Podcasts about Hillel International

Imagine being spat on as you walk across your college campus simply because you're Jewish or being asked whether you're a “good Jew” or a “bad Jew.” As part of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, AJC and Hillel International partnered to document the experiences of Jewish students on campus over the past year. The findings are deeply troubling: nearly a third of Jewish students in the U.S. reported feeling uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because of their Jewish identity, and 43% avoided expressing their views on Israel due to fears of antisemitism. In the second installment of this two-part series, meet two students whose experiences reflect these alarming statistics: Evan Cohen, a senior computer science major at the University of Michigan and Vice Chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network, and Daniel Solomon, a junior studying political science and urban studies at Brown University who serves on AJC's Campus Global Board. Resources: -AJC's Center for Education Advocacy -5 Takeaways from AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report -Go Behind the Numbers: Hear directly from American Jews about what it's like to be Jewish in America  Test Your Knowledge: -How much do you really know about how antisemitism affects Americans? Take this one-minute quiz and put your knowledge to the test. Start now. Listen – AJC Podcasts: -The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. -People of the Pod:  Unpacking Trump's Gaza Plan The Oldest Holocaust Survivor Siblings: A Tale of Family, Survival, and Hope Israeli Hostages Freed: Inside the Emotional Reunions, High-Stakes Negotiations, and What's Next Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Evan Cohen and Daniel Solomon: Manya Brachear Pashman: As part of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report, AJC and Hillel International partnered to document Jewish students' experiences during their time on campus. Last year, the report found that 43% of Jewish college students avoided expressing their views about Israel on campus or to classmates because of fears of antisemitism. 22% of Jewish students report feeling or being excluded from a group or an event on campus because they're Jewish, and 32% of American Jewish students said they have felt uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because of their Jewish identity.  Here to share their perspective on the ground are two students who have become advocates for their Jewish peers. Evan Cohen, a senior computer science major at the University of Michigan, is the vice chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network. And Daniel Solomon, a junior political science and urban studies major at Brown University who serves on AJC's Campus Global Board. Evan, Daniel, welcome to People of the Pod. Evan Cohen:   I wish it was under better circumstances, but, you know, it's a pleasure to be here. Daniel Solomon:   Thank you so much for having me. Manya Brachear Pashman: So gentlemen, I just read a bunch of findings from the most recent report. Do they seem too high or too low based on your national vantage points? Evan? Evan Cohen:   So I think these findings are, sadly, not that surprising. We've seen and experienced an unprecedented amount of antisemitism over the past year and a half, give or take. Clearly, it's rising. Clearly students are experiencing this on their campuses, myself included. I definitely think that, you know, there's probably some cases where students are experiencing it more. In some cases it's less, but I think, you know, in general, it's way too high, like we should not be seeing as much antisemism on campuses. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Daniel, what do you think?  Daniel Solomon:   You know, the numbers seem about right. I have the opportunity of helping lead AJC's Campus Global Board, which really has a very wide perspective across the world and also across the United State. And we recently just met as a board in Lisbon where we discussed at length new trends over the past year in college antisemitism and around the world. And this really holds. We really found that this data is reflective of what we find in our qualitative experiences. Manya Brachear Pashman: One finding I did not just share at the beginning is that roughly 35% of American Jewish college students or recent graduates report having personally experienced antisemitism at least once during their time on campus. Did either of you have a personal encounter of your own over the past year?  Evan Cohen:   So a number of months ago, I was walking through the center of campus with a rabbi and a friend of mine, and we were spat at. And the unfortunate reality is, not only were we spat at, but when I tried to report this, I was basically told that, without identifying the individual by name, there was nothing that the university could do. And this was extremely frustrating, because we were spat at. That was a deeply upsetting experience.  It's something that no one should have to go through just for being Jewish, but the fact that there was almost nothing that could be done about it. Besides, you know, maybe you know, here's how we can support you, which was not something that I was particularly in need of. It was disappointing to see that there was no strong response to that. Daniel Solomon:   So shortly after October 7, my friends and I in our apartment, we held a small gathering, and you know, some friends brought mutual friends, and their friends brought mutual friends, which is totally fine. And so someone who I didn't know came up to me and looked at my door frame, and I have a mezuzah on my door frame. And she said, is that your Jew thing?  Which, yes, it is, but it's called a mezuzah. And she said, Well, are you a good Jew or a bad Jew? And I said, What do you mean by that? And I knew exactly what she meant by that. She meant, are you a Zionist? Or are you an anti-Zionist Jew? And the conversation ended shortly thereafter, and we asked her if she would leave.  Manya Brachear Pashman: This report came after the protests and the encampments that roiled college campuses, mostly in the spring of 2024 of the Jewish students who witnessed anti-Israel demonstrations after the October 7 terrorist attacks, 51% said that these protests or encampments made them feel unsafe on campus. How did your universities handle the encampments that popped up on your campuses? Evan Cohen:   There was an encampment on our campus, it sprung up the morning of the first Passover Seder of last year. And I remember receiving a text at six in the morning or something. I woke up, the first message I saw was, Evan, Do you know what's going on? And I said, Oh my god, another thing to deal with. You know, it's about to be Passover like we're supposed to be preparing for the Seder. And, you know, I think that at our university was handled extremely poorly, you know? We were told the encampment is contained, yet it grew in size, you know.  So at first it took over the main part of the center of the Diag, which is the main center of campus area at the University of Michigan, and slowly crept out into farther and farther areas of that center of campus Diag. And it was really disappointing, because at the end of the year, when it's finally warm, students are out there, they're hammocking, they're playing sports, even just reading and studying. And at that point, there was nobody besides those in the encampment. And so it really destroyed the end of year atmosphere that everyone always looks forward to. And again, like I said, I think it was handled very poorly. The university did not contain it. The university waited until after graduation.  They were hoping, I believe they were hoping, that if they waited until after graduation, there wouldn't be disruptions at the graduation. While I personally did not graduate last spring, I  had friends who did, and there were disruptions at that graduation. So clearly, that strategy did not work, did not pay off.  Sometime after graduation, they announced that the encampment was being removed because of fire hazards. Now these fire hazards were hazards the entire time the encampment was there, I saw students plugging in various electronic devices, keeping themselves warm with space heaters.  That's not something that you're supposed to be able to do there, and I do have experience, because I've had to reserve that space for, you know, pro-Israel activities in the past, and so I very much understand, first, what the rules and regulations are and how that process works. Very clearly, these rules were violated. And not only that, there was clear antisemitic imaging and speech that was spewing out of this encampment.  Daniel Solomon:   So, you know, first and foremost, our campus is a very big advocate of free speech, just collectively. So, you know, when the encampment originally went up, you know, the university made sure to emphasize the fact that, you know, it is free speech. But free speech, you know, has, you know, consequences, in the sense that setting up an encampment is against the university policy.  So, within those guidelines, you know, the encampment was up for probably a day or two, and then I remember one evening, the members of the encampment started yelling to globalize the Intifada. And this was sort of the call on the university's end to say this is actually not okay. This is when it teeters on free speech and free expression. And, you know, voicing your opinions, however different they might be than most, this is actually when it gets into hate speech. And so that's sort of the moment that our university leadership really, really took, took control of the encampment, and it ended shortly thereafter.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Of course, most antisemitic content and the anti-Israel vitriol is primarily spread online and on social media, and the data back that up, almost seven in 10 American Jews, 67% reported seeing or hearing anti semitism online or on social media in the past 12 months. The number jumps to 83% for young American Jews between the ages of 18 and 29 so your peers, how has social media, the digital landscape, shaped your encounters with antisemitism? Daniel Solomon:   Social media is a big part of of our generation, and a part of how we how we bond together. Similar to other universities, Brown has a platform called side chat. Other universities, they might be called Yik Yak or something else. But the only way to access this app, which is a private a private company, not, you know, affiliated with brown, but the only way to actually access the brown only channel in Sidechat is to use your Brown email. So it's sort of an anonymous message board where anyone can post whatever they feel, whatever they think. Sometimes it's funny memes. Sometimes it's satire.  In the context of the post October 7 world on Brown's campus, it was nothing, but, you know, atrocious really. It was really just a cesspool and a hotbed of antisemitism. And anti-Israel rhetoric that absolutely veered into antisemitism, but also really just classic, flat out antisemitism, you know, pointing out Jews in in, in great positions of authority in the country, and on college campuses specifically, and sort of trying to connect dots that really aren't connectable. And so Side chat was really just a really terrible hotbed of antisemitism.  And then also, you know, those who were more bold antiSemites would really just blatantly, you know, leave comments in Instagram posts, you know, with their profile name visible, so you knew exactly who they are. And so, you know, the digital, the digital landscape, was absolutely a pretty crucial part of what comprised, you know, the anti semitism happening.  You know, as I mentioned before, the campus, the campus that we see now is really the one, is really the one that I that I remember, you know, in my freshman year, the one that I made some of my closest friends, on the one where I developed some of my, you know, some of my academic ambitions. The campus that I really fell in love with is the one that I'm seeing now, and much different than the situation that we were in last year. Evan Cohen:   I could talk about, you know, two specific examples. One example was the president of our SJP chapter. Sometime, I want to say, around last March, posted something to her personal public account that said something along the lines of death to everyone who supports the Zionist state, death and more, death and worse. And I believe that Regent Acker, who was on the podcast relatively recently, actually spoke about this, I think.  And that was deeply disappointing to see, because, you know, studies have shown. I even read a study recently, I think it said that about 80% of American Jews support Israel, meaning they believe in Zionism, the right for Israel to exist safely and securely, for Jews to live there in our ancestral homeland. And so to say that, you know, that's basically calling for the death of Jews, the death of fellow classmates, fellow students. So that was, you know, extremely challenging to see and to deal with.  And ultimately, there were effectively no consequences. The student graduated last, last spring. And you know, we saw, we saw nothing, no repercussions from this, this activity. Another example of online anti semitism. What I experienced was during a trip to Israel last May. As part of this trip, I was going to be bearing witness to the atrocities of October 7, and so we were sharing, me and another student from the University were sharing some of our experiences, and a screenshot was taken of us, and then over, over, on top of it were overlaid messages like settlers scum, and these students were celebrating genocide.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Evan, how have these encounters, both on campus with the encampments and on social media? How have they informed your time working with Hillel on an international level? Evan Cohen:   You know, it's very clear that antisemitism is extremely prevalent. It's clear that anti-Zionism, anti-Israel sentiment, is very prevalent, and that we need to be constantly working toward combating it and supporting students on different campuses, this manifests in different ways. So it requires different tactics, different strategies, depending on what school you're at, depending on what your individual needs are.  But now being in this leadership position, it's amazing to be able to try to offer that support and use my experiences to then help other students on their campuses deal with the troubles that they are going through and what they are experiencing. Manya Brachear Pashman: I want to point out that a lot of this happened after the October 7 terrorist attack. A lot of what you're talking about, of course, the survey itself. But antisemitism doesn't just come from anti-Israel corners and Evan I know there were instances of demonstrators waving Nazi flags in Howell and Fowlerville outside a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Those are small towns about 30 or 40 miles away from Ann Arbor. Have there been expressions of antisemitism from the far right on Michigan's campus? I think Evan Cohen:   I think it was like the 2022-2023, academic year, the students received hate mail specifically targeting Jews, saying that Jews run the media, that they're responsible for COVID messages similar to that. I want to say that was even around the High Holidays timeframe. And so this was found like, you know, passed out around off campus, student housing. And so a number of students received messages like that. You know, we also saw post October 7 swastikas on or near Jewish buildings, for example, at Hillel one time. And so, you know, we're definitely seeing anti semitism from both sides.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Daniel, your campus Antisemitism Task Force, for lack of a better term, it initially formed in response to hatred from the far right. Is that right or is that correct? Daniel Solomon:   Yeah. So when I was a when I was a freshman, in my freshman fall, a terrible anti semitic threat was sent to the campus rabbi and executive director of the Brown-RISD Hillel that serves both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, and that's sort of where we sort of came together and started really having very proactive and very productive meetings with with Brown's administration.  Partially, I, you know, I will plug just a little bit that. I think that part, you know, the reason why I was so zealous to get involved was the training I received with American Jewish Committee, with the LFT program, the Leaders for Tomorrow High School Program.  So we really came together. Started having these conversations with Brown's administration, and created this really, really positive relationship, which I think is a pretty Hallmark component of being a Brown student, is this really, is this really great relationship that we formed? And I think that, you know, leading into October, 7, part of what made Brown's response so effective was that we had this really dynamic relationship with administrators already, and that, you know, there's really no gap in between Brown's institutional Jewish leaders and Brown's administration.  We have, you know, an incredibly supportive administration. And I think that was something that we saw following the incident and fall of 2022, and something that we continue to see all throughout you know, the post October 7 world. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Daniel, I'll ask you the same question I just asked Evan, how has that experience, that experience on Brown's campus, informed your time on AJC's Campus Global Board? Daniel Solomon:   To be honest, it's actually a little bit of the opposite. I feel as though my time on AJC's campus global board has really provided such an incredible opportunity to understand the global landscape of campus antisemitism. And also, of course, you know, we want to emphasize the global landscape of Jewish joy that's happening on college campuses, because that is definitely not in short supply. Manya Brachear Pashman: You know, I'm curious, do you get questions from your peers back home, your younger peers, questions about whether or not your campuses are the right choice, the right fit for them?  Evan Cohen:   I think it's really important to mention that the Jewish students on campus do absolutely have a home here. We're working extremely hard to ensure that there is Jewish joy on campus, and there are organizations here to support Jewish students. It's imperative that Jews come to campus, that we continue to build a supportive community and that, you know, we're not just hiding, we're not just shying away from this. We're actively working towards improving campus and campuses drastically improved in the 2024-2025 school year compared to the 23-24 school year. So, you know, we're standing strong. We're standing proud, and we're not going to back down.  There is a thriving Jewish community, and we're here to support you. We want you to come here. The University of Michigan has such a large Jewish population in part because a long time ago, the Ivy League schools had quotas on the number of Jews who could attend, and so the University of Michigan did not as such. We have a very strong Jewish community here, and I highly recommend coming here as long as you can bear, as long as you can bear and withstand the cold. Manya Brachear Pashman: Thank you both for joining us, and reflecting on the difficulties of 2024. May 2025 be more peaceful on your campuses.  Evan Cohen:   Thank you very much for having me.  Daniel Solomon:   Thank you for having me. 

Over 33,000 undergraduates are enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, known universally by its acronym, UCLA. It's one of the most competitive schools in the country, accepting less than 9 percent of its applicants. Among the current undergraduate student body, Hillel International estimates that there are about 2,500 Jewish students. The story of informal discrimination against Jewish students on prestigious campuses is, by now, a sad and familiar story. And in fact, that story is not foreign to Jewish students at UCLA. Worse still, an undergraduate Jewish leader on campus, Bella Brannon, has recently filed a motion with the student government alleging not informal, social discrimination, but formal employment discrimination against Jewish students. Here some background is necessary. UCLA has an active student government: the Undergraduate Students Association Council, known by its acronym, USAC. USAC is organized in various offices and commissions, one of which is the Cultural Affairs Commission, or CAC. According to CAC's website, it is “meant to ignite conversation regarding current events” and “facilitate exhibitions of creativity.” It supports dance, art, music, culinary festivals, poetry readings, and tours of culturally significant areas of Los Angeles. An elected member of the student body is charged with administering each of these commissions, and receives from the university a modest honorarium or payment of some kind for that service as well as a budget to hire fellow students to manage the commission's many programs. Because UCLA is a public university, a good deal of that money comes from California taxpayers. Brannon's motion claims that the current CAC commissioner has made explicit a policy to disqualify Jewish students, described as Zionists, from employment at the commission. Her motion was recently described in an article in UCLA's Jewish newspaper, Ha'Am, by the undergraduate writer Benjie Katz. This week, these two students, Bella Brannon and Benjie Katz—who are both leaders of the campus Tikvah chapter—join Mosaic's editor Jonathan Silver to discuss their experiences. Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

Rabbi Josh Feigelson was appointed Executive Director of IJS in January 2020 and became President & CEO in April 2022. He received ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in 2005, and served for six years as the Hillel Rabbi at Northwestern University, where he also earned a PhD in Religious Studies. In 2011, Josh helped found and served as Executive Director of Ask Big Questions, an initiative of Hillel International, which won the inaugural Lippman-Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom. Josh has also been a consultant and Senior Fellow at The iCenter for Israel Education. Most recently he served as Dean of Students at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Josh is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and was the founding co-chair of the Wexner Fellowship Alumni Committee. He is the author of Eternal Questions: Reflections, Conversations, and Jewish Mindfulness Practices for the Weekly Torah Portion (Ben Yehuda Press, 2022). Josh lives with his wife Natalie and their three sons in Skokie, IL.

In the kickoff episode of Faith in Elections, host Jenan Mohajir speaks with Yashpreet Singh Matharu from the Sikh Coalition and Dani Levine from Hillel International. Both guests share how their faith traditions motivate young people to engage in the democratic process, highlighting the importance of civic involvement within the Sikh and Jewish communities. Yashpreet emphasizes the Sikh principle of seva (selfless service), while Dani reflects on musar (Jewish ethical practice) as guiding frameworks for their work. They discuss the unique challenges their communities face in the 2024 election, strategies to bridge generational gaps, and why protecting a free and fair democratic process is among their highest priorities. Guest Bios: Yashpreet Singh Matharu, Community Development Manager at the Sikh Coalition, is dedicated to empowering young Sikh leaders and fostering civic engagement. Drawing from his experience growing up as an interpreter for his Punjabi parents, Yashpreet turned his passion for community advocacy into action by working with Michigan State Representative Ranjeev Puri. Now, he focuses on connecting Sikh student associations and volunteers nationwide, promoting civil rights, interfaith solidarity, and awareness of Sikh culture.A key part of Yashpreet's work is leading a fellowship program aimed at mobilizing young Sikhs to engage their communities in the democratic process. By equipping youth with tools to navigate U.S. politics, he hopes to bridge generational gaps and increase civic participation within the Sikh community, ensuring their voices are heard and represented in the political landscape.Dani Levine is the Senior Director of Social Impact at Hillel International. Dani brings extensive experience in Jewish social justice work to her role at Hillel, including a decade of work at Avodah. Dani holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Comparative American Studies from Oberlin College, and a Masters of Public Health with a focus on Environmental Health and Policy from Tulane University. Outside of work, Dani is actively involved in her local New Orleans and Jewish community, where she lives with her wife and three children. Embracing the local food, music, and culture, Dani finds inspiration away from the desk. Through her career and community engagement, Dani is inspired by Jewish values and practice to work towards co-creating a more just world.Visit Interfaith America to learn more about the organization and this podcast. Learn more about how you can support your community this election season with Interfaith America's Faith in Elections Playbook. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with new episodes, interfaith stories, and our programs.

