend of April 19-21 is a big one for Jewish conferences!

NUJLS (the National Union of Jewish Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex Students) is holding its 2013 conference at Rutgers Hillel in New Jersey. Registration closes on April 12th, and you can register at http://www.nujls.org/.

Jewish Voice for Peace is also holding its National Members' Meeting the same weekend, in Berkeley, California! You can register at http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/campaigns/2013-jvp-national-member-meeting, and student scholarships are available for travel and registration. If you're concerned you won't get enough queerness at the JVP conference, though, don't worry -- you can join me at the "Resisting Pinkwashing and War Culture: Critical queer and feminist politics in action" workshop on Sunday!

EVENT: Ethical Kashrut with Uri L'Tzedek

Ethical Kashrut: Uri L'Tzedek

What if keeping kosher were not just a matter of ritual purity, but of justice in the workplace as well?  Rabbi Smuly Yanklowitz, the founder and president of the Orthodox social justice organization Uri L'Tzedek, will speak about the Tav HaYosher initiative, which certifies kosher resturants on the basis of their labor standards.

  

Tuesday, 4/9: 7pm-8:30pm in Rabb Hall

Co-sponsored by Progressive Jewish Alliance and the Orthodox Student Minyan 

Progressive Passover Seder!

On Tuesday, PJA celebrated Passover with our annual Progressive Passover seder.  The PJA seder takes the Passover tradition and the story of the Exodus and expands them to discuss modern-day issues of oppression and liberation.

A reading from the PJA haggadah to reflect on during Passover:

"Dayenu," says the haggadah, "it would have been enough."  A rewriting of this tradition from the Freedom Seder, held on the first anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, identifies the insufficiencies in the world and calls us to act.

So the struggles for freedom that remain will be more dark and difficult than any we have met so far. For we must struggle for a freedom that enfolds stern justice, stern bravery, and stern love.

For if we were to end a single genocide but not to stop the other wars that kill men and women as we sit here, it would not be sufficient;
If we were to end those bloody wars but not disarm the nations of the weapons that could destroy all mankind, it would not be sufficient;
If we were to disarm the nations but not to end the brutality with which the police attack people it would not be sufficient;
If we were to end outright police brutality but not prevent some people from wallowing in luxury while others starved, it would not be sufficient;
If we were to make sure that no one starved but were not to free the daring poets from their jails, it would not be sufficient;
If we were to free the poets from their jails but to train the minds of people so that they could not understand the poets, it would not be sufficient;
If we educated all men and women to understand the free creative poets but forbade them to explore their own inner ecstasies, it would not be sufficient;
If we allowed men and women to explore their inner ecstasies but would not allow them to love one another and share in the human fraternity, it would not be sufficient.

How much then are we in duty bound to struggle, work, share, give, think, plan, feel, organize, sit-in, speak out, hope, and be on behalf of Mankind!

-Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 1969

Criticism of Israel is Not Anti-Semitic

Over the past week, a dangerous rumor has circulated accusing the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) of targeting Jewish students in its campaign to raise awareness about the demolition of Palestinian homes. We, the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance, strongly refute these lies and affirm that Jewish students were not targeted. While we do not endorse PSC’s campaign, we support their right to draw attention to problematic Israeli policies and believe that flyering is a legitimate and reasonable way to do so.

As part of Harvard Israeli Apartheid Week, PSC flyered student dorms with mock eviction notices in order to raise awareness about the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories. Such flyering is a common means of advertising and campaigning utilized by a wide variety of student organizations. PSC placed these notices on all suite doors in any given dormitory. However, in response to these flyers, several publications began circulating the falsehood that PSC specifically targeted Jewish students in its campaign. This claim is completely wrong, and it is clear to students who live in the dorms that Jewish students were not targeted.

Moreover, several publications have accused PSC of employing anti-Semitic rhetoric in its campaign. These claims are baseless; as PSC affirms in a public statement on its website, these accusations “conflate [PSC’s] criticism of Israeli human rights violations with hatred of the Jewish people.” Indeed, in its mission, PSC “condemn[s] any hatred or discrimination against any racial, ethnic, or religious group." Anti-Semitism is a serious problem, and these claims minimize the seriousness of real anti-Semitism as well slander and harm the falsely accused. 

