After Oct. 7 and, especially last spring, American campuses became a hotbed for antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.
Incidents happened at Drexel University, Temple University and other Philadelphia-area schools. The University of Pennsylvania’s president, M. Elizabeth Magill, lost her job after failing to say during congressional testimony that she would condemn calls for the genocide of the Jews.
Finally, in the spring, encampments calling for a boycott of the Jewish state broke out at Penn, Drexel, Haverford College and Princeton University, among other campuses. Many administrators were slow to break them up.
The protests lasted into finals week and, in some cases, beyond.
Now, students are days away from returning to campuses for the fall semester. In response, campus Hillel and Chabad houses are making plans to help Jewish students. They are taking various forms.
Connect
One defense against antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment is for Jews to connect.
That’s why Rabbi Hersch Loschak of Chabad at Rowan University is planning a variety of such events.
“We are planning big Jewish-pride-style events early in the semester,” he said.
Those include the usual welcome-back barbecue at the Chabad house. But they also include new events such as a pride festival with a kosher food truck and Jewish music.
“We’re also gearing up for the High Holidays,” Loschak said.
The reflective month of Elul begins on Sept. 2. Rosh Hashanah starts on Oct. 2.
But it’s important to connect with non-Jews, too.
Drexel is hosting a daylong training session in August on “cultural competency,” as Rabbi Isabel de Koninck, the executive director of the school’s Hillel house, describes it. At the session, administrators, faculty and residence hall advisers will learn about cultures they are unfamiliar with and learn how to mediate between students during disputes related to those cultures.
The training is about creating a “culture and learning environment that is affirming and welcoming for Jewish and Muslim students,” de Koninck said.
Educate
Some Jewish leaders on campus want to increase their Israel education offerings. They want Jewish students to better understand the home of their people so they can defend it.
Penn is welcoming a new Israel fellow to campus “who will help us enhance our offerings in this area,” said Rabbi Gabe Greenberg, Penn Hillel’s executive director.
“We will continue to offer ways to connect with Israel, whether it be through education, advocacy, or general engagement with Israeli culture and history,” Greenberg wrote in an email.
Penn State Hillel is bringing back its Israel shaliach, or an educator who teaches Americans about Israel. This fall, the shaliach will help Hillel increase its Israel-related offerings, according to Rabbi Rob Gleisser, the house’s senior Jewish educator.
“As we are addressing the concerns of our pro-Israel students and Jews on campus in general, we’ve integrated more pro-Israel programming,” Gleisser said.
Honor
The anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack will come early in the semester.
Loschak wants to plan memorials to the victims for both Oct. 7 and Simchat Torah, the Jewish holiday that coincided with Oct. 7, 2023. This year, Simchat Torah will take place on Oct. 24 and 25.
“They can no longer dance, and we are going to dance with the Torah scrolls,” Loschak said of the victims who died that day and since.
Support
Hillel and Chabad leaders want to make sure they offer consistent support to Jewish students. This will take the form of regular sessions and general availability.
At Rowan, Loschak wants to organize Zoom conversations with Jewish parents who want to check in. He also hopes to schedule group conversations in freshmen dormitories.
“We can be there for them and listen to their concerns,” he said.
Greenberg, at Penn, also said that Hillel’s “full-time embedded social worker will be seeing dozens of students, helping them process all of the typically college-related issues that students are dealing with: anxiety, loneliness, pressure, adulthood and, of course, the stress that emerges from the campus unrest.”