In this episode, Lisa and Sam discuss:How Jewish students can find the right college fit and connect with Jewish life on campus.The different levels of Jewish community engagement exist on campuses.Encouraging your teen to understand what is important and truly matters to them around their faith and practices. Using resources like Hillel International to uncover key strategies to help your teen find a supportive community and thrive academically and socially.Key Takeaways: Many students can and should be prepared that their relationship to their faith may change in their life. That could also be a product of their surroundings.Hillel can help your student find the hub of Jewish life at their school and can help to compare student life at different schools. Parents, allow your student to reach out and email the schools and organizations themselves.Colleges love diversity and want teens to share their authentic selves. They want to create communities with different voices and perspectives. Don't be afraid to share what matters to you.  “If it's important to you, and if it's authentic to understanding who you are, how you have evolved as a person, and your lived experiences, yes, the colleges want to hear about that. That is welcomed on college campuses. They do want to create communities of students who have different backgrounds and insights and perspectives, and your voice is valid as long as that's the story that you want to share.” – Sam JoustraAbout Sam Joustra: Sam Joustra came to Collegewise after working in college admissions for ten years at three different institutions. She attended Goucher College as an undergraduate, and worked in admissions at Hampshire College, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Michigan. She loves applying her experience on the other side of the desk to her work with students, helping them choose the schools that are the best fit and helping them navigate the admissions process.Episode References:#115 Making the Final College Decision with Marni LevineHillel International: https://www.hillel.org/ Tips for Sending Student Emails that Get a Reply: flourishcoachingco.com/email College Wise Guide: Finding the Best-Fit College for Jewish Students: https://go.collegewise.com/finding-the-best-fit-college-for-jewish-students-white-paper #067 Who Should Consider Catholic Colleges with Dean Kilgour and Joyce Masek#076 Who Should Consider Christian Colleges with Jeremiah GoniaGet Lisa's Free on-demand video: How-to guide for your teen to choose the right major, college, & career...(without painting themselves into a corner, missing crucial deadlines, or risking choices you both regret). https://flourishcoachingco.com/videoConnect with Sam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samjoustra/ Website: https://collegewise.com/ Email: samj@collegewise.com Connect with Lisa:Website: https://www.flourishcoachingco.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flourishcoachingcoInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/flourishcoachingco/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flourish-coaching-co

Can emotional connections to our identities justify restrictions on free speech? This provocative episode of Heterodox Out Loud explores the deep tension between personal relationships and public discussions. Host John Tomasi sits down with Jilian Lederman, a graduate of Brown University and a strong advocate for free speech. Together, they examine the complex landscape of free expression on university campuses, focusing on the oppressor-oppressed dynamic and its impact on intellectual diversity and dialogue.Jilian shares her experiences in political discourse and pro-Israel advocacy, highlighting the intimidation and harassment faced by Jewish and other marginalized students. We also explore her op-ed for The New York Times and her efforts to promote open inquiry and robust debate through various initiatives and student organizations. The episode also touches on changing commitments to free speech principles and creating a more inclusive academic environment. In This Episode:• Challenges to campus free speech principles• Critique of the oppressor-oppressed dichotomy• Why universities need more intellectual diversity• The impact of identity politics on student life• Advocacy for classic free speech doctrines About Jilian:Jillian Lederman is a 2024 graduate of Brown University, where she studied political science and economics. While in college, she served as the Executive Chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network, the President of Brown Students for Israel, co-president of Free Inquiry at Brown, and a writer and editor for The Brown Political Review. She is also a Research Assistant for Heterodox Academy. Her writing has been published in The New York Times and The Hill, and she has been interviewed on FOX, CNN, MSNBC, SiriusXM, and News Nation. This fall, she will begin work as an editorial fellow at The Wall Street Journal. Follow Heterodox Academy on:Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Fax5DyFacebook: https://bit.ly/3PMYxfwLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/48IYeuJInstagram: https://bit.ly/46HKfUgSubstack: https://bit.ly/48IhjNF

Noa Fay is a Jewish student leader at Columbia University, the epicenter of the anti-Israel protest movement that has unfolded on American college campuses in recent weeks. Pro-Hamas, antisemitic, and anti-Israel demonstrators have occupied academic buildings, set up overnight tent encampments, and staged demonstrations, while Jewish students have faced increasing threats, antisemitism, and violence. Noa shares her first-hand perspective on what it's like to be Jewish on campus right now.  *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Noa Fay Show Notes: Learn more: WATCH: Press Conference at Columbia/Barnard to Urge Action from University LeadershipAJC – along with our partners at Hillel International, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, UJA-Federation of New York, and Jewish students – called on universities and their leaders to keep Jewish students safe on their campuses during a press conference last week. Watch the press conference. AJC Campus LibraryResources to help Jewish students feel safe on campus and become well-informed and effective advocates for Israel and the Jewish people Listen to AJC's People of the Pod: What It's Like to Be Jewish at Harvard Among Antisemites and Hamas Supporters The Good, the Bad, and the Death Threats: What It's Like to Be a Jewish College Student Right Now Jewish College Student Leaders Share Their Blueprint for Combating Antisemitism Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Episode Transcript: Manya Brachear Pashman:  Nearly seven months since the Hamas-led massacre on Israel that ignited Israel's current war with Hamas, chaos has unfolded on the campuses of Columbia University, Barnard College and other universities across the nation. Most recently, student demonstrators have built tent encampments on university quads and occupied academic buildings.  They also have targeted Jewish students with antisemitic signs, slogans and in some cases, physical assaults to protest the war. But that's not all they're protesting. With us to discuss her perspective as a Jewish student leader on campus is Barnard College senior Noa Fay.  Noa, welcome to People of the Pod.  Noa Fay:  Hi, thanks so much for having me. Manya Brachear Pashman:  Well, thank you for joining us. And I'm sorry that you have been experiencing this on campus in recent weeks. We've seen plenty of images from the chaos there. But can you describe it from your vantage point, kind of walking through the crowds and seeing it up close? What do you see? What do you hear? Noa Fay:  It's important to understand not only the amount of antisemitism, and that sort of violence that we're seeing–which has been incredibly painful, really, for every Jewish student at this point, I really believe I mean, it's just been absolutely horrifying.  You know, I mean, it's pogrom style stuff that we're seeing. It has felt like now that everybody is affected, people are taking this seriously. But in reality, the Jewish students, we've been dealing with this literally since October 7, and it's taken up until now to even seem to get somebody's attention.  So I think it's important to understand that, when I talk about this chaos, what I'm really thinking of is– there is, first of all, just so much press everywhere, which is just a bunch of people that are really swarming everyone and, you know, up and down Broadway, it's very disorienting.  But more importantly, on top of that, we have a very significant police presence. I mean, it really is a police state. I can't even get to certain dining halls. I can't study in certain libraries. I can't get to my own gym. I mean, it's a really, really chaotic situation. Manya Brachear Pashman:  Are they protesting the war? Is that the message that you're that you're hearing? Or are they protesting something else?  Noa Fay:  No. No, no, no. They sprinkle in a few things, I think, dedicated to the war. But by and large, these are anti-Israel demonstrations. And at this point, anti-Jewish demonstrations. So they are using the war to, I think, gain credibility. And the war is definitely fueling their ire, I guess you could say, but this is not about the war. And it's never been about the war. There was a very strong anti-Israel community on campus. And that was way before October 7, this was during ceasefires that were already taking place between Hamas and Israel. And still, we had this exact same rhetoric. The only difference now is that it's gained a lot of traction. So, no, it's not about the war at all. Manya Brachear Pashman:  I was going to ask you, you headed to Barnard three years ago, you're a senior now. Did you get warnings? Did people prepare you for Jewish life on campus? And was it helpful advice? Noa Fay:  Yeah, so people did advise me. I did have people tell me not to go anywhere near there. But I just didn't think that it was that serious. And honestly, I did take this anti-Israel movement seriously, obviously, I had dealt with it in high school, and I had come to learn that this was somewhat of a popular ideology within my generation. And so I was aware of this.  But I basically wasn't daunted, I was honestly happy to debate these students, to basically point out why they're wrong. So I wasn't nervous about it at all.  Of course, we could never have predicted that this would be the situation. But that's just to say, I did have somewhat of an idea, but I didn't take it seriously. And I'm clearly, I'm not the only one, none of us took it seriously, and here we are.  Manya Brachear Pashman:  You mentioned before we started recording that before you started at Barnard, your parents similarly did not think that antisemitism was going to be an issue for you on campus.  What are you hearing from your family now? How has this environment affected you personally? Noa Fay:  My family, they've been very concerned. They've been talking to me about transferring, because I'm in a plus one program with our School of International and Public Affairs. So I'll be here for one more year finishing up my master's degree. And my parents have a few times now really asked me about transferring and stuff. Which I will say, I don't really have an urge to do that at all. But they are very concerned.  But more than that, I have family in Israel and my family in Israel–they are the ones who are asking me if I'm physically ok. Which is just…again, not the only one who's been having that very bizarre, sad experience. My friends have the same issues. They're their family and Israel, their family is calling them to say, Are you as a Jewish student doing okay, at Columbia University in the city of New York?  So it's just, everybody's very concerned. And rightfully so. It is just, honestly, the more we all talk about it, the fewer words I have to really describe because it is just such an experience that it leaves you speechless. It really does because it is that disturbing.  Manya Brachear Pashman:  You are black, Native American, Jewish. How does that inform your perspective on the messages that you hear such as you Jews are not indigenous to the land of Israel? Noa Fay:  Right. Oh, my gosh, please. That's one of the worst ones. I'm just absolutely mind boggled by that. I will say that. I think that combination of identities for me, it gives me a bunch of different perspectives with which to use to understand a lot of political issues and social political issues.  But I think for me, the number one I guess, benefit that all of these identities gives me in terms of analyzing antisemitism and just taking in everything that's going on right now, is that, and I've been trying to stress this to people but I think definitely the students who are demonstrating against Israel, they either ignore me or they don't take me seriously or whatever, but I am trying to stress that if only they would take me seriously because I am a person of color, from a few groups, which means: I know what it is like to be discriminated against.  So please, because of that, if you can't hear me when I say I'm Jewish, so I know what it's like to be discriminated against, please hear me when I say I am black, and I am Native American, and I am a woman. Of course, I know what it feels like to be discriminated against.  So please trust me when I say, I am Jewish, and I am now facing discrimination because I'm Jewish. Manya Brachear Pashman:  I mean, are there people in these crowds, perhaps including your friends, that are holding multiple perspectives?  In other words, they want the hostages released. They're sad about the devastation in Gaza, and what's happening to the civilians there. In other words, they're not calling for a ceasefire or calling for death to the Jews. They're just holding all of this and spending the night in tents with their friends.  Does that exist? Noa Fay:  So I have been told that it does. And in fact, a friend of mine, who has also been struggling with the same issue where her very close friends are participating in this and she's trying to understand it. She has told me, and so have other people, that the issue is that different people identify different parts of this movement to be significant to them, which is to say–apparently, this is the argument that's going around–is that everybody believes the movement means something different to everybody. That's what I'm being told. And I can understand that.  My response, though, is that, I don't know that I need to know what it means to you. Because no matter what it means to you, you are putting aside the fact that this is a violently antisemitic movement, simply because I don't know, you want to protest police presence, which is necessary to begin with. So it's kind of a difficult argument for me to follow.  You have forsaken all of these basic human rights issues, for something else that you have identified is more important. So that's why even if these students do have different explanations, which I know they do, it's ultimately, you can't get around the problem. That is, they're saying they don't care that it's antisemetic. That's what the message is. Manya Brachear Pashman:  I'd like to take this back to the classroom, which is why you're getting at Barnard to begin with, I mean, have you gotten support from the faculty, from the staff, from the administration? Or have faculty members accused you of exaggerating the antisemitism you're experiencing?  Noa Fay:  So I have mostly not really opted to rely on faculty because I know that it's a bit of a gamble, shall we say?  I've had one unfortunate experience with a professor. This is a course about slavery, American slavery. It was an amazing course up until this anti-Israel rhetoric made its way in here. But in this class, this professor has consistently communicated his anti-Israel sentiments and he's also done so by bringing in guest lecturers who have very outwardly demonstrated their anti-Israel nature.  One guest lecturer came in and denied the rape of Israeli women on October 7. I was shaking. I was shaking in my seat. Just because like, what do you say to something like that? I mean, it was just horrific. And then another example is that another guest lecturer who came in celebrated Aaron Bushnell, the man who set himself on fire over all of this in front of the embassy, I believe it was, and she said he was a true patriot. That's a direct quote.  And then obviously throughout all of this, everything that sprinkled in is, you know, Israel's, a genocidal state, it's colonialist, settler, imperialist, oppressive, all of these things, these are all the exact words that were used. And this is being told to a group of, as we know, very impressionable students. And I mean, obviously, all of that is just problematic in itself.  But we can also identify it being problematic because at the very least, we don't have an Israeli coming in saying the, the Jewish side of the story and the Israeli side of the story. So it's just a baseline, poorly done, in terms of in terms of attempting to, quote, educate students about this issue. And because we have that lack of representation of perspectives. We know, it's indoctrination. It's indoctrination. And I and this is to say, I mean, this is I've had, honestly, my whole experience with all of this antisemitism stuff, including what I just described with this professor, that my experience has been mild compared to people who I mean, I've heard about really, really horrific things.  Manya Brachear Pashman:  Where are these protesters going awry? What's the solution here that would allow them to have adequate free speech, but not cross the line into harassment? Noa Fay:  Yeah, I'm so glad you asked about this, because I am done with this freedom of speech debate. We know this is not an issue of freedom of speech. And we know that because we have students here who would be expelled in a second, if they're not black and say the N word, or if they celebrate the KKK, or anything like that. In fact, pulling from my high school experience, which was a private institution, just like Columbia. And because of that, they were able to rightfully dismiss a student who called his black peer the N word, and told him to go back to the cotton fields.  For some reason, we've forgotten about this, that no one is entitled to an Ivy League degree. In fact, that's the entire point. Is that it's the most exclusive, elitist selective thing ever. So if the Ivy League had previously selected you, out of literally thousands of applicants, and you come here, and then you show that you are not worthy of that selection, in whatever way, the University reserves the right to say, Oh, you are not one of us, and you don't abide by our rules. These are our rules. This is our society that we get to dictate.  And if you're not fitting into it in the way that you said you would implicitly or explicitly via your application, then the university absolutely has the right to tell them you're not allowed here and actually we're going to select from the thousands of applicants who would give anything to be in your position. That is the ultimate element of remember to check your privilege.  Manya Brachear Pashman:  I will say an Ivy League education is very expensive. I'm still paying for my graduate education at Columbia. And that brings me to this question. Are you learning anything? Are you getting anything for your tuition this year? Or is this experience infringing on that? Noa Fay:  That's a great question. My friends and I literally just asked ourselves that the other day, and I responded by saying, Well, I've definitely learned that I'm surrounded by antisemites. So that's number one, which is, you know, for better or for worse, it's definitely good to know.  But I mean, really, my answer is that I personally have learned so much at this institution. This, first of all, helps me realize why I feel so strongly about everything that I feel strongly about, which means that it is forcing me to think more deeply about my own values and why I have these values. And number two, is that it definitely has strengthened my debate skills, and just my ability to engage with people who are not only sitting across the table from me, in terms of, you know, arguments and ideology and stuff, but with people who are quite literally against my very existence. So I think that's a good way to look at it.  But I think that as of right now, most of us, us being the Jewish community at Columbia, most of us are not at that point yet, because this is all happening right now. This is a very, very raw thing. And so I think it will be quite a while until we can all identify the potential positives from all of this. And I don't think we should have to identify the positives. This is a very negative and upsetting situation. But I think that it can be helpful to acknowledge at least the different ways in which this makes us stronger. Manya Brachear Pashman:  Well, Noa, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your experience. I hope things calm down for you there, and that you're able to walk across campus at ease again soon. Noa Fay:  Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Self-proclaimed “anti-Israel” and “anti-war” protests have gripped college campuses ever since Hamas' brutal terrorist attack killed, injured, and took hostage thousands of Israeli civilians on October 7. However, in recent weeks, protesters have begun taking siege to universities across the country, setting up 77 “encampments” on quads, vandalizing property, barricading themselves in buildings, and physically […]

Self-proclaimed “anti-Israel” and “anti-war” protests have gripped college campuses ever since Hamas' brutal terrorist attack killed, injured, and took hostage thousands of Israeli civilians on October 7. However, in recent weeks, protesters have begun taking siege to universities across the country, setting up 77 “encampments” on quads, vandalizing property, barricading themselves in buildings, and physically and verbally assaulting Jewish students who dare to pass by them. The response from many college administrators and faculty has been timid, when not directly supportive of protesters that have turned violently antisemitic. Where does this antisemitism come from? And what can we do to stamp out the pervasive Jew-hatred plaguing our universities? Adam Lehman is the President and CEO of Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world. Adam started his career at Skadden, Arps, and spent two decades as an executive and entrepreneur, including as a Senior Vice President at AOL. He was a Harry S. Truman Scholar at Dartmouth College and is a graduate of Harvard Law School.Read the transcript here.