We condemn all organizations and publications both within and outside Harvard that continue to spread lies about PSC, and we ask them to immediately publish corrections stating that PSC did not target Jewish students or engage in other anti-Semitic behavior. In light of the anti-Semitic and racist incidents at Oberlin College over the past month, we hope that individuals and organizations devoted to fighting anti-Semitism will not diminish the significance of true anti-Semitism by branding criticism of Israeli policies as anti-Semitic.

EVENT: Israeli Democracy after the Elections with the NIF

The Progressive Jewish Alliance is excited to co-sponsor a discussion on "The Left, the Right, and the Center: Israeli Democracy after the Elections" with the New Israel Fund, an organization promoting social justice in Israel. This event will be held on Sunday at 7pm in Beren Hall (2nd floor of Hillel), and you can RSVP here. We hope to see you there!

The Left, the Right, and the Center:
Israeli Democracy after the Elections

A discussion with Dr. Sara Hirschhorn

Please join us for learning, schmoozing and conversation as Dr. Sara Hirschhorn leads us through an overview of the political scene in Israel.  Who are Israel's left wing and right wing, and what do they want?  What is their understanding of religion, democracy and the rule of law in Israel?  What do the results of Israel’s recent election tell us about the priorities of Israel's citizens, and what do they suggest about the future?

Sunday, February 10, 2012
7:00 - 8:30 pm
Doors open at 6:45, program to begin by 7:05
Harvard Hillel, Beren Hall

Click here to RSVP.

Dr. Sara Hirschhorn was born and raised in Western Massachusetts while spending considerable amounts of time in Israel throughout her childhood.  She graduated with honors from Yale University and received her M.A. in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago.  Sara recently earned her doctorate in History at the University of Chicago, where she wrote her dissertation entitled “City on a Hilltop: The participation of Jewish-American Immigrants within the Israeli Settler Movement, 1967-1987.”  Sara is currently a postdoctoral fellowship at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, where her research focuses on the Israeli ultra-nationalist movement, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the relationship between the U.S./American Jewry and Israel.  She is also a regular op-ed contributor to Haaretz, The Times of Israel, and the Israeli conflict resolution webzine Efshar Lahshov (CanThink).

New Israel Fund: New Generations is an open and vibrant community of young professionals, social activists, community leaders, and others in their 20s and 30s who are committed to the work of the New Israel Fund, the leading organization promoting social justice and equality for all Israelis. New Gen provides an opportunity to learn about and engage with the most important issues facing Israel today through lectures, group discussions, and social events.

Open Hillel in the Jewish Daily Forward

The Jewish Daily Forward has picked up on our Open Hillel campaign!  Here's the full article:

Students Protest Hillel’s BDS Ban

Harvard Jewish Students Launch National and Campus Petitions

By Josh Nathan-Kazis

Published January 31, 2013.

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.

The clash comes as national Jewish organizations continue to devote substantial resources to opposing BDS on campus. The Harvard students’ effort, which officially launches February 4, could represent a significant student-led challenge to their approach.

MOSHE SAFDIE AND ASSOCIATES

Harvard Hillel

“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.

Harvard’s Progressive Jewish Alliance alleges that Hillel’s Israel guidelines stifle discourse. Harvard’s Hillel, which has circulated a response to the petition, says that they only block institutional support, not conversation.

“I firmly believe that there is a very important distinction to be drawn between allowing and fostering dialogue, on the one hand, and underwriting and supporting institutional partnerships, on the other,” Harvard Hilllel executive director Jonah Steinberg wrote in an email to his Hilllel’s board in response to the petition. “That does not mean that we should exclude from Harvard Hillel, or brand as traitorous, the very committed Jewish young people who seek meaningful interactions with their Palestinian and pro-Palestinan counterparts.”

A spokeswoman for Hillel’s Washington, D.C. headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Forward.

The Harvard students’ campaign consists of two online petitions on a website built especially for their campaign. One, open to all signatories, opposes the guidelines on Israel discourse promulgated by Hillel’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.; another, for Harvard students, opposes Harvard Hillel’s implementation of those guidelines.