New York City police were called in by the President of Columbia University in order to break up an anti-Israel protest encampment. At least 100 anti-Israel protesters were arrested and hauled away in corrections buses. Protesters were calling for the destruction of Israel and shouting out support for the terror group Hamas. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Adam Lehman, the President and CEO of Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world, about the increasing anti-Israel protests happening on campuses across the country. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've ever wondered what bridgebuilding looks like, look no further than Jenan Mohajir and Rebecca Russo. Just two weeks after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7th and the subsequent Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza, Jenan - who is Muslim and the mother of three beautiful Palestinian children - and Rebecca - who is Jewish and has multiple personal and familial connections to Israel (and is also the mother of three beautiful children) - came together to publish an op-ed insisting on "the importance of seeing each other and each other's people as fully human." In this episode, they tackle tough questions about what it means to be Zionist, pro-Palestinian, a committed partisan, and an unwavering bridgebuilder.  Guest Bio:Jenan Mohajir is the Vice President of External Affairs at Interfaith America. In this role, Jenan focuses on building strategic relationships and programs with new partners across Interfaith America's emerging sectors. Inspired by faith and family to work for change at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and religion, Jenan has served in leadership at IA for 15 years, where she has trained hundreds of interfaith leaders from diverse backgrounds to foster a vision and practice of civically engaged interreligious leadership. Jenan completed undergraduate work at DePaul University and is pursuing her M.A. in religious studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. As a natural storyteller, she performs with 2nd Story, Chicago's premier storytelling company. Jenan proudly lives on the south side of Chicago with her children and loves to collect vintage children's books. Rebecca Russo is the Vice President of Higher Education Strategy at Interfaith America. Rebecca oversees I.A.'s higher education strategy in this role, focusing on bridgebuilding programs and partnering with senior campus administrators. Rebecca has worked with IA since 2014 and sees college campuses as a laboratory where students can deepen and challenge their worldviews and learn to build relationships across divides. Rebecca has worked in higher education for over a decade, including roles as the Director of Engagement at Northwestern University's Fiedler Hillel and Executive Director of the Campus Climate Initiative at Hillel International. Rebecca holds a B.A. in Middle East Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Rebecca is inspired by her interfaith experiences living in Morocco and Jerusalem and by the Talmudic concept of "these and those are words of the living God" to work toward a society where religious diversity is engaged actively and positively. Rebecca lives in Chicago with her family and enjoys singing, hiking, and chasing around her three children.

New York City police were called in by the President of Columbia University in order to break up an anti-Israel protest encampment. At least 100 anti-Israel protesters were arrested and hauled away in corrections buses. Protesters were calling for the destruction of Israel and shouting out support for the terror group Hamas. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Adam Lehman, the President and CEO of Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world, about the increasing anti-Israel protests happening on campuses across the country. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York City police were called in by the President of Columbia University in order to break up an anti-Israel protest encampment. At least 100 anti-Israel protesters were arrested and hauled away in corrections buses. Protesters were calling for the destruction of Israel and shouting out support for the terror group Hamas. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Adam Lehman, the President and CEO of Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world, about the increasing anti-Israel protests happening on campuses across the country. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish World — right now. ToI's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur recently gave a series of lectures at North American college campuses. At some, including Harvard, his lecture was met with a performative walk-out from a contingent of pro-Palestinian protesters. Since Hamas's October 7 murderous onslaught, accounts of campus antisemitism have filled the pages of newspapers, from The Times of Israel and to mainstream international media. On this week's What Matters Now, Rettig Gur and host Amanda Borschel-Dan look at a series of data sets, analyses and essays on the topic of campus antisemitism to get a fuller picture of what's happening on the ground. One large-scale study was started in August 2023 by the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research (CAR), in partnership with Hillel International and facilitated by College Pulse. The groups conducted a nationally representative survey of over 3,084 American college students -- of which 527 were Jewish -- from 689 campuses in the United States to assess the climate on campus for Jewish students. Following the October 7 terror attacks, the researchers conducted a follow-up survey with the same respondents in November 2023. We learn how the campus climate changed between the first and second rounds of polling. So this week, we focus on antisemitism on campus and ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.  ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: Demonstrators rally during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, March 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since October 7, the USC Shoah Foundation has added a new component to its mission: collecting the testimonies of those who survived the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust to counter those who deny it took place.  Dr. Robert Williams, Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation, joins us to discuss the history and tendency to deny atrocities committed against Jews, the importance of collecting testimonies, and how they help in understanding antisemitism in all its forms.  *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Belle Yoeli (1:44) Robert Williams Show Notes: Take action to bring all hostages home now. To support our work today, you can visit AJC.org/donate. Or text AJC DONATE to 52886. Learn more: USC Shoah Foundation: Survivors of the October 2023 Hamas Terrorist Attacks Testimony of Shaylee Atary Winner Testimony of Maor Moravia  The Testimonies Archive The Testimonies Archive Listen – People of the Pod on the Israel-Hamas War: 4-Year-Old Hostage Abigail Idan is Free–Her Family is On a Mission to #BringThemAllHome What Happens Next: AJC's Avital Leibovich on the Hostage Deal and Challenges Ahead What Would You Do If Your Son Was Kidnapped by Hamas? Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Robert Williams: Manya Brachear Pashman:   Since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7, the Shoah Foundation has added a new component to its mission: collecting the testimonies of those who survived the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust to counter those who have dare to deny it took place.  Dr. Robert Williams is the Advisor to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, where he served for four years as chair of the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. In October 2022, he became the Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation. Dr Williams is with us now to discuss the history and tendency to deny atrocities, in this case, those committed against Jews. Thank you for joining us. Dr. Williams, if you could begin by explaining to listeners what Holocaust denial is, and how it's similar or different from Holocaust trivialization and distortion.  Robert Williams: Holocaust denial is a little easier for us to wrap our heads around, for better or worse. Holocaust deniers are essentially trying to tell people that the Holocaust didn't happen for one of two reasons. The most obvious reason is because they're antisemitic, they want to tell people that the Jewish Diaspora writ large has come together to invent this grand conspiracy to pull the wool over the eyes of non-Jews for all manner of dastardly purposes. So that's the first reason.  The second reason is also antisemitic, although in a slightly different way. That is to rehabilitate national socialism as an acceptable ideology. No matter which way you slice that cake, it still ends up being antisemitism. That's why, to echo the words of people like Deborah Lipstadt, and others: Holocaust denial is antisemitism. Full stop. And it's a problem. It's something we need to deal with. But in our parts of the world, roughly speaking, the northern hemisphere, the West, it's become fortunately a bit of a microphenomenon over the last couple of decades.  The bigger problem is the second part of your question: Holocaust distortion, and I use the terms trivialization and distortion interchangeably. I prefer to use distortion. But Holocaust distortion is in essence, rhetoric that minimizes, confuses, or otherwise misrepresents the Holocaust, both as something factual, and something that has relevance today.  And that can take on a variety of forms, it can be something obvious like minimizing the number of victims, to something that's a little less obvious like figure skaters dressing up like concentration camp victims for their routines.  Now distortion also brings with it a challenge: is somebody distorting because they're cynical antisemites? Sometimes the answer is yes. Other times, distortion of the Holocaust happens because people don't know the facts, or they think they know the facts and they don't, and they end up saying the wrong thing.  But again, the end result, no matter the motivation, becomes problematic. Because if you are misrepresenting the Holocaust, you are effectively doing two things. On an ethical plane, you are disrespecting the memories of the victims and the survivors, and that's wrong. And on a practical plane, you are opening the door. I like to say Holocaust distortion kind of acts like a gateway drug to outright denial, to conspiracy thinking, and to more dangerous forms of antisemitism. So you have to tackle distortion, but you tackle distortion often in ways different from that of denial.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   But rather than focus on the word Holocaust, I want to focus on the word denial. You mentioned Deborah Lipstadt, for example, and she recently expressed concern that people are denying that Hamas committed so many heinous crimes on October 7.  Is this a phenomenon, this denial of atrocities – do you see it more applying to atrocities against Jews? Or have we seen it in other instances?  Robert Williams: Well, we've certainly seen it in other cases of mass crimes and genocides. One of the most prominent cases that predates the Holocaust is denial of the genocide of the Armenian people in the early 20th century, something that persists in certain parts of the world and is part of official state policy in some countries. Denial of the Armenian Genocide is problematic for a whole host of reasons. First, again, it's immoral visa vie the victims and survivors of that particular genocide to deny their experience, to say it never happened, to minimize it. It also has inhibited global understanding of Armenian life, history and culture since the genocide happened.  So denial of mass atrocity crimes is something quite common when it comes to the denial of crimes against the Jewish people. You do see this over and over over and over again, though, you see, either excuses for the various pogroms that have claimed the lives of hundreds of 1000s of Jews over the centuries, or an attempt to minimize it, or an attempt to suppress that history. And that's separate from the denial and suppression of Holocaust history that we've seen through time. And we have seen, not just in the case of the October 7 attacks, but denial of other atrocities that were carried out against Jews through various forms of anti semitic terror violence. But we've definitely begun paying attention to it after October 7, in part due to the scale, you know, the largest act of anti semitic violence against the Jewish people since 1945. In the one place where it was never supposed to happen, people were supposed to be safe.  And the international community, you know, you're used to seeing these claims of exaggeration or outright denial from certain countries in the Middle East or North Africa, but this is become widespread. Think within, was it a week, nine days after that horrible series of attacks, with people asking to see photographs of the murdered children, because they didn't believe that. So engaging in very dangerous, I would say almost pornographic rhetoric, about violence against the most innocent among us. And engaging in it in a way that encourages denial encourages doubting the veracity of these crimes, or–and we've seen this in other corners as well since October 7 –rhetoric that in turn moves from denial to outright justification for the atrocities that were committed. It's very tricky. It's not black and white. Unfortunately. Mnya Brachear Pashman:   Does social media amplify Holocaust denial, and are we seeing that same trend now with the October 7 attacks? You talk about it being a post-truth world. Robert Williams: I absolutely think that's the case. Although I will say, outright denial on social media. Again, it's there. It's a problem, but it's less common than distortion and intentional manipulation. You know, I think even the term Holocaust distortion is potentially problematic, we're probably better served calling it Holocaust disinformation. And I think we're seeing some of the same dynamics at play in the post October 7, discussions that we see in online forums, including closed forums, in places like telegram or Gab or Discord, as well as in more public facing ones like X and Instagram and threads. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Before we leave the topic of denial, and move on to distortion, because I do want to explore that a little bit more. I do want to ask about the role of Holocaust denial in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, he wrote his dissertation at the University of Moscow denying the Holocaust happened to the Jews, that it was more of a product of the Jews' collusion with the Nazis. Is that a belief that is common among Palestinians or pro-Palestinian supporters. What role does that piece of disinformation play in exacerbating the sentiments? Robert Williams: There's a lot to unpack in that question. I'm going to start with the caveat that I'm a specialist on Europe, not a specialist on the Middle East. So a lot of my understanding of dynamics around distortion and denial among non Israeli Palestinians is anecdotal, and based on secondary literature.  But it does seem that there is a current in some parts of the Palestinian culture where denial of the Holocaust is known to the degrees to which it's accepted, or probably vary from time and place. And it makes a certain amount of sense. Because if you can deny the reality of the Holocaust, you can then point to the State of Israel and say, the Jewish people who've never been victims were the eternal victim. It's much easier to be a victim when you're in a complex political world anyway.  The more interesting thing is the origins of the Abbas dissertation, and how it's managed to spread across at least the Arabic speaking and Persian speaking worlds. To a certain degree, it's something that has been generated in Muslim society. But as scholars like Jeffrey Herf, have shown certain elements of antisemitism spread from Europe in the case of Professor Herf's work, from National Socialist Europe to parts of the Middle East, and then those forms of antisemitism spread.  And as the works of people like Isabella Taparofsky have shown, particularly in the case of the Abbas dissertation, a boss wrote that dissertation in the Soviet Union and at a time when the Soviets promoted through international propaganda schemes and domestic propaganda, virulent, dangerous forms of anti-Zionist antisemitism, that also included trafficking and Holocaust denial.  So the origins of it came from the Cold War, policies and practices, to a certain extent, of the Cold War policies and practices of the regime that no longer exists.  A regime that sought to undermine democracy, sought to undermine solidarity in the western world sought to undermine the State of Israel, well throughout its history. And there's no acknowledgement of that.  So if we're going to root out Holocaust denial, no matter where it lies, we have to begin with its origins. And those origins vary from time and place. Some of the origins lie in the National Socialist experiment. The Nazis had all manner of terms and actual formal programs to cover up their crimes. Some of those origins lie with certain French intellectuals, certain origins lie with American public figures in the 1940s. And some of the origins lie in the Soviet Union. We need to know the enemy top to bottom if we're ever going to deal with. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I want to move on to distortion. And I'm curious if the kind of distortion that we're talking about that is common now on social media and in conversations, especially those around October 7, does it tend to be a far right phenomenon, far left, pretty universal?  Robert Williams: So Holocaust distortion, the trends have shown, cuts across all ideological, social, cultural, political and religious barriers. Now, certain forms are more common to certain groups at certain times, the forms of distortion that minimize the number of persons murdered during the Holocaust, for example, or claim that the Jewish people did something to deserve the Holocaust. Those have typically been more common on the far political right. And among some religious conservative extremists. Some of the forms that suggest that the Jewish people make use of the Holocaust for all manner of gain, everything from funding to guilt to special protections, to justifying the State of Israel – pretty much cut across the left, right divide. Certain leftist forms of Holocaust distortion through antisemitism that have emerged at least since the Second Intifada, take the form of the Jewish people using the Holocaust to justify the State of Israel or the policies of the Israeli government. But by and large, distortion of the Holocaust is unfortunately a phenomenon that is everyday. It even takes the form of particular types of commercial distortion, people engaging in it without any ideological agenda.  One need think of the unfortunate situation that seems to happen every couple of years where Anne Frank Halloween costumes go up for sale in the US or in the UK, or when Chinese made ornaments depicting Auschwitz Birkenau become up for sale on on Amazon or even I think it's still possible today to buy model kits and toys of Hitler and his inner circle. People who make the subject so blase and everyday that it loses its power. That's a different form of distortion, stripped of ideology.  Alright, October 7 distortion at first, and again, I'm an historian, so I like to have a wealth of evidence before me. But based on early observations and research, those forms of distortion and denial that emerged often enough were associated with in the Western world, largely the political left, and certain forms of protest movements that either had shared affinity with the Palestinian cause or would be affinity with the Palestinian cause.  But what we've seen over the last couple of weeks is that is no longer the plaything only of the political left. We have seen some people on the extreme right begin engaging in similar rhetoric. Now, there's no sympathy being given to the Palestinians in that rhetoric, but claims that the State of Israel is making too much use of this, or the Jewish diaspora is using this for all manner of bad things. So it is beginning to cut across those boundaries that we've seen. Manya Brachear Pashman:   The Shoah Foundation holds the world's largest video collection of Holocaust survivor and witness testimonies. And it has now begun collecting video testimonies of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists against the Israelis on October 7. Why? Robert Williams: So I assumed the leadership role here at the Shoah Foundation about 13 months ago, and I was brought here to establish a robust initiative focused on antisemitism. The Shoah Foundation was created as a platform so that the voices of Holocaust survivors could echo for future generations, and moreover, lead to a better world. In a sense, we engage in wish fulfillment. Survivors gave us their testimonies to bring about the world they wanted. And when you get right down to it, survivors wanted only a few things. One of those things, I guarantee you, was a world without antisemitism.  So we have an obligation to those survivors to try, especially before the last of the survivors leave us, to create the conditions to bring about that better future. So we had been developing this laboratory, this multi-subject expert initiative that would deal with antisemitism as it's existed since 1945.  And we were going to start, we are starting, with the development of a massive collection. Our minimum goal is 10,000 testimonies of antisemitic violence in a variety of forms. And we broke, we broke that into five categories. One of those categories was the survivors of antisemitic terror attacks. Several months ago, we thought, alright, we're gonna focus on this, our starting point is going to be the 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires. We're going to work our way forward.  And then October 7 happened. So we had to swing into action immediately. Within 12 days, we had secured the first testimony on the ground. This was possible thanks in part to our already existing work in Israel and our strong partnerships with Israeli institutions, including the National Library of Israel and Yad Vashem and others. The Ghetto Fighters House as well. And very quickly utilizing our on the ground teams, our partnerships, we began to acquire testimonies using the same methodology that we did in the 1990s when we started taking Holocaust survivor testimonies. And a few things became readily apparent to us. One is just the simple tragedy, and the painful irony of this endeavor. In the 1990s, when a survivor came and gave us her testimony, the first thing you would see is a sheet. The survivors name, the date of the interview, the interviewer's name, some basic information. And we're seeing the same thing when we look at survivors of the October 7 attacks.  There's true tragedy there. We've secured as of the date, as of today's recording, a little more than 250 of these testimonies. They will be put online for free, I think we have about 70 or 80 online right now. We have a partnership with some media partners, including Tablet Magazine here in the United States to make them even more available, and they will be made available to our Israeli partners for use, because this is the history of Israel and its people now.  But our goal is to use these here, so that we can begin training people from a major university, how to understand antisemitism in all its forms and how to build resilience against it, how to research the subject on a deeper level, how to write better journalism around the subject, and how to respond and recognize that the victim of antisemitism is not some faceless person or somebody who lived eight or so decades ago. Somebody today, just like you, just like me, just like our children, or our parents. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Before we share a clip of one of the survivors from the Shoah Foundation's October 7th Testimony Collection, I want to give listeners a chance to turn down the volume or fast forward. These testimonies are incredibly painful to listen to.  This is a portion of testimony from Shaylee Atary Winner, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, who hid for 26 hours with her newborn daughter [Shaya]. Her husband, Yahav, was killed. [Portion of testimony from Shaylee Atary Winner] Manya Brachear Pashman:   The voices and stories of the survivors are always so difficult to hear and even the bravery it takes to recount these horrors is so hard to fathom. We are talking about people who dare to deny these horrors happened. This collection serves to counter those attempts, right? Robert Williams: That's correct. There's a lot of, as we all know, the Israeli government pulled together GoPro and other footage captured from the terrorists. There's a lot of security camera footage. A number of teams have gone in, including a group at Reichman University, doing 3D scans of the atrocity sites. The physical record of this is astounding. So far, I've heard different numbers, I don't want to give a precise number, let's say tens of 1000s of videos have been made. And we're only just beginning to understand it.  Manya Brachear Pashman: We're going to share another clip here. This is Maor Moravia, a 37-year-old father of two, on returning to Kibbutz Kfar Aza after the October 7 terror attacks.   [Portion of testimony from Maor Moravia]  Robert Williams That the best way to counter denial and disinformation is to hear it from those who lived it, to see their experiences. And will that convince everybody? No. Those who don't want to be convinced, those who have an agenda will always be a problem. Our job is to make sure that we have this content and are reaching audiences who are vulnerable to being radicalized, vulnerable to becoming extremists, before that happens. And we're seeing that happen in a variety of spaces right now. So we have a big job to do. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Rob, you mentioned being there at USC. Our December 14th episode was tied to the congressional inquiry of university presidents regarding antisemitism on college campuses. Have the students and faculty at USC taken advantage of The Shoah Foundation's presence there on campus?  It seems like such a great resource, as long as people are actually utilizing it.  Robert Williams: Yes, I'm very proud to be at USC, especially right now. You know, the university president has been in regular contact and dialogue not not just with us, but with Hillel, with Chabad, with the Jewish students, with the Religious Life Center, with faculty across this massive University of 22 schools. Beyond that, the Shoah Foundation has been in dialogue with different departments, including the School of Social Work right before we started this podcast.  Now it had been planned in advance of October 7, but a couple weeks after October 7, we here at USC, along with our partners, and Hillel International, AJC, the local Federation, brought university administrators from across the west coast to our campus, for one reason: to learn about antisemitism and how to respond to it within a university environment.  Now, we haven't crowed about this. We're just doing the work. But I think the fact that we have strong leadership from the top, we have a peerless institution in the USC Shoah Foundation here, literally in the middle of the campus, has protected us against some of the unfortunate trends that we've seen on campuses and other parts of the country. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I mean, I could see being in any kind of a protest environment and hearing vile things come from the students mouths and pointing to the to your facility and saying, look over there, go in there.  Robert Williams: Yeah, well, and to a certain extent that has happened. You know, we do have regular outreach to students over the summer is part of the build up to our anti semitism programming, we took a significant number of the student athletes from USC's track and field team, a track and field team that has more Olympic gold medals than most countries, to our offices for a week of training on how to understand antisemitism in all of its forms.  And while they were here, they met with local Jewish community representatives, of course, our staff gave lectures as you would expect, we brought in virtual, or by remote, a very well known survivor of the Holocaust, Shaul Ladany. Mr. Ladany, for those who don't know, is one of the most remarkable and sweetest people I've ever met.  He's a survivor of the Holocaust, who made his way to Israel, became an Israeli athlete. As he told me, he felt he wasn't a fast enough marathon runner. So he became a speed walker, and entered and became part of the Israeli Olympic team in 1972. And he was one of the first athletes to escape the dormitories during that horrible, horrible tragedy. So he spoke to these athletes in his sport. After that, we took them to Poland, but we didn't take them to Poland just for the reason everybody would expect. We started in Krakow, where the students learned about a thousand years of Jewish life and culture, from its origins to its challenges to its almost Renaissance today. To learn about something more than just the Shoah.  They did, of course, visit Auschwitz Birkenau to learn more about the Holocaust. And they walked away from this program. more aware of the antisemitism in their midst. One student said something along the lines of, ‘I didn't realize I was engaging in distortion of the Holocaust until I took part in this program.' And some of these students after October 7, started emailing us again, ‘I'm hearing this, I'm hearing that, how do I respond to my friends?'. So our staff is working with them. And this is an important leadership group. This is a program that we have to continue engaging in. It will have an effect now, but I guarantee in a generation, it will have such an impact that we might start turning the tide because things have gotten so out of control in every other way. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Rob, thank you so much for joining us and having this conversation. Robert Williams: I appreciate it Manya. Thank you. Manya Brachear Pashman:   If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for my conversation with Liz Hirsh Naftali whose great niece Four-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, returned home during a pause in fighting in November. The youngest U.S. citizen to have been kidnapped and held by Hamas, Abigail and her siblings are now orphans after Hamas murdered their parents. Hear about her family's continuing effort to bring the remaining 129 captives home to their loved ones.

Eric Fingerhut is the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), which represents 146 independent Federations across the continent and aims to protect and enhance the well-being of Jews worldwide. Some of their core priorities include mental health support to Jewish youth; caring for seniors and those with disabilities; and ending antisemitism. Now, as war erupts in Israel and Gaza, Jewish Federations are responding and working with core partners to support victims of terror, rebuild damaged infrastructure, and more.rnrnPrior to JFNA, Fingerhut served as the President & CEO of Hillel International and led a distinguished career in public service and higher education. Fingerhut served as Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents from early 2007 to 2011, leading Ohio's system of public universities and colleges. From 1997 to 2006, Fingerhut served as an Ohio state senator, and from 1993 to 1994, represented Ohio's 19th congressional district in the U.S. Congress.

“I think at Hillel, we've hosted more Palestinian speakers than any organization on any campus, including [from] Palestinian rights organizations, because we do want to create opportunities for Jewish students and other students to understand Israel, including all the communities within and around Israel,” says Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International, on this week's episode of The Syllabus podcast. “However,” he continues, “we wouldn't host, a Palestinian speaker coming from an organization that was bent on the destruction of Israel.” Hillel's reach has doubled in the last year and will engage a record number of 200,000 students in the year 2023, but does Hillel's new motto “All Kinds of Jewish” include messianic Jews and Jewish Voices for Peace? Lehman speaks with Mark Oppenheimer on the positives and the negatives of this drastic uptick in student engagement; the tricky matter of donor retention; how to handle students on the political left and right;, the future of Hillel with interfaith marriages on the rise; and Hillel's role in Ukraine.Bio: Adam Lehman is the president and CEO of Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world, serving more than 850 college and university campuses in the U.S. and 16 other countries. Adam worked as a lawyer and executive, including at AOL. A graduate of Dartmouth and Harvard Law School, Lehman joined Hillel several years ago. Stay informed about this podcast and all of AJU's latest programs and offerings by subscribing to our email list HERE If you'd like to support AJU and this podcast, please consider donating to us at aju.edu/donate 

On today's podcast: 1) Henry Kissinger, the child refugee who rose to become US secretary of state and defined American foreign policy during the 1970s with his strategies to end the Vietnam War and contain communist countries, has died. He was 100. 2) Israel and Hamas agreed to lengthen their truce for at least another day, allowing for the release of more hostages held by the militant group in Gaza. 3) Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, says the advertisers that have stopped spending on the platform due to his endorsement of an antisemitic post can “f——” themselves.   Full transcript:  Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. We begin with the passing of a man who defined foreign policy in the nineteen seventies and worked to shape it for decades. After Henry Kissinger has died, Bloomberg political contributor Rick Davis says Kissinger's influence was unmatched. It's quite a career that lasted my entire life. I would say that we've not seen much of the likes of him, somebody who has never been elected to office, but wielded as much power as any powerful president or prime minister in the world. Kissinger was credited with opening the door to China and achieving detente with the Soviet Union, but he courted controversy for supporting massive bombing campaigns in Vietnam and Cambodia. Bloomberg's Ian Marlow says Kissinger leaves a complicated legacy around the world, in Asia in the Middle East. Could be a polarizing figure, but I think that was in part because he embodied that sort of American power. He was one of the people at the center of American power, and over a long period of time when the US role in the world was also changing, and it is to some extent and end of an era, and that era continued right to the end. This past July. In fact, Henry Kissinger met with Chinese President Shi Jinping in Beijing to discuss US China relations. Henry Kissinger died yesterday at his home in Connecticut. He was one hundred years old, and Nathan we turn out to breaking developments in the Middle East, Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend their truce for at least another day. The two sides announced the extension just minutes before their ceasefire was due to end. Head of the announcement, Secretary of State Anthony BLNCN explained what he hopes to achieve during his visit to the region. We'll discuss with Israel how it can achieve its objective of ensuring that the terrorist attacks of October seventh never happen again, while sustaining an increasing amount of train assistance and minimizing further suffering and casualties among Palestine civilians and Secretary of State Blincoln is currently in Tel Aviv for his third visit since the attacks. He will also visit the West Bank, the visit comes as more captives were exchange yesterday evening, with ten hostages released by Hamas in exchange for thirty Palestinians held by Israel. And back here in the US, Karen House Speaker Mike Johnson says he has real reservations about expelling Congressman George Santos. We get that story from Bloomberg's At Baxter, the resolution says the vote needs to happen today, but Speaker Johnson says, for him, there are some real problems here. I personally have real reservations about doing this. I'm concerned about a president than may be set for that. So where everybody's working through that and we'll see how they vote. Sados will be the first expulsion without a conviction on charges. Johnson at one point yesterday said the vote would come Friday, but the resolution does say today, so we'll see how it works out. At Baxter Bloomberg Radio, All right, ed, Thanks well. Elon Musk is talking about the future of ex following and advertising boy and we get the latest from Bloomberg's John Tucker. John what the boycott is going to do mus says is kill the company, and who does he blame? Well, not himself, but the advertisers he herald in an expletive their way, saying they can go bleep themselves. Those advertisers include Walt Disney and Apple. Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a dialectical hatred of white people. Well, that message has since drawn widespread criticism. On stage at the New York Times Deal Book conference, must did say the post was the worst and dumbest he's ever done. Mustourage people to judge him by his actions rather than his words. He brought up his electric car company, Tesla, saying he's done more for the environment than any human. I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. All right, John, thank you. Now, let's take a look at some stocks on the move this morning. Shares of Salesforce are up nearly nine percent. The San Francisco based software company gave a profit forecast for the current quarter. The top D analyst estamates Salesforce is benefiting from its cost cutting program. Meanwhile, Nathan Snowflake is up about eight and a half percent. The company gave a product sales outlook for the current quarter that beat expectations. That's fueling hope that revenue is stabilized after the software and maker experienced a dramatic slowdown in growth during the past year. Turning to the economy, differing views on inflation from two Federal Reserve Regional Bank presidents. Atlanta FED president Rafael Bostik says he's growing increasingly confident that inflation is firmly on a downward path. On the other hand, Richmond FED chief Thomas Barkins tell CNBC he's not yet convinced. There's no precision that anyone can point to at exactly what is the level of rates that exactly handles inflation and exactly the way you want to handle it, and so you're constantly trying to adjust on the flot. Both Thomas Barkin and Rafael Bostik will be voting members of the FOMC next year. Well. In corporate news, Nathan Online, a job search company, Indeed is canceling the monthly mental health days it introduced during the pandemic. Can we get this story from Bloomberg's Ellie Pellett. It joins a growing group of firms pairing back benefits they rushed to provide during the COVID nineteen crisis. Indeed initiated so called you Days in June of twenty twenty, giving all employees the same day off each month out of time when exhausted staff were taking fewer vacation days because of travel restrictions. Three years later, employees are once again booking time off at a similar rate to before the pandemic, so the company said quote. As a result, we have agreed that the global need for you days has passed. In New York, Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio and Charlie, we just got inflation data from the Eurozone. It cooled more than expected. Consumer prices rose two point four percent from a year ago in November. That was down from two point nine percent the previous month and less than all estimates of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Sorry, Nathan, Thanks, It's time now for a look at some of the other stories making news around the world. For that, we're joal by Bloomberg's Amy Morris Say good morning, Good morning, Karen Ultra. Conservatives in the House of Representatives have now softened their demands for deep spending cuts to domestic programs, heightening the odds that two parties can reach a spending agreement and avert of partial government shutdown in January. The shift came after the House failed to pass bills at the lower spending levels demanded by the House random Caucus. They've been pushing for one hundred twenty billion dollars in cuts. This softer stance gives House Speaker Johnson Moore a room to negotiate a bipartisan spending bill, as senators from both parties want to add fourteen billion dollars in spending by designating it an emergency not subject to that cap. As lawmakers consider an aid package to Israel, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is issuing a warning. Bloomberg's at Nancy Lyons has that part of the story. Senator Schumer, who is the highest ranking Jewish elected official in the country, spent forty five minutes on the Senate floor to crying the rise in anti Semitism at a level not seen in decades. The normalization and excusation of this rise and hate is the danger many Jewish people fear most. The Anti Defamation League says anti Semitic incidents of nearly quadrupled since the onset of the Israel Hamas War. Schumer says It's time for a clear throated denouncement of the hate in Washington, Nancy lyons Bloomberg Radio and that new poll shows the number of college students experiencing or witnessing anti semitism is also up this academic year. That poll by the Jewish led Anti Defamation League and Hillel International found that nearly three in four Jewish students and forty four percent of non Jewish students saw or experienced anti Jewish ideas since the start of the twenty three to twenty four school year. A very special holiday display. Now at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House South Lawn has an ice skating rink to celebrate the holidays. First Lady Jill Biden unveiled the rink with skating performances from figure skaters and Peanuts characters. What's more magical and wonderful and joyful then, you know, being on an ice rink in the South one of the White House. Who knew right A, Military, families, first responders, and other special invited guests can enjoy the White House skating rink in December. It will not be open to the public. Global News twenty four hours a day, and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Amy Morrison. This is Bloomberg Karen right, Amy, Thank you well. We bring you news throughout the day right here on Bloomberg Radio. But now you can get the latest news on demand whenever you want it. Subscribe to Bloomberg News Now to get the latest headlines at the click of a button. Get informed on your schedule. You can listen and subscribe to Bloomberg News Now on the Bloomberg Business app, Bloomberg dot Com plus apples, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update. Here's John stash Hour John Daron upset in college basketball. They stormed the court in Fayetteville after Arkansas and opt off seventh rank Duke eighty to seventy five North Carolina ranked seventeen, put up sixty one points in the first half in Chapel Hill and beat tenth thrank Tennessee one hundred and ninety two. So they split fourteen games in the acc SEC Challenge over the previous two nights. They both won seven times. A couple of bad teams at the NBA's Eastern Conference, the Pistons the Wizards. They played the other night. Washington won, but the Wizards lost in Orlando, won thirty nine to one twenty. The Magic thirteen and five on the year. The Wizards are three and fifteen. The Pistons are two and seventeen. They bought fifteen games in a row. Blown out at home, Lakers won one thirty three to one oh seventy. Angelo Russell scored thirty five. Seahawks and Cowboys ticking off Week thirteen tonight in Dallas. They both played last Thursday. Cowboys won easily and Seattle lost to the forty nine Ers. These two teams are in second place in the NFC East and West. The teams that are in first place in those divisions the Eagles and forty nine Ers, and they play Sunday. That's the big game of Week thirteen. It's a rematch of last year's in at Championship. Joe Flacco now with the Cleveland Browns. They brought him in when the Shawn Watson went down. He's gone from third string QB to second and Dorian Thompson Robinson is in concussion protocol, so Flaco may start Sunday against the Rams. Patriots not saying anything official as usual for them, but it sounds like mac Jones goes to the bench. Bailey ZAPPI expected to start on Sunday. John stashed were Bloomberg Sports from coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Washington, DC, nationwide on Syrias exam the Bloomberg Business app in Bloomberg dot com. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. We want to reflect more on the life and legacy of Henry Kissinger, who died yesterday at his home in Connecticut at the age of one hundred. Kissinger was born in nineteen twenty three in the German state of Bavaria. He moved to the US in nineteen thirty eight to escape Nazi persecution. The son of a Jewish school teacher. At age nineteen, while a student at the City College of New York, Kissinger was drafted into the army in the US, serving as an interpreter during World War II, and after the war he helped round up Gestapo officers as a member of the nine hundred and seventieth Counter Intelligence Corps. Kissinger spoke earlier this year with Bloomberg's editor in chief John Micklethwaite, and said he saw the first hand impact of authoritarianism and totalitarianism in his youth. It was an experience which it's so elemental then it becomes part of you. Kissinger brought that experience back with him to the United States. He resumed his studies at Harvard University. His doctoral dissertation there focused on balances of power in nineteenth century Europe. As a tenured professor at Harvard, Kissinger honed of the conservative real politic worldview that would dominate his thinking on foreign policy for more than a half century. Kissinger also cultivated relationships with policymakers in Washington that led him to the White House in nineteen sixty nine as National Security Advisor to President Richard Nixon. Kissinger's secret trips to China in nineteen seventy one paved the way for arguably the greatest foreign policy achievement of the Nixon presidency. His own visit the following year. Knowing of President Nixon's express desire to visit the People's Republic of China, Premier Cho and lie On behalf of the government of the People's Republic of China has extended an invitation to President Nixon to visit China. The opening of China and an anti ballistic missile treaty hammered out with the Soviet Union achieved what would become known as Kissinger's triangular diplomacy, but his penchate for secrecy would lead to controversy. Kissinger was the first person to serve as both National Security Advisor and Secretary of State at the same time. That allowed Nixon to run foreign policy more or less directly from the White House. The president summed up his attitude in a taped conversation with Kissinger about the Christmas Day bombing in Vietnam in nineteen seventy two. Kissinger fed into that paranoia about enemies and the press by ordering wiretaps of reporters and White House aids looking for leaks. That expanded use of surveillance led to Nixon's resignation under the weight of Watergate, but the weight of one major foreign policy decision would cloud Kissinger's legacy for the rest of his long life. The Secret War in Cambodia. Kissinger orchestrated the operation that dropped more than one hundred thousand tons of bombs on North Vietnamese positions in the country. It helped lead to the rise of a genocidal Khmer Rouge regime after the war, but Kissinger would never stop defending his conduct in Vietnam, even against critics who labeled him a war criminal. Would say a better way At any one point, we didn't think so. I still don't think so. But I'm open into that argument. But what is meant by better that pragmatic approach to the world as it is rather than how policymakers might like it to be what informed Kissinger's view long after he left public office and sought to wield influence as a private citizen. At the age of eighty eight, Kissinger wrote the book on China, about the country he helped to bring back to the world stage. In a twenty twenty interview at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Kissinger warned of the risks of confrontation between the world's two biggest economies. Let's say, at some basis for some cooperative action to wills, Bill Slide hid a catastrophe. Comfortable do will do a one And Henry Kissinger worked to head off that catastrophe. After reaching his hundredth birthday this year, when President Biden sent cabinet secretaries to Beijing to try to stabilize relations, the one US diplomat that Chinese President Shi Jinping met face to face this summer was the man who he called an old friend to China, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. And for more, we are joined from Singapore by Bloomberg News Managing editor Derek Wallbank. A mixed legacy, Derek, but an undeniable legacy at the same time. I think that's exactly right. An. I think you did a brilliant job setting this up and there when when we're talking about the reaction, especially out here, I think the the polarity of feedback has been striking today. You know, Kissinger was a sort of person that in some corners of the world was a lionized statesman, and some other corners in the world, uh, they considered him an absolute scoundrel. And and and there's not really a giant a mix of those right now, certainly through Asia hours and you're you're talking about somebody who in Singapore was was somebody that that foreign ministers would would make pilgrimage to his apartment in New York City. Every time that there was a UN General Assembly meeting China. You saw that you mentioned the reaction from Xi jianpingg He's Uh. Kissinger was described as an old friend of the Chinese people's there's a mournful reaction from from China at the same time. Uh. This is somebody who throughout parts of Southeast Asia, UH, particularly Cambodia, allows Vietnam, et cetera. You know, Indonesia, parts of team or less. It's like it is not held in anywhere the same sort of thing. It's a very polarizing person, but certainly somebody who had I think it is unanimous to say a titanic effect on the world in which he lived, no doubt, and to you put it into the context of where US China relations stand now. I think it'd gotten a little bit better since the low that we saw after the alleged spy balloon incident back in February. But talk a little bit more about the impact that Henry Kissinger tried to wield even up to the end, as President Biden was trying to put US China relations sort of back on the rails. I think one of the most notable things sitting here as as we closely have tracked the decline in relationships between the two superpowers, is how Henry Kissinger always seemed to be the one American who could get a meeting with anyone he wanted in China. I mean anybody he wanted. I saw in Chinese state media today retrospectives of here was Henry Kissinger visiting it this year, and then two years later, and then three years later, and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Gotten down the line, he met with anybody he wanted, He met any time he wanted, and senior, senior Chinese folks would would go to him, would would want to talk to him to get a sense of where the things were in the United States, and vice versa. You know, he was a counselor to presidents of his party or not, people who agreed with him or not. He was seen as this respected voice that when he was in the room, people felt like they needed to listen to on both sides of this relationship, because as they say, he was so respected in China, and in these days you find somebody who who is you know, who is American, who has deeptised in the American state, who who is that respected in China is It's a very very small list, right, and Henry Kissingtram might have been right at the top of that list. Well, we think about the passing of a former Secretary of State who saw the world as it is. We have a current Secretary of State, Anthony Blincoln, who is back in a part of the world that is as restive as anywhere else in the Middle East. Let's talk a little bit about the latest that's happening in the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the influence the Secretary of State Blincoln is trying to have as this tenuous ceasefire continues. Yeah, and the thing that I think everybody's waiting for is to see how long this ceasefire will go. It was supposed to expire at seven am local time Thursday. It got extended for another day. I mean the announcement here just minutes before that ceasefire was due to end. There had been reports of small violations here and there of things. We have seen a steady drip drip of hostage releases. But it's a very very tenuous. I don't even want to use the word piece. It's a very it's a very tenuous pause. Let's go with pause, because a pause implies that the play button is back. It is also on the table that the restart could be coming soon. So I think that's the question. How much progress are we getting here? You do see the United States trying to play in here. I think I think the Biden administration is politically finding itself in a in a in a tough spot. They are trying to have some guardrails that they're trying to communicate to the Israelis. At the same time, you know, the the US is permissioning I if I can use that word, they're they're certainly you know, they're they're they're certainly Israel's biggest friend on the world stage. Right. So so that's a little bit of a difficult position that the Biden administration is trying to tread a little bit carefully. But they are trying to influence, uh, what's what's going on in that in that part of the world, and they have a lot of place to play. At the same time, you see countries like Egypt, countries like Cats are trying to you know, trying to influence Maybe they might be more simply sympathetic to other sides than the US administration might be, but all sort of trying to find and feel a way out of this so that it doesn't conflagrate more. All the while, also, it should be said, trying to keep nation states that are currently mostly on the side on the side. And I'm thinking here of countries like Iran to prevent this from escalating into something even more than it is right now. It's certainly a touch and go sort of thing right now. And I do as I say, I think, I think it carries some political risk. I mean, look, we're we're we're less than twelve months out from the US presidential election, and a lot of the people who are protesting in the streets in the United States are people who you would find in a normal Democratic coalition who are deeply upset with the president right now and vowing not to vote for him in any circumstance. Right that's a part, that's a group of people he needs to come out for him next year, and so it's a very very delicate ballot. This is Bloomberg Daybreak Today, your morning brief on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast. Feed at six am Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. You can also listen live each morning starting at five am Wall Street Time on Bloomberg eleven three to zero in New York, Bloomberg ninety nine to one in Washington, Bloomberg one oh sixty one in Boston, and Bloomberg ninety sixty in San Francisco. Our flagship New York station is also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty plus. Listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app, seriusxmb iHeartRadio app, and on Bloomberg dot Com. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg DaybreakSee 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In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Eric Fingerhut—president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America—and Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, a scholar and professor at Yeshiva University, about the need for Jewish unity and the barriers to achieving it.In recent weeks, the Jewish community has been confronted with questions of collective Jewish existence in a way we haven't seen in decades. In response, the Jewish world has had to join together with an achdus we previously weren't even sure was possible. In this episode we discuss:What went into planning the historic and enormous March for Israel?What are the opportunities and challenges for Jewish unity in times of crisis?What can the current movement for Jewish solidarity learn from past moments from American and Jewish history? Tune in to hear a conversation about mobilizing a people known for its proclivity for disagreement. Interview with Eric Fingerhut begins at 7:26.Interview with Rabbi Rakeffet begins at 56:31Eric Fingerhut is the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America. Prior to his appointment at JFNA, Fingerhut served as the President and CEO of Hillel International from 2013-19. He was an Ohio state senator from 1997 to 2006, and he represented Ohio's 19th congressional district in the U.S. Congress from 1993 to 1994. Rabbi Dr. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff is a renowned scholar, historian, author, and teacher, and he is currently professor of rabbinic literature at Yeshiva University's Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute in Jerusalem. Rabbi Rakeffet has written many entries for Encyclopedia Judaica, including the one on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Rabbi Rakeffet served in the Israel Defense Forces until the maximum allowable age, and served in Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War. In 1980, he was recruited by Aryeh Kroll to join Mossad's clandestine Nativ operation to teach Torah in the Soviet Union.References:The Glue, with Eric FingerhutIsrael: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation by Yossi Klein Halevi“Rabbinic Authority and Leadership On the Contemporary Scene” by Aaron Rakeffet-RothkoffTaanit 20a“Crisis Management” by David Bashevkin“Rafael Halperin”