Hillel headquarters first published the Israel guidelines in 2010. The rules bar Hillels from partnering with organizations or hosting speakers that support BDS. Other categories barred from partnership are vaguer, including those that “delegitimize, demonize, or apply a double standard to Israel.”

National Hillel does not require campus Hillels to adopt the same rules, but encourages them to create guidelines that are “consistent” with those rules.

Local versions of the rules have been cited in a handful of recent cases in campus Hillels have banned individuals or groups.

In December, the Hillel at Binghamton University asked a student to resign from volunteer positions he held with the campus Hillel board after he organized a screening of “5 Broken Cameras,” the Oscar-nominated documentary about Palestinian non-violent resistance. A brother of one of the documentary’s directors, who is Palestinian and supports BDS, spoke at the screening.

“It goes without saying an [executive board] member of ours can’t bring a speaker like that,” a Hillel student leader told Pipe Dream, the Binghampton campus newspaper in explaining why the student was asked to resign his Hillel roles.

At Harvard in November, Steinberg cancelled a Progressive Jewish Alliance event scheduled to be held at the Hillel after learning that a student group called the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which backs BDS, would be a co-sponsor.

Unger, the Progressive Jewish Alliance member, said that the experience with the cancelled event had spurred her organization to initiate the campaign against the national guidelines. “We were really very disappointed about this, because we thought it was a great opportunity for cooperation,” Unger said. “That’s why we are waging this campaign, to try to make Hillel a community that is open to everyone, regardless of their political views.”

The petitions already appears to be attracting broader interest. Activists affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace, a national Jewish activist group harshly critical of Israel, have circulated the website on which the petition are posted, and 105 people have signed the petition to Hillel’s D.C. headquarters.

For Unger and her organization, the effort is in part about building student influence in Hillel decision-making. “We want to make it more accountable to the student body,” Unger said.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/170318/students-protest-hillel-s-bds-ban/#ixzz2JcPjMgC1

Press Release: PJA Launches Open Hillel Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

JEWISH STUDENTS ASK HILLEL TO END POLITICAL LITMUS TEST

Students at Harvard Hillel and campuses across the United States have begun a petition asking Hillel International to remove its Guidelines for Campus Israel Activities, which they say pose a political litmus test for who can belong to the campus Jewish community.

The petition, launched Thursday as part of the Open Hillel campaign on openhillel.org, has already garnered over one hundred signatures.

The petition states, “we believe that campus Hillels should acknowledge and engage with a full spectrum of political views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We see cooperation with Palestinian groups on and off campus as an essential step towards peace. Furthermore, if Hillel truly wants to be ‘The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life,’ it cannot exclude Jewish groups simply for their political beliefs.”

Hillel International currently posts guidelines which state, "Hillel will not partner with, house, or host organizations, groups, or speakers that as a matter of policy or practice... support boycott of, divestment from, or sanctions against the State of Israel." The guidelines also include other restrictions on the political views of those who may affiliate with a campus Hillel.

“Hillel should be a place for the entire Jewish community, and a space to have the difficult discussions surrounding Israel and Palestine,” says Elena Hoffenberg, a first-year at Harvard and board member of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA). “It’s especially valuable to have those discussions in Hillel as it is representative of viewpoints held in the Jewish community.”

Students in PJA, an affiliated group of Harvard Hillel, say they first learned of Hillel International’s Guidelines for Campus Israel Activity when they tried to co-sponsor an event called “Jewish Voices on the Occupation” with the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC). PJA was told that the event could not take place in Harvard Hillel because PSC supports the Palestinian call for international boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions on Israel.

And two years ago, the Brandeis chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace was denied affiliation with Brandeis Hillel because of the same guidelines, put in place in December 2010.

“College campuses are a wonderful place for people from different backgrounds to come together in dialogue and cooperation,” says Emily Unger, a senior at Harvard and former chair of PJA. “Hillel is my community, and I want its policies to fully uphold its values of pluralism and support an environment in which these important conversations can take place.”

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Please find more information and updates on Open Hillel online at http://harvardpja.blogspot.com, http://www.openhillel.org/, and https://twitter.com/harvardpja.

Contact: Rachel Sandalow-Ash
Cell: 617-417-0481
Email: rsandalowash@college.harvard.edu