Nachum Segal presents Rav Shlomo Katz, Dr. Richard Joel, PhD, Past President of Hillel International, Hebron Spokesperson Yishai Fleisher, Comedian Dovie Neuburger, great Jewish music, the latest news from Israel and Morning Chizuk with Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser.

All eyes have been on the University of Pennsylvania and the Palestine Writes event, a gathering meant to give voice to Palestinian art, poetry, and literature on campus. However, a number of the speakers, including Roger Waters and Marc Lamont Hill, have well-documented histories of antisemitic statements.  Maya Harpaz, Vice President of Israel Engagement at Penn Hillel, and Jonah Miller, a reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian, take you through what unfolded, growing campus antisemitism, defining free speech on campus, and the responsibility of university administrators to protect Jewish students.  *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Maya Harpaz, Jonah Miller Show Notes: Watch: Live from Penn: Maya Harpaz of Penn Hillel on Palestine Writes Read: Everything you need to know about the Palestine Writes event at Penn and antisemitism.  AJC Campus Library: Resources for Becoming a Strong Jewish Student Advocate Listen: What the UN Needs To Do To Stop Iranian and Russian Aggression Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us. __ Transcript of Interview with Maya Harpaz and Jonah Miller: Manya Brachear Pashman: Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman, AJC's Senior Director of the Alexander Young Leadership Department, guest hosts this week's conversation with two Jewish college students about a situation on their campus and how they responded. Meggie, take it away.  Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:   Thanks, Manya. This past week, it seemed like all eyes were on the University of Pennsylvania in the lead up to the Palestine Writes event. The event was meant to give voice to Palestinian art, poetry, and literature- all of which are quite appropriate and indeed valuable to have on a university campus. However, a number of the announced speakers strayed from the event's purpose and instead have well-documented histories of antisemitic statements. These include Roger Waters, who was recently described by the U.S. State Department as having a long track record of using antisemitic tropes, after he desecrated the memory of Holocaust victim Anne Frank, compared Israel to the Third Reich, and recently paraded around a stage wearing an SS Nazi uniform during a concert in Berlin. It also included Marc Lamont Hill, whose public remarks as a CNN commentator called for Israel's eradication. At play were questions around growing campus antisemitism, free speech on campus, and the role of university administrators in preventing such bigotry–particularly with the release in May of the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, and its outsized focus on how antisemitism affects Jewish students on campus.  To help us break down these events and what unfolded are two Jewish students who experienced this all firsthand and helped drive the course of events.  Joining me are Maya Harpaz, a junior at Penn, and Vice President of Israel Engagement at Penn Hillel, and Jonah Miller, a junior at Penn, and a reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn's student newspaper. Maya and Jonah, thanks for joining us on People of the Pod.  Jonah Miller:   Thank you so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to our discussion. Maya Harpaz:   Yeah, thank you for having us. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  Great. So with that, let's jump in. So there are many chapters to what happened at Penn, and I think a great deal of misinformation. So let's go back to the beginning. When did Jewish students first hear about the Palestine Writes event, and particularly its speaker lineup? And upon initially learning about it, what were the specific concerns that Jewish students had? Jonah Miller:   I think that when I learned about the Palestine Writes event, I learned about it simultaneously with who some of these speakers are. Penn is a large university and institution that has countless events each day, hosted and co-sponsored by numerous different departments and facets of the university. If I had learned about this festival, solely, just about the festival, I would say, you know, great, it's great that this culture, and these literary items are being amplified on campus. Everyone and every culture should have a space on this campus.  But to learn about at the same time as concerns of antisemitic speakers, that's when I as a Jewish student, started to get a little nervous. Nervous, because how could Penn allow antisemitic speakers to come speak on a campus that is close to 20% Jewish? And even without that high percentage, how could they be invited to speak at all? Maya Harpaz:   Yeah, I can touch on that as well. In my role as VP Israel, a big part of that is seeing what events are going on, whether it be related to the Middle East at large, Israel, Palestinians, all of that combined. So I learned about this event A while ago, late July, early August. So before it was really even being spoken about on campus. I was having conversations as the speakers were still being finalized, as marketing materials were still being put out and discussed with a lot of the other student leaders and Hillel staff, about what our approach was going to be to handle this event.  And how we were going to relay that to the Jewish community at large. So similar to what Jonah said, Jewish students definitely learned about the event and the problematic speakers hand in hand after Hillel started sending out emails about it. And after we sent our letter to the administration and after the DP coverage. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  So Maya, I want to dive into that approach in the letter that you just raised. At least from the outside, one of the first steps seemed to be a letter drafted by Penn's Jewish student leadership to President Magill, of which you were a signatory, outlining specific steps the community wanted the university to take on. So can you give us some background of how that letter came into being and can you share for our listeners what it outlined for the administration? Maya Harpaz:   Yes, so this letter came to be sort of as we were having these conversations over the summer. And then once we got to campus, we all sat down with the presidents of PIPAC, SSI, Tamid, presidents of Chabad. And we sort of sat down and we were like, we know why these speakers and why this event could be problematic for our community. How do we outline that to the administration in a way that is logical and not also attacking of another group's culture. Because that's not what we wanted to do. It wasn't our goal to get this event canceled, it wasn't to blow it up in their faces. It was really just, we have specific concerns, and how do we articulate that?  So we wrote this letter addressed to the president, the provost, and the dean, and sent it to high-level members of the President's administration, specifically referencing Roger Waters and Marc Lamont Hill. And we asked them to have a meeting with us so we could really sit down and have a conversation, and to make a statement about this event.  And from my perspective, it was definitely a productive meeting, we voiced our concerns about the speakers, we asked them a lot of questions about what was the process of this event being welcomed on our campus, and they explained how they rented out the space and the head of the NELC department explained the process of co-sponsoring, and we really had an open dialogue about what really happened and how we can improve on that in the future. And then shortly after that, the President released her statement about the event. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  So Maya, I want to dive into a number of things that you just got at. So one is, and you alluded to this, the letter specifically did not call for the canceling of the event. And from my understanding, that's not something that Hillel was asking for. Can you talk about why that is? Maya Harpaz:   Yes. So as Jonah also said, when you learn about just the event as the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, it sounds perfectly normal. Sounds like it's just a group wanting to celebrate their culture and their literature. And our goal was not to cancel that. There was over I think, 120 speakers. And our goal was to call out the ones that were problematic towards our community, not cancel their right to speak, their right to celebrate.  I'm a big believer in free speech. And I didn't want to ask anyone to cancel something. I know that, I'm sure that we at Hillel and Chabad have events with proud Zionists that have maybe done questionable things or said questionable things in the past too, that maybe even some of our own Jewish students don't agree with.  But Roger Waters definitely crossed the line for us. And we ended up asking for him to be uninvited and even though he was on Zoom, we were definitely very, very concerned about that, because it definitely crossed the line of our threshold of comfortableness in terms of hate speech, but it wasn't our goal to get this event canceled. And we knew it wasn't a reasonable ask either. It was a huge event that's been in the planning and in the works for a year. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  And then I want to touch on kind of the tail end of what you just described. So what did come out of that initial letter is President Magill, and her administration, indeed issued an initial statement following that letter, following what you had articulated. And that statement did have a clear condemnation of antisemitism, but it left some unsatisfied with what may not have been in there. So I'm curious from both of you, what was your interpretation of that initial statement? And can you describe what came next, particularly as the national attention started to build around Penn? Jonah Miller:   Yeah, I can take this one. So in President Magill's letter, she described antisemitism as antithetical to the values of the University of Pennsylvania, which as a Jewish student was very comforting, reassuring to hear that the president of our university is very clearly against antisemitism. At the same time, she also explained how this is an event that is not being promoted or organized by the university. And at the same time, she also wrote how the university supports the notion of free speech and the free exchange of ideas.  So I think what you're getting at is that, definitely a condemnation of antisemitism, which is a win. But at the same time, it doesn't really seem like there was much action that was going to be taken from the letter. It was more an acknowledgement that the Jewish voices on campus who have concerns with, as Maya said, a few of the many speakers of this festival, were being recognized, but they were not being acted upon.  Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  So Jonah, I mentioned at the start that you are a reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian. So from a different lens, shortly before Shabbat and Yom Kippur, it was reported that a member of the Penn community entered Penn Hillel and in essence somewhat ransacked the lobby while also screaming antisemitic vitriol. So Jonah, can you share, first of all what we know about that, and also what it was like reporting on something that so directly affected your community? Jonah Miller:   That's a great question. So in order to walk you through this timeline–to my knowledge, this is still under a form of investigation by the university, and we'll see what comes out in the next few days or weeks. But in terms of the timeline: so last Thursday morning, The Daily Pennsylvanian received information that an individual entered Penn Hillel, so all of a sudden our journalistic gears start turning, and we wanted to reach out to as many sources that have some relation to Penn Hillel, which for those of you listening is kind of the epicenter of Jewish life and culture on Penn's campus.  So from what we understand now, an individual entered Penn Hillel, as someone was opening the door for early morning services, a member of the Orthodox community at Penn. Entered in to Penn Hillel a few minutes before the building officially opened for the day at 7am. So there was no security guard posted, to my knowledge. And entered the lobby, smashed a podium, flipped over a table, all while reportedly shouting antisemitic speech.  So that's kind of what we understand was happening. And in terms of how it affected me, as someone who was writing it, I was really passionate and driven to make sure we have the full story. And I think as a journalist, or as an aspiring journalist, it's really important. But at the same time, as someone who I know, people from my community on campus, chances are people from my family or the extended Jewish community, in the Philadelphia area, and across the country might be reading something like this. It was really important to make sure that we had all the facts as strong and robust as possible.  But at the same time, it was hard typing those words, it was hard typing how someone entered a place that I like to call a home, for me and for the rest of my Jewish community here on campus. So kind of finding that balance was definitely difficult. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  I can only imagine. And I want to turn to I guess to yet another lens, again with your journalistic hat on. Roger Waters, who Maya alluded to earlier, has a long history and well documented history of antisemitic speech, has, in recent days, basically lashed out at the paper and its coverage. I'm curious what your thoughts are about that and how that is being received by the paper. Jonah Miller:   I think that, as campus journalists, it's our duty to be non biased as much as we can. And like I said, really just stick to the facts. We wrote how Penn Hillel was entered by some individual and he was yelling antisemitic speech in a clear and vivid example and trend of rising antisemitism, without a doubt. Roger Waters took this, he actually, I know the video that you're talking about, he said that he was on his way to Penn State, which first of all is not the university that we attend. But he said that he was on his way to Penn State for the Palestine Writes Festival and how the Daily Pennsylvanian commented on his history of antisemitism.  But like you said, this is well documented, this is not something that we pulled out of thin air and labeled him as having a history of antisemitism. It's there, it's online, for everyone to see. And it's unambiguous. So for him to lash out at student journalists, you know, all students who are trying to do their best and maintain this journalistic integrity and share facts with our campus community members. For him to lash out at us, it's disappointing, but at the same time, we don't want to respond and kind of promote this behavior of his in any way. Maya Harpaz:   And something else I'll just add is, he also mentioned in that video that he came to Philadelphia ready to speak, and then was just informed that he couldn't come to campus and posed this whole idea that Penn isn't allowing him to come on campus. And this just happened. And he came all the way here and he's ready to be here. And he wants to show his support for the Palestinian community. But as I mentioned, I've been following this event since over the summer. And I think Penn also commented this in a new article in the DP, that he was never speaking in person, it was always planned that he was going to speak on Zoom.  So for him now to twist the facts and frame it as our school is his canceling him just as he arrives to speak here was definitely very misleading. Because it was never the intention of the university to have him come in person on our campus due to his extensive history of antisemitism. And he ended up coming onto our campus and rolling his window down, as I'm sure many people saw on the video, to actually articulate to participants of the conference that Penn isn't allowing him to speak. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  So I want to try and turn to something more positive, which really stems from both of you. I think, to me, what really was so inspiring to see is that instead of simply focusing on the pain, and there was tremendous pain that this caused, Jewish student leaders took a completely different path, rooted in celebrating the vibrancy and the pride of the Jewish community. And this led to the creation of Penn Unity Shabbat, which our own CEO, AJC's CEO Ted Deutch attended in solidarity.  How did that come into being? And importantly, what was the feeling like in the room on Friday night?  Maya Harpaz:   Yeah, so this was sort of in the works from that initial meeting we had, at the beginning of the semester, when we were talking about how we want to respond to this, it was definitely always an idea that we want to have a big gathering. It's right before Yom Kippur, it's right before a very holy weekend for us. Regardless of what's going on on campus, it's important for us to feel that togetherness, and definitely because of that event, even more so.  So it's been in the works for a bit and then sort of as media attention progressed on the Palestine Writes event, and as we were getting more inquiries from people about what was going on, it became really clear that this needed to be a big event and it had to go beyond just our campus community. We needed to invite leaders like Ted Deutch and leaders from Hillel International to really come and join us and to speak with them and to have their support. And the actual feeling of being in there was really awesome. I've never seen Hillel so packed before. The entire building was full, the first floor and all the rooms on the second floor. I've never seen so many people there. So it was really special. Jonah Miller:   To add on, from the perspective of someone who did not have a hand in planning it, but was a proud attendee of this event, you could really feel, like you said, the vibrancy in the room and the energy where you know, in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur students from all different parts of the Jewish community were really excited to be there. I've been to my fair share of Penn Hillel shabbats. But you know, this time I had seen people who I might not have seen before at one of these events. So I think it was really, you know, I was really proud to be a member of the Jewish community at Penn and to really see people, you know, really just come together. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  What a way to bring joy to a moment that really could have just focused on the challenge, so that–it's really unbelievable.  Zooming out, now that you're a few days, just a few days, away from everything. So campus issues affecting Jewish students do get press coverage, but often it is simply within Jewish news outlets, and rarely in the wider press, and certainly rarely for such an extended period of time. What we saw at Penn felt unprecedented, both in the national interest and in the last in coverage. Why do you think it led to such significant coverage? And how did that affect the campus environment at Penn?  Maya Harpaz:   I think one reason for that is because of Penn as an institution, as an Ivy League institution, and also as a well-known Jewish institution. Penn has a long history of a very strong Jewish community that's actually been decreasing in size pretty steadily over the years. So I think that was a big reason why we got so much attention.  I also think because of the way that we responded to it, I think if we decided that we weren't going to say anything, and we were going to let antisemites come onto our campus and spew hate, and we just put our hands up, that there wouldn't have been so much attention. But I think because we pushed back on it, it became this discourse that got a lot of attention.  I don't even know how to describe it still, because I'm still processing everything that's happened over the last few weeks. But me personally, I'm not a journalist. I'm not usually someone who's ever in the news or speaking to the press. But the amount of attention that that's been on us has really, really been unprecedented. As you mentioned, it's definitely been a bit overwhelming too but I'm also grateful that we've been given a platform to share what's been happening and to bring awareness to it.  Because we've seen this happen at many other schools that have large Jewish communities and very strong Jewish communities. And I never thought that an event like this would or could happen here. So I've definitely been very appreciative of all of the support that we've gotten. Jonah Miller:   At the same time, I think that the incident at Hillel follows a long lasting and unfortunately, growing trend of rising antisemitism. And I think that news outlets picked up on that. Secondly, to give some credit to my amazing team of reporters and copy editors at The Daily Pennsylvanian, I think that our quick and trustworthy coverage at the paper allowed news outlets, national news outlets, to cite us in their own articles. So for instance, this incident that happened at Hillel, I noticed that within 12, 24 hours, it was picked up by Fox News, and CBS News, both of which cited interviews that I myself conducted with students who were at the scene, in their own articles. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  So connected to that, in addition to the media attention, I think, many Jewish organizations, some of which had little to no relationship with the Jewish community on campus, came to campus with their own ideas of how the situation should be resolved. What advice can you give to Jewish organizations who want to help when a situation arises on campus? Maya Harpaz:   The biggest advice that I can give is just talk to us. No campus is the same and although unfortunately a lot of antisemitic incidents happen on a lot of universities, the climate of each campus is very different and the wants and needs of students are very different based off of their campus. So it's definitely important to speak to students before you make an assumption about what they you think they want or make a plan for what can be done and how to solve this issue because it's really us who have a stake in this, obviously the Jewish community at large cares, but it's it's us who have to live this as our reality. Penn is our school. It's also our home. It's our social lives. So it's our everyday lives, we can't escape that. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  So while the particular event itself may have passed for right now, there is a great deal to do on Penn's campus in the wake of these events. The President has committed to implementing much of the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, of which dozens of AJC recommendations were included. And Penn Hillel itself has dedicated time and resources to educational programming around antisemitism. So as student leaders, what do you want to see next? And importantly, what advice do you have for other Jewish students should something like this happen on their campus? Maya Harpaz:   So something that we talked about with members of the administration and things that we want to see next is more–and this is something that President Magill mentioned, as well–is more oversight when hosting events on our campus. When this event came through, it was just listed as the Palestine Writes Literature Festival. And they were like, cool, literature festival, fine.  But there definitely needs to be more work done to make sure that the lineup of any event is not including someone that is not in line with, as President Magill said, our institutional values. Something else that we discussed is further training for Penn faculty, whether that be residential advisors, or professors, to be trained on how to combat antisemitism and how to identify antisemitism and really introducing that into the other forms of training against hate that faculty go through. And a big longer term goal that I think at some point, maybe in the nearer future than I initially anticipated, is implementing the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Jonah Miller:   Hopefully, an incident like this does not happen at the campuses of other Jewish students. But should something happen, my recommendation would be to just remember that our unity can overcome the hate and the vitriol being spouted at us. At the Shabbat together event at Penn Hillel, a Penn alum and someone who's very involved with the Penn community and with the Jewish community, Stuart Weitzman, spoke about how Jews have triumphed over hundreds of years and 1000s of years of banding together. I think that message remains ever-important, to remind ourselves about today. That we really as a community are stronger and can overcome this adversity when it comes right on our doorsteps. Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman:  What a beautiful note to end on, and I have to say for myself, for us here at AJC, and certainly for the Jewish community at large, the reason we feel so hopeful about the Jewish future is because of Maya, your leadership, Jonah, your leadership, and both the courage and joy and thoughtfulness that you brought to this situation. So for all of us, I just have to say a big thank you. Jonah Miller:   Thank you so much, and thank you to AJC for all the work that they're doing for students like us on campuses. Maya Harpaz:   Thank you so much for having us. It really means so much to both of us to be able to have our platform and to share what's been going on at Penn. Manya Brachear Pashman: If you missed last week's episode, we went behind the scenes at the UN General Assembly with Simone Rodan Benzaquen, the Managing Director of AJC Europe. 

"The Jewish establishment" evokes images of a small group of insiders with some combination of power, affluence, and influence. This isn't necessarily wrong, but the power and purpose of that establishment has shifted significantly since its height in the middle of the 20th century, and it also exists in relationship to its critics. Eric Fingerhut has been a member of many "establishments." He was a congressman for Ohio 19th district, CEO of Hillel International, and is now the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). In conversation with Yehuda Kurtzer, he shares his perspectives on the power and limits of representing North American Jewish communities, particularly during times of political crisis; the systems of democracy within his own organization; and where he sees hope for the Jewish future in both North America and Israel. Yehuda Kurtzer's article “The Establishment Has No Clothes” 

In May, the White House released its U.S. National Strategy for Countering Antisemitism. As students return to campus, hear from two student leaders who are working to share and implement the strategy's recommendations at their colleges and beyond: Sabrina Soffer, a rising junior at George Washington University and the head of the school's Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and Abe Baker-Butler, a rising junior at Yale University and the president of the AJC Campus Global Board.  *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Abe Baker-Butler and Sabrina Soffer Show Notes: Learn: AJC Campus Library: Resources for Becoming a Strong Jewish Student Advocate Listen: IsraAID CEO on Sharing Israel's Expertise With the World's Most Vulnerable Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us. __ Transcript of Interview with Abe Baker-Butler and Sabrina Soffer: Manya Brachear Pashman:   At the end of May, weeks after most college students headed home, abroad, or to summer internships, the White House released its US National Strategy for Countering Antisemitism. But given the timing, it's unclear how many students know it exists. With me are two student leaders who not only know, they've shared it with other students with the intention of helping to implement its recommendations for college campuses, when in a few weeks they go back to school.  Sabrina Soffer, a rising junior at George Washington University is the Commissioner of the Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism at GW, and Abe Baker-Butler, a rising junior at Yale University is the president of the AJC Campus Global Board. Abe, Sabrina, welcome to People of the Pod. Abe Baker-Butler:  Thank you for having us, Manya. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So I will ask you both, when did you hear about the US national strategy?  Abe Baker-Butler:   So I heard about the national strategy when it was in the headlines initially. But with school ending and finals, I didn't have the time to actually sit down and read it in full until we got to AJC Global Forum. And what really stuck with me was how there are real action items in there for students, and not only Jewish students, but all students to take action to combat antisemitism. And I was very excited that as the campus global board, we had the opportunity to spend some real quality time brainstorming how we could play a meaningful role in implementing this National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. Sabrina Soffer:   So yeah, that's really interesting, I took very similar tidbits away from the strategy. But the first time that I heard about it was actually the same day that I was giving a talk to a group of women in San Diego, which is my hometown, in California. And it gave a lot of hope to the women who were listening to what I was saying, especially because the talk was about my experience on campus, which I think I'll get into a little bit later. But similar to Abe, the time I read it on the plane, actually on the way to Israel. So I had quite a bit of time to do that. And the thing that really stuck with me was exactly what Abe said, how all students, not just Jewish students, can take action and also the interfaith component. I think that having other students stand up for the Jewish community is essential and spreading awareness that way can really help in the fight to combat antisemitism. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So yes, Sabrina, I do want to talk to you a little bit more about the Taskforce. But first, Abe, can you tell us about the AJC Campus Global Board? It was formed last year, but who makes up its membership? And why? Why are they on this board? Abe Baker-Butler:   We're a group of 30 students, I believe, there are 20 of us from the United States, 10 of us from the rest of the world. And when I say the rest of the world, truly the whole rest of the world, Australia, to South Africa, to Europe, you name it. And our mission that we're working to pursue, is to support AJC's work on campus, and also to really ensure that AJC's work is informed from a student leader and young person's perspective. I think it's a real testament to AJC that they are taking this tangible step to prioritize us as young people and to say, you know, we want to hear you, and we want your perspectives to inform our advocacy. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So what schools do students hail from? Are they all East Coast schools? Or is there geographic diversity? Abe Baker-Butler:   Certainly not all East Coast schools, we have people from all over ranging from the University of Florida University of Southern California, University of Tennessee, Northwestern, and that's just in the United States. Our goal is really to ensure that we are incorporating a broad array of perspectives from across our country, from across also all parts of the Jewish community. We care deeply on the Campus Global Board about ensuring that we're embracing a pluralistic Judaism, that we have people from all denominations, all backgrounds, and we believe that by doing that we can best inform AJC's work. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And what have you done so far?  Abe Baker-Butler:   So in the past year, we've really been building our structure and integrating ourselves into the AJC institution. A few highlights that I can think of from the past year that have been particularly meaningful to me, are well I guess this is one of the biggest ones in my mind during the development and prior to the announcement of the National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, Holly Huffnagle, AJC's US director for combating antisemitism, her and other AJC content experts and staff took the time to meet with a contingent of our Campus Global Board members to hear their thoughts in a listening session of sorts. And then what Holly and those staff members did is they took those thoughts and used them as they were giving feedback to the White House, as it developed the National Strategy. To me that's extremely meaningful.  Some other events we did is we had an event with Ted at University of Pennsylvania, which received really diverse audience in terms of Jewish denominations and observance, which I was very happy about.  We also held an event with Richie Torres, at Harvard, which was also much needed, given the situation on campus there. And beyond those sorts of headline events, we've also been doing more-- we've started a mentorship program between our campus full board and ACCESS. And there's a lot more in the pipeline, too, that I can also talk about. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Can you talk a little bit more about what was going on at Harvard? Is the campus global board, is the primary responsibility to respond to situations? Abe Baker-Butler:   Yes, so the reason I made that remark is because I think there's often a perception that you can't be both progressive and Zionist, and I think Ritchie Torres, who was our speaker there, really cuts that misconception straight through. But in terms of us responding to what's going on on campus, another really interesting part of our work that I'm proud of is our antisemitic incident response. Whenever there is an antisemitic incident on a campus, we the leadership of the campus global board, try and reach out to the Jewish leaders on that campus, whether it be the presidents of Hillel, or the head of the Chabad board. And we come saying, Hey, we're not here looking to get any kind of headlines, or press coverage, or to meet with your university administrators. You tell us what you need. And we're here as a group of 30 committed individuals to provide it to you.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Sabrina, tell us about GW's task force to combat anti semitism and who makes up that group? Sabrina Soffer:   Yeah, so GW's task force came about after the Lara Sheehi incident that happened in December. So basically, there was a professor who was teaching a mandatory diversity class at the grad school level. Everybody had to introduce where they were coming from. And there was a group of students from Tel Aviv. And the professor responded, it's not your fault you were born in Israel. And to make a long story short, that class became increasingly about imperialism and settler colonialism and more anti-Israel over time, and the students became more and more uncomfortable, and even after they reported it to the dean, there was no accountability. And then there was a title six complaint. And after that, there was an investigation conducted by the University, I guess, the university hired a law firm. And they found that there was not only no antisemitism, but no discrimination, because it fell within the lines of free speech, what was going on in the classroom, which I don't necessarily agree with, I think that it created a really hostile environment. Because the students did report that they couldn't sleep well, they couldn't eat because they had to turn in assignments to that professor who they couldn't trust because obviously, she disrespected them because of their identity.  So something I'm trying to do with the taskforce is trying to create trust between all members of the GW community, whether they agree or disagree, and no matter their identity groups, but I'll put that aside for now. So after that incident happened, there was a student in the student government, I think he's the former legislator General. And he was friends with the president of Chabad. And I'm the vice president. So they were speaking about it. And I guess the president, who's a good friend of mine, said, Oh, I have a friend who's very much involved in the Jewish world. And she would definitely like to take on an initiative like this one, and create a taskforce to deal with these issues on campus, because we've had quite a few of them that are either similar or radically different than the Lara Sheehi incident. So you know, I took the task upon myself I, they gave me some parameters of what to do, like it had to be 10 students, which I've now expanded to 15, because I couldn't reject people who seriously sounded amazing in their interviews, and then it had to be tied to the student government in some sort. So from there, I had to pass it through three different committees on the task force, and I really wanted it to be an all encompassing group. For example, I didn't want it all Jews, like the White House National Strategy says. And I think at the back of my mind, my mom raised me with this principle of like, you can't solve a problem without making people who are a part of the problem, a part of the solution. So I said, You know what, let's go for it, Yallah, and it'll be better this way. And we'll figure out these issues together. So then it came about, it was voted on unanimously. And then we've kind of started doing some work during the summer, we started collecting data. I've gotten the whole team organized, and I'm really, really pleased. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You know, I'm sure there are Jewish students who are listening, who are heading to campus as freshmen this year, perhaps their parents or their grandparents are listening. And Sabrina, I'm curious, what should they expect? And how can they prepare to be a Jewish student on an American college campus? Sabrina Soffer:   So I think that every campus is different. And I want to preface this by saying that no, the campuses themselves, besides a few, like, you can't label the campus as an antisemitic University, I think that's really important to note. For me, from what I've seen in conversations with administrators, with faculty and other students, is that there's a problem of systemic ignorance that breeds antisemitism, not so much a problem of systemic antisemitism. Because really, people don't have that, the majority of people don't have that much hate in their heart, you know, to like, go out and say tropes and demonize, you know, another, another person's identity for no reason.  I think it really comes from people trying to advocate for something else, but they don't know how it makes other people feel, or they just don't care. And I think we have to do a better job of explaining how we feel. So that was just a little bit of a preface, but the backstory is that I came into college not having any idea what this would be like. I tried to look for a campus with a great Jewish community, which GW absolutely has. Not all campuses have it. But I'm lucky, I actually don't believe that we do have a Chabad, Hillel, Meor, GW for Israel. So groups that I really identify with, and I thought that I would have no problem. However, in some of the classes that I was taking, I would openly share my ties to Israel, where my family was from, where I got my principles and my ethics. And over time, I came to realize that my ideas were being tarnished, they were being called racist and xenophobic. This was just a quick story. We were trying to talk about Holocaust education and slavery education, and one girl told me, Oh, the Holocaust is a lot more sensitized than slavery in school, because Jews are white. And that's like, I took that very, you know, did not sit well with me. But it was a problem of ignorance. I had a conversation with the girl afterward. And you know, we reconcile the differences, but like, I think that happens a lot on campus where there's so much ignorance, that it just comes out in ways that they shouldn't.  So, from then on, I really took it upon myself to become an educator, no matter what people would think of me. I would always try to spread my truth and do it in a loving way.  So I would just encourage all Jewish students before they get to campus to find their community because this whole time that I was experiencing this difficulty, I was really leaning on my Chabad friends, my Hillel friends, and of course, my family back home. Always talk to your parents. I think that's a really important point. And find the people who are going to support you no matter what. So that's just my my big piece of advice as well as get yourself educated. Know your history. Know your facts, know your identity, and never stop being who you are.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Abe, what about you? What advice do you have for incoming freshmen? Abe Baker-Butler:   Yeah, well, I think Sabrina really hit the nail on the head here by talking about ignorance. The stories I've heard from my friends and what I've experienced on campus, I've seen that a lot of the antisemitism we see is really driven by ignorance. I've heard multiple times on my campus. ideas such as the Jews are white and privileged. Why do the Jews have so many resources in the form of their lovely Hillel building? Look how rich the Jews are-they have security guards. These kinds of ideas, these kinds of comments. I think they're not coming from. Yeah, I don't think there's such a thing as informed hatred, right. I think that's an oxymoron. But they're coming out of ignorance. And I think because these sorts of antisemitic sentiments are coming out of ignorance. It makes the work that people like Sabrina and I, like Sabrina's taskforce and our campus global board, I think it makes the work that we're doing, ever more important, extremely important.  Abe Baker-Butler:   In terms of my advice for Jewish students coming to campus, I would say, you should keep in mind that while you can have an extremely meaningful impact by teaching those who may be ignorant about antisemitism, you also should remember that it is not only your responsibility to fight antisemitism, it is the entire community's responsibility to fight antisemitism. That includes it, should and must include allies. And then the other advice I would give is exactly what Sabrina said, you should know that as a Jewish student, there is a community behind you both on your campus, whether it's Hillel or Chabad, or anything else. And also, nationally, there are students like Sabrina and I, who are here to support you. There are organizations like Jewish on Campus, for example, of students that have ambassador's programs on campus. So you should never feel alone as a Jewish student on campus. Because there's so many people out there who care about you and support you. And you have the facts behind you. Sabrina Soffer:   I also just something that's really important for students to know is like know your rights on campus, both in the campus realm and the legal realm. Because what happened with the Lara Sheehi incident, those students, they knew how to report the incident. But there was no accountability. So it's like, where do I go from there? I've had students, I've had friends who've given up after they've had incidents, and they didn't know to go to groups, like AJC or Hillel International, maybe to help them out. So I think that knowing your rights before you get to campus is imperative. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You know, I was going to add, thank you so much, Sabrina, for that. I was also going to add to what Abe said, you know, I went to a very small school. For undergraduate. I was one of two Jews on campus that I know of. There might have been more. So there was no Hillel. It was a very small, tiny Jewish community. But like you said, there are organizations like AJC, there are national organizations. Now there's a national action plan that applies to every school. Not just these larger schools that have Hillels or Chabads on campus. So we talked about engaging different points of view, and different perspectives. These are all young people, your age, still learning. I also think it's very important to build and find allies on campus. I think that right there is a potential for education. And Abe, I am curious what kind of thought the campus global board has given to engaging different points of view and finding allies? Abe Baker-Butler: So we care deeply about finding allies. One thing I do want to highlight is the AJC curriculum that we've been developing with Dr. Sara Coodin that we look to use on campuses. And in terms of finding allies. That is key if it's central to our work on the campus global board. Some ideas that we have that we're working on include collaboration, brotherhood and sisterhood events, with Black and Jewish fraternities and sororities, reading groups between black and Jewish groups on campus to understand each other's shared perspectives. Joint interfaith seders and events between Muslim and Jewish groups on campuses. We really have a responsibility to create shared communities of goodwill, who can be our allies on campus, because in addition to having the national strategy and having national organizations like AJC on campuses, like the one you attended Manya, having allies like that is perhaps the most important because they can be that community that supports you.  And the other thing that I wanted to add to what we were discussing before, in terms of advice for Jewish students that I neglected to say was, you should always be proud of your Jewish identity. Always, always, always. You're the heir to an extremely rich intellectual and cultural tradition. And anyone who tries to make you feel ashamed of that or to slander that is wrong, and you should not heed what they say. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I am curious if you could share how you have celebrated, enjoyed being Jewish on campus? Sabrina Soffer:   This past April it was Yom Ha'atzmaut and we had Israel fest. It's a GW for Israel organized, we put Israeli flags in Cogan Plaza, the main plaza, we had loud music, falafel, shawarma, everything, and we were just dancing. And it was just the most amazing experiences not only feel like, for me, a lot of my Jewish identity comes from, like Zionism and my Israeli background. So just being able to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut with a bunch of my Jewish friends who also support Israel. And it was just amazing. And also like a lot of the music that I grew up with, and that I'm familiar with, that was very fun to like, have in public on campus, and also having non Jews join us in that celebration. And this was all while SJP and JVP, were sitting right in front of us for literally two hours with posters with very hostile messages about Israel. And we didn't pay any attention, we kept dancing, and they just it's like, you know, we will do our thing, we'll be proud, we block out the noise, block out the hate. So that felt pretty great.  And then another experience I had was on Pesach, my parents come and visit me a lot. I brought them to Chabad for Pesach, and it was just like they fit in so nicely with all my friends, all the students and the whole GW community. Chabad was really the organization that ushered me in at the beginning, they really made me feel like home away from home, and having my parents who like literally made my home amazing, very Jewish. Like they brought me up in a Jewish home, having them in my new kind of home in college just was very rewarding. So those are two experiences. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Both sound beautiful, both sound really, really lovely. And I just want to clarify for listeners, JVP stands for Jewish Voice for Peace, and SJP is Students for Justice in Palestine, which are two groups on college campuses that have engaged in a lot of anti-Israel rhetoric. Abe, I want to turn back to you for one last question. And that is, I asked you what the Campus Global Board has done and it's one year of existence, but what will it do in the year ahead? What do you envision accomplishing? Abe Baker-Butler:   Probably the most central part of our plans for this year, I want to highlight is implementing the White House national strategy on combating anti semitism on campus. One idea that we're working on, not finalized yet, but that I'm hoping will become a reality is an incubator of sorts, where we'll put out a call for proposals from not only Jewish but non Jewish groups about how to fight antisemitism on campus, in line with the plan. And then our goal is that the campus goal board will sift through the proposals that we receive and figure out how we can best support, financially and otherwise, these organizations on campus in conducting activities that will help implement the plan and stem antisemitism. Some other ideas we have are, we want to bring diplomats from Abraham Accords countries to campuses to help stem the ignorance that I was talking about. And then also, we want to ensure to, the point I was making earlier about integrating young people, and really walking to talk with young people as part of AJC's advocacy. We want to ensure that young people, members of the campus cohort and others aren't as many AJC advocacy meetings and settings as possible, because we believe, and AJC believes as well, that when our voices are there, it provides for an even more persuasive advocacy, and an even more full representation of the interests of the Jewish community. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Can you give examples of where that advocacy takes place? Where would these young people go? Abe Baker-Butler:   Certainly. So we're planning to do it at all levels. One example would be Diplomatic Marathon alongside the UN General Assembly, meetings with diplomats there but also at the local level with legislators and others, at the regional office level. There are a lot of opportunities for young people to get involved in AJC's work. And we want to ensure that young voices are represented in all of these meetings, whether it be domestic legislators or diplomats or anyone else.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Sabrina, Abe, thank you so much for joining us and discussing what your plans are for this year. I wish you both a lot of luck and I hope you most of all enjoy your junior years in college.  Sabrina Soffer:   Thank you so much for having us.  Abe Baker-Butler:   Thank you, Manya. Shabbat shalom.  Sabrina Soffer:   Shabbat shalom. 

Data can be used as an effective and important tool for measuring success of Jewish engagement. But what are the data points we are looking for? And once we have that data, how can we use it to the best of our ability to better understand our audiences and the factors that motivate them to live a more Jewish life?On this week's episode of Adapting, Jennifer Zwilling draws from her experiences at Hillel International and the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, DC, and how she successfully collected data to measure the impact of Jewish engagement and further connect audiences to Jewish experiences. This work shows how when you ask the right questions, you can gain insight that gets you closer to achieving your organizational goals.​​This week's Adapting includes a frank conversation with David Bryfman and Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, Senior Director of Knowledge, Ideas, and Learning at The Jewish Education Project, as they review key takeaways from discussions about AI at the Jewish Futures Conference on March 23, 2023.Tune in to this episode of Adapting to explore: as educators, should we be wary this new technology, or can we embrace these platforms as our teaching partners? Listen to find out!This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

Founded in 1923 at the University of Illinois, Hillel International is now the largest Jewish organization in the world. Hillel International exists on more than 650 college campuses across the world and is present on 4 continents.  Millions of Jewish students have passed through the doors of Hillel facilities and interacted with thousands of professionals who have dedicated their lives to supporting Jewish identity on college campuses for generations.  Now, as Hillel International celebrates 100 years since its inception, it is a time to celebrate as well as reflect on the impact of religion, spirituality, and Jewish identity in higher education. In an age when higher education believes itself to be “secular”, Hillel International and its on campus presence continually proves that religious and spiritual identities matter in several significant ways.  Hillel International is arguably the most comprehensive “campus ministry” organization in the United States and has the ability to serve as a model for other religious communities seeking to deepen their engagement on campus and as a case study for why institutions must take religion and religious life more seriously at the systems levels of the academy.

In the latest edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts Matan Koch, the Senior Vice president for Strategic Change at RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. Born 11 weeks premature with cerebral palsy and confined to a wheelchair for his entire life, Koch graduated from Yale and took his law degree from Harvard Law School, and has been a lifelong advocate for those with disabilities. He joins Rabbi Yoshi as we celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM).Observed each February, JDAIM is a unified effort among Jewish organizations worldwide to raise awareness and foster inclusion of people with disabilities and those who love them. JDAIM was founded in 2009 by the Jewish Special Education International Consortium to raise awareness and encourage inclusion for people with disabilities and special needs. Appointed by President Obama to the National Council on Disability (where he served from 2011 to 2014), Koch is a longtime national leader in disability advocacy."As the child of a congregational rabbi, who was also a URJ camp faculty member, and himself a former NFTY national officer, I was born into sort of the entire apparatus of the Reform movement at a time when people like me were not a part of that apparatus," Koch says. "In many ways, I benefitted from that. While institutional Judaism wouldn't think about practical strategies for people like me until the turn of this century, it meant that the approach was much more, 'How are we going to include Matan?' and much less, 'What's our strategy for the inclusion of Jews with disabilities?'"From his childhood summers spent at URJ camps Eisner and Kutz, he saw demonstrations of demonstrated a type of inclusion that would plant the seeds for his future advocacy, and fell in love with song leading.He began his disability policy career lobbying for a major disability organization in Washington while an undergraduate at Yale (where he was the president of the university's student disabilities community) and was appointed to the city of New Haven disability commission at the age of 18 while a college junior.After graduating from Harvard Law, he served as counsel for Proctor & Gamble. Working with both the product marketing teams at P&G and its disabilities inclusion network, he developed the perspectives on consumer power and talent maximizing jobs for people with disabilities at the heart of the business case for universal inclusion that he teaches today.Considered one of the nation's leading Jewish inclusion experts, he has developed training and materials for many Jewish organizations, including Hillel International, the Union for Reform Judaism, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. The son of a rabbi and a Jewish educator, he has been speaking on Jewish inclusion since early childhood and has been formally and informally retained by Jewish organizations for the last 20 years."This to me is the zinger: So what is the traditional instruction that, you know, resulted in the building of the Mishkan and the building also, later, of the Temple? It is, 'Build Me a space that I may dwell among you,' right? That, that we're building a space for God," says Matan. "And yet, if each of us, with our varying levels of ability, is a reflection of God, then God reflects the totality of all of that, which means that to build a space—to truly build a space for God to dwell among us—it has to be a fully inclusive space, because any person, any attribute, any type, that is excluded from the space that we build, is a facet of God that we are excluding from that."

One person who did speak freely during the panel was Dani Duek, a student at Tel Aviv University who was at the conference because of her role on Hillel International's student cabinet. Duek rose to ask a question and quickly had the spotlight turn to her. She said she was distressed by the idea of seeing Ben-Gvir in government but understood why so many others were not. “People like the idea of this simple easy answer, more than thinking Ben-Gvir is someone I would sit down for a beer with,” she said. Presented after the panel with some of the scenarios that American Jewish leaders are hoping for, Duek said she was not optimistic that any would come to pass. She knows an array of young people voting for Ben-Gvir, including friends from growing up in Kfar Saba and her university classmates. “I'm not as confident,” she said. “If I let my thoughts go where they want I would cry.” --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yaar-ben-emmett/support

On this week's episode, Rich and Jarrod are joined by Adam Lehman, president and CEO of Hillel International, for a conversation on the organization's efforts to combat antisemitism on college and university campuses. Source

On this week’s episode, Rich and Jarrod are joined by Adam Lehman, president and CEO of Hillel International, for a conversation on the organization’s efforts to combat antisemitism on college and university campuses. Source

Alon Friedman is the Founding Executive Director of Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance, a social startup whose vision is to ensure the Jewish People remain a dynamic, diverse, global community that is united, secure, and inclusive. From 2012 to 2019, he served as head of the Israel office of Hillel International and as CEO of the Hillels of Israel, operating eight campus centers across the country. He is also a frequent speaker on Jewish Peoplehood, identity, and leadership, as well as Israeli society and culture. The Future of Jewish is a podcast hosted by Joshua Hoffman, the founder of JOOL. In each episode, Joshua is joined by top leaders, thinkers, and doers who are paving the path for a promising Jewish future.

A graduate of the University of Buffalo with a degree in theater performance and in the last 2 years, she assumed the persona of the Jewish Mother, "Sheryl Cohen", with her handle @libbyamberwalker, where she has amassed over 36K followers. A true Jewish Tik Toker, talent and funny content creator. A podcast host as well, Libby now cohosts the SchmuckBoys Jewish dating podcast with her two friends, Marla and Maxine. Lilly also serves as Tik Tok Ambassador for Hillel International and Aish Global where she creates fun and immersive content for their page, goes live and is constantly spreading her experience interfacing and being part of social media. And last, but certainly not least, she has served as an insights and research participant for Tinder. Whether its talent management, tik-toking, serving as an ambassador for the Jewish community, or tackling the world of online dating, Libby uses her multi-pronged personality to juggle the multifaceted nature of her many jobs. Check her out on Instagram here, TikTok here, and her podcast Shmuckboys here Check out all of our projects and support us here. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/twotalljewshow/support

Rabbi Lizzi is joined by Arya Marvazy, the Senior Director of Programs for the Jews of Color Initiative.⁠ Arya (he/him) is a first-generation American born to Iranian-Jewish immigrants from Tehran. For nearly 15 years, Arya has cultivated his leadership in Jewish communal service at Hillel on campus, Hillel International, and JQ International. A proud queer Jew, Arya is passionate about empowering diverse Jewish identity, enriching equitable Jewish community, and ensuring inclusive pathways toward Jewish continuity.Today's episode is sponsored by Broadway In Chicago. Tickets are available now to Fiddler on the Roof at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, from May 17th - 22nd. Use Mishkan's special offer code ROOF45 for $45 Middle Balcony tickets.This conversation was originally streamed during the Virtual Friday Night Shabbat service on May 20th.  For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.Transcript

Rachel Gildiner is the CEO GatherDC, an organization in Washington D.C. that helps Jewish young adults find connection to community and to a compelling Jewish life. Formerly of Hillel International, she brings more than a decade of experience developing new ways to use the power of relationships to develop deeper connections to one another and to the Jewish community. The Future of Jewish is a podcast hosted by Joshua Hoffman, the founder of JOOL. In each episode, Joshua is joined by top leaders, thinkers, and doers who are paving the path for a promising Jewish future.

Dan Libenson is the founder and executive director of Judaism Unbound. He is also the co-host of the "Judaism Unbound" podcast and The Oral Talmud videocast. Libenson was Executive Director of the University of Chicago Hillel for six years and Director of New Initiatives at Harvard Hillel for three years. He is a 2009 AVI CHAI Fellow and has also received the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence award, Hillel International's highest professional honor. The Future of Jewish is a podcast hosted by Joshua Hoffman, the founder of JOOL. In each episode, Joshua is joined by top leaders, thinkers, and doers who are paving the path for a promising Jewish future.

AJC Chief Field Operations Officer and guest host Melanie Maron Pell sits down with AJC Europe Managing Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen to break down the results from the first round of the French presidential election, why both the far right and far left are a danger to French society and Jews in particular, and why France may be a barometer for the U.S. political landscape. Then, AJC's Director of the Alexander Young Leadership Department Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman joins us to discuss the unprecedented increase in antisemitic activity on campus, which was the focus of this week's University Presidents Summit hosted by AJC, Hillel International, and the American Council on Education (ACE), where college and university leaders gathered from across the United States. ___ Episode Lineup: (0:40) Simone Rodan Benzaquen (16:34) Melanie Maron Pell and Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman  ___ Show Notes: Urge Congress to Stand with Israel AJC's Emergency #StandWithUkraine Fund Urge Congress to Counter Russian Aggression Listen to our latest episode: Solving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A New Perspective Don't forget to subscribe to People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us.

This week on Getting To Know Jew, we talk with Bailey London Nakelsky. Nakelsky is the Associate Vice President of Leadership Giving at Hillel International, a role she took after six years as the executive director of Hillel at the University of Southern California. But two years ago she left California for her new home in Kansas City, so we chat about that journey and the field of Jewish philanthropy.

According to Hillel International, there were 244 anti-Semitic incidents at American campuses reported during the 2020-2021 school year. That's up from 181 incidents the year before, perhaps an especially significant increase given that many students did not convene in person, but instead attended classes online in 2020. In light of such a trend, one might […]

According to Hillel International, there were 244 anti-Semitic incidents at American campuses reported during the 2020-2021 school year. That's up from 181 incidents the year before, perhaps an especially significant increase given that many students did not convene in person, but instead attended classes online in 2020. In light of such a trend, one might hope that the ballooning number of academic administrators hired by colleges and universities to foster a welcoming atmosphere for students of diverse backgrounds would be sensitive to anti-Semitic attitudes. But, according to a new report, a great many university officers seemingly hired to combat anti-Semitic discrimination sympathize with anti-Semitism themselves. The author of that report, Jay Greene, joins this week's podcast. He analyzed the public Twitter feeds of hundreds of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) professionals at 65 different universities and found that, of their over 600 tweets about Israel, 96% of them were critical. That in itself might not constitute anti-Semitism. But, as Greene explains in conversation with Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver, neither does it inspire confidence in how those who are charged with handling anti-Semitic concerns on campus might approach them. Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

Dr. Bianca González-Lesser (they/elle) has spent the last decade centering equity, diversity, and anti-racist praxis in their life and community. A critical sociologist, Bianca recently pivoted their work to the Jewish non-profit sector, where they serve as the Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice at Hillel International. A proud Queer Puerto Rican Jew of Color, Bianca is passionate about equitable spaces that center belonging for all. Tune in to listen to Bianca speak about their experience growing up and living life at the margins of society. 

Rabbis Jessica Lott (Northwestern Hillel) and Charlie Schwartz (Center for Jewish and Israel Education at Hillel International) join Hartman's Director of Campus Initiatives, Danielle Kranjec, to shed light on what has changed in the last, disrupted year of college education. They discuss how generational shifts do and don't inform conversations about Israel, how geography and demographics impact pluralism, and how big the tent is–or should be–on campus.

Libby Walker is known for her parodies on TikTok, most famously as the hilarious Jewish mom Sheryl Cohen (inspired by her own mother). Libby is a comedian and proud Jewish woman who bares it all on social media, using laughter to spread positivity. I am so inspired by Libby's grit, her ability to adapt, and how she gives so much of herself to help others. Libby shares her own original content and also works with tons of companies on TikTok, including Aish, Hillel International, Birthright, and Lost Tribe, the new cool Jewish hub modeled after Bar Stool to create Jewish fun and relatable content. Libby recently started her own podcast, Jewish Mom Approved, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube: https://youtu.be/CwwVQQsPyFs Follow Libby on TikTok and join her 20K+ followers: https://www.tiktok.com/@libbyamberwalker Check out Lost Tribe on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@losttribeesports Follow Libby on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libbyamberwalker/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/melinda-strauss/message

We are in the 7th, and final week of our Omer series featuring spiritual entrepreneurs, people who are bringing the wisdom of their own lived experience into their professional lives and carving new paths, making unique and much needed impact in the world. This week we dive into Malchut, Kingdom, Kingship.In this extended episode, Rabbi Lizzi speaks with Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, the hosts of Judaism Unbound, a renowned and wildly popular podcast in the Jewish podcast universe that analyzes the most pressing and fascinating issues for 21st century American Jews and Judaism. About Dan LibensonDan is the founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future. He’s been the Executive Director of the University of Chicago Hillel and the Director of New Initiatives at Harvard Hillel. He is a 2009 AVI CHAI Fellow (sort of the Jewish McArthur Fellowship) and has also received the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence award, Hillel International's highest professional honor. In 2010, he was named a Jewish Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Jewish News- may its memory be a blessing. He is a Harvard alum, a lawyer, a writer, and a translator of The Orchard, a book by renowned Israeli novelist Yochi Brandes and the translation editor of The Secret Book of Kings by the same author.About Lex RofebergLex serves as Strategic Initiatives Coordinator of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future. He is a graduate of Brown University and a writer featured in in JTA, MyJewishLearning, Jewish Currents, Sh'ma Journal, New Voices, among others. He completed a two-year Education Fellowship at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life and joined the Judaism Unbound team in 2015. He has a certificate in Interfaith Family Jewish Engagement from Hebrew College and is ordained as a rabbi by Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Lex is an educator and an activist in Jewish movements for justice, which have included IfNotNow and Never Again Action. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show and leave a review. As always, we want to hear from you.And to stay connected, follow Mishkan Chicago on Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about us here!About Mishkan ChicagoMishkan is a spiritual community in Chicago reclaiming Judaism’s inspiration and transformative essence. Not bound by a particular location, we create radically inclusive spaces for Jewish spiritual practice and community, engaging, educating, and empowering people across the spectrum of identity, background, age, and belief.

A new VBM interview! Adam Lehman (President of Hillel International) interviewed by Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowtiz. About the Speaker: Adam Lehman serves as Hillel International’s President and CEO. After beginning his career in Mergers and Acquisitions at Skadden, Arps, Lehman spent two decades developing and growing a variety of new technology, marketing and media ventures, including as a Senior Vice President at AOL. Lehman joined Hillel International in 2015, initially serving as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer for four years, prior to being appointed Hillel International’s fifth President and CEO in December of 2019. Lehman graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Dartmouth College and cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He was a Harry S. Truman Scholar. Lehman has served as a board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah and Fair Chance D.C., and as a volunteer at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School and Camp Ramah of New England. He has also been active in the Jewish arts scene, as the author of a series of plays inspired by the Jewish holidays, and as a founding member of the D.C.-based Jewish a cappella group JewKvox.

This episode was recorded on April 13th in the Clubhouse room, How Do You Do? Pod LIVE, where Ben moderated a panel discussion and Q&A on Allyship & Combating Anti-Semitism. Panelists included: * *RABBI SARAH BASSIN* - Associate Rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills ( https://www.instagram.com/templeemanuelbh/?hl=en ) and Board Member (prev. founding exec. director) at NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change ( https://communitypartners.org/project/new-ground-muslim-jewish-partnership-change#:~:text=NewGround:%20A%20Muslim-Jewish%20Partnership,between%20American%20Muslims%20and%20Jews. ). * *RACHEL NILSON RALSTON* - Executive Director at SF Hillel ( http://sfhillel.org/ ). * *DR. MARK ROTENBERG* - VP of University Initiatives & Legal Affairs at Hillel International ( https://hillel.org/ ). * *STEPHEN D. SMITH, PhD* - Executive Director at USC Shoah Foundation ( https://www.instagram.com/uscshoahfoundation/ ) and host of The Memory Generation podcast ( https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-memory-generation/id1553490998 ). How Do You Do? Pod LIVE convenes on Clubhouse. Follow the club to be notified of future events: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/club/how-do-you-do-pod-live

Eric has shaped his career as a singer-songwriter, educator, and community builder with his work around the Jewish world. Over the past decade, he has led programming and performed Jewish music on several continents for organizations such as BBYO, Hillel International, the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, Limmud Festivals, and March of the Living. He has dedicated much of his adulthood to deepening relationships through communal singing, exploring the science and art of making meaningful memories, and facilitating conversations around healthy Jewish masculinity.After moving from Austin, Texas a little over four years ago, Eric has called Tulsa home. As one of the vanguard successes of Tulsa Tomorrow, he has found himself deeply invested in the warmth of the Tulsa Jewish community and is excited to continue to develop his role within it. In his words, “I've lived in nine cities, six states, and two countries. There's something truly special about Tulsa.”

In this wide ranging conversation, Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny talks with Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez, an engaging Jewish educator, dynamic programmer, and passionate community builder. Rabba Melissa works to ensure that our Jewish communal organizations are more intentional - more intentionally Jewish, more intentionally diverse, more intentionally equitable. Rabba Melissa currently serves as the Manager of the Jewish Camp Initiative at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and the Clergy Advisory Chair for MACoM (Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah). She was also amongst the first cohort of women in the Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta’s ACT: Agents of Change Training fellowship and is now a trustee of the fund. (Rabba Melissa is also involved in a number of other local, regional, and national projects.) Rabba Melissa received semikha (rabbinic ordination) from Yeshivat Maharat in 2018 and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois in 2006. She has also learned intensively at Nishmat and Pardes in Jerusalem and worked for JEWISHcolorado, JCC Manhattan, Hillel International, and Global Day of Jewish Learning.

Hillel International allows for emerging adults on college campuses to grow Jewishly within their communities. Committing to a life of providing, Michael offers programming and leadership opportunities to form an impressive set of skills to tomorrow's Jewish leaders.  ------------ GUEST: Michael Rabkin | https://www.hillel.org | mrabkin@hillel.org HOST: Gary S. Cohn | Painted Rock Advisors | (510) 402 - 8877 | paintedrockadvisors@gmail.com ------------ This is a Mr. Thrive Media production. |  www.MrThrive.com |  email: Chaz@MrThrive.com | Facebook, Instagram,  and Twitter:  @mrthrivemedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of the CUFI Middle East Briefing, Kasim sits down with Michelle Rojas-Tal, Central Shlicha to Hillel International and Director of the Jewish Agency Israel Fellows program. Through directing the Jewish Agency Israel Fellows program, Michelle helps to support Jewish college students in today's hostile and challenging environment by encouraging a dynamic and engaging Israeli presence on college campuses. As the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Hispanic father, Michelle grew up in a unique environment and had very little connection to the Jewish world during her childhood. During her junior year of high school, the tragic event of September 11th led to a domino effect that took her eventually to Israel. Over the following years, she began devoting her life to Israel and the Jewish people.

Our second season opens with a conversation with Heather Paul, who is the assistant director of the Springboard Fellowship for Hillel International and the assistant director of the Milton Marks Neuro-Oncology Family Camp. During our conversation, we talk about the many ways she’s worked in the grief space, which most recently includes her work on creating Virtual Memory Circles, and her current enrollment in rabbinical school. Produced by Nick Rumaczyk. Theme music: "P to the A" by Anonymous Novels.

Today's daf is sponsored by Danielle Leeshaw in honor of the wonderful community of daf yomi participants at Hillel International that inspire students and staff to learn and love Talmud study. How does one perform a brit milah on Shabbat if according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, it is not clear until the thirtieth day if the baby will survive? How does one treat a case where one is not sure if a baby is viable (in the terminology of the rabbis - a baby born after eight months is not viable but after seven or nine would be viable - what if it is unclear what month the baby was born?) - do we view the baby as alive for the time is was living, even if it doesn't make it to day 30 or do we view it as if it was never alive? The relevance is in a case where the husband died while the woman was pregnant and they had no other children. If the child is considered to have lived for the time it was alive, she is exempt from levirate marriage. If not, she is obligated. The gemara brings two stories of rabbis whose children died within the first thirty days and they mourned for them. Others did not understand why and they needed to explain themselves. One can see from these stories, raising awareness about the difficulties of those dealing with infant loss/stillborn births. Rabbi Yehuda allows a brit milah on an androgenous/hermaphrodite on Shabbat. Rav Shizbi says that in other places Rabbi Yehuda does not treat an androgenous as a clear male - see for example laws of valuation. 

Today's daf is sponsored by Danielle Leeshaw in honor of the wonderful community of daf yomi participants at Hillel International that inspire students and staff to learn and love Talmud study. How does one perform a brit milah on Shabbat if according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, it is not clear until the thirtieth day if the baby will survive? How does one treat a case where one is not sure if a baby is viable (in the terminology of the rabbis - a baby born after eight months is not viable but after seven or nine would be viable - what if it is unclear what month the baby was born?) - do we view the baby as alive for the time is was living, even if it doesn't make it to day 30 or do we view it as if it was never alive? The relevance is in a case where the husband died while the woman was pregnant and they had no other children. If the child is considered to have lived for the time it was alive, she is exempt from levirate marriage. If not, she is obligated. The gemara brings two stories of rabbis whose children died within the first thirty days and they mourned for them. Others did not understand why and they needed to explain themselves. One can see from these stories, raising awareness about the difficulties of those dealing with infant loss/stillborn births. Rabbi Yehuda allows a brit milah on an androgenous/hermaphrodite on Shabbat. Rav Shizbi says that in other places Rabbi Yehuda does not treat an androgenous as a clear male - see for example laws of valuation. 

ABOUT THIS EPISODE In over 30 years of public service to the Jewish community, Richard Joel led two of the most important institutions in the broader Jewish world: Hillel International and Yeshiva University. His life story offers tremendous lessons in leadership, service and dealing with turbulent times. -------------------- ABOUT THIS PODCAST Jews You Should Know introduces the broader community to interesting and inspiring Jewish men and women making a difference in our world. Some are already famous, some not yet so. But each is a Jew You Should Know. The host, Rabbi Ari Koretzky, is Executive Director of MEOR Maryland (www.meormd.org), a premier Jewish outreach and educational organization. MEOR operates nationally on twenty campuses and in Manhattan; visit the national website at www.meor.org. Please visit www.JewsYouShouldKnow.com, follow us on Twitter @JewsUShouldKnow or on Facebook. Have feedback for the show, or suggestions for future guests? E-mail us at JewsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com. Want to support this podcast? Visit Patreon.com/JewsYouShouldKnow. A small monthly contribution goes a long way!! A special thank you to Jacob Rupp of the Lift Your Legacy podcast for his invaluable production assistance.

Rabbi Sara Rich is the executive director of Hillel of Buffalo. Hillel of Buffalo is affiliated with Hillel International, which serves Jewish college students on over 500 campuses worldwide. Hillel of Buffalo is based at the University at Buffalo and is available to Jewish students at UB, Buffalo State College, and all local campuses. Hillel is a multi-faceted hub of Jewish student life, which helps students connect with one another, live Jewish life and explore Jewish values, and provides opportunities for leadership, community service, travel, and professional development. She is completing her third year as the director here and her 9th year working for Hillel (She was an educator on the Princeton Hillel staff for six years prior). Her work in the past three years has been to work with staff and community volunteers to rebuild this organization to engage a more diverse group of students, to embrace innovation, and to strengthen ties with the local community, alumni, the university, and families.For information on Hillel of Buffalo go to www.hillelofbuffalo.orgFor information on Hillel International go to www.hillel.org

New episodes every morning at 11am. A conversation with Leah Siskin Moz, Director of Wellness at Hillel International, on the effects of COVID-19 on students' well-being. How do we manage our lives during the Coronavirus crisis? How do we keep our sanity? How do we use this quarantine to bring out the best in ourselves? Tune in every day and share your stories with podcast@jewishjournal.com. Follow David Suissa on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

April is a significant time for many major religions. April 23 is the first day of Ramadan, observed by Muslims worldwide. Ramadan begins just as Christians finished their celebration of Easter, and Jews concluded the eight days marking Passover. But because of the coronavirus, these observations were without the familiar settings and rituals. What's more, COVID-19 has stirred deep conversations about faith among believers, and among non-believers' questions about the search for meaning in a pandemic. Guests: Reverend Gloria White-Hammond - Co-pastor of the Bethel AME Church in Boston, Mass., the Swartz resident practitioner in Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and retired pediatrician. Rabbi Jeffrey Summit - Director of the new Hebrew College ‘Innovation Lab,' research professor in the Department of Music and Judaic Studies at Tufts University, and senior consultant for Hillel International. Dr. Celene Ibrahim - Faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the Groton School, former Muslim chaplain at Tufts University, and author of her forthcoming book, "Women and Gender in the Qu'an." Greg Epstein - Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and MIT, author The New York Times bestselling book "Good Without God,” and contributor to TechCrunch. Show Credits: You can find UTR on the web at https://www.wgbh.org/news/under-the-radar-with-callie-crossley Subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. "Under the Radar with Callie Crossley" is produced by Hannah Uebele and engineered by Dave Goodman. Melissa Rosales is our intern. Our theme music is FISH AND CHIPS by #weare2saxys', Grace Kelly and Leo P. Under the Radar is a production of WGBH.

At the core of the word "Chanukah" is the Hebrew word for education: "chinuch". To celebrate, Alan and Mike brought the Director of Makom, Abi Dauber Sterne, into the recording studio. They reflected on what they do. What is Makom? Why has Israel education become more centrally important than ever? What are the principles and methods that Makom believes in? What Israel knowledge do today's young Jews want? What are our challenges for the future? Join us! Abi Dauber Sterne comes to Makom after 7 years as the VP for Jewish Education at Hillel International. Previous positions have included Director of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows, founding Director of Limmud NY, and planning executive at UJA-Federation of NY. Abi has a passion for creating frameworks and programs to strengthen pluralistic Jewish life around the world. She lives with her husband and four children in Jerusalem. This episode was recorded by the amazing Ben Wallick Studios. Ben is the best! Makom Israel Teachers Lounge is a weekly podcast produced by Matt Lipman, and hosted by Michael Unterberg and Alan Goldman. Makom Website Facebook page Please subscribe, listen to more episodes, and let us know what you think! We are happy to take topic requests and questions. And please rate and review us on Apple. Recommend us to friends.

Parenting as spiritual practice, the complexity of cultural appropriation, and the challenging work of intersectionality and feminism today. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is an award-winning author and writer. She was named by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of ten “rabbis to watch,” by the Forward as one of the top 50 most influential women rabbis, and called a “wunderkund of Jewish feminism” by Publishers Weekly. She written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Salon, Time, and many other publications, and contributes regularly to The Washington Post and The Forward. She has been featured on NPR a number of times, as well as in The Atlantic, USA Today, NBC News, MTV News, Upworthy, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Al Jazeera America, Reese Witherspoon’s podcast How It Is, and elsewhere. She is the author of seven books; Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting (Flatiron Books), which a the National Jewish Book Award finalist and PJ Library Parents’ Choice selection; Surprised By God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion (Beacon Press), nominated for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature and a Hadassah Book Club selection. Her other books include The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism (NYU Press), Yentl’s Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism (Seal Press), and, with Rabbi Elliot Dorff, three books for the Jewish Publication Society’s Jewish Choices/Jewish Voices series: Sex and Intimacy, War and National Security, and Social Justice. She is an avid Twitter user (@TheRaDR), with more than 80,000 followers. She worked as a freelance writer before her ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2008, and has since served as rabbi and educator at Tufts and Northwestern Universities, for Hillel International, for the dialogue project Ask Big Questions and Avodah, an organization dedicated to creating leaders for economic justice.

Imagine being the reason that your friend meets his wife or her husband. That would make you feel incredible right? You might be a best man or even a maid of honor. Now Imagine that you have been the reason that tens of thousands of people have gotten married and most of them have never met you. Meet, David Yarus, the founder of JSwipe, the largest Jewish dating app with more than a million users worldwide, which has successfully led to thousands of Jewish marriages and a whole lot of millennial Jewish love. He has recently stepped into the role of global ambassador at Jdate, broadening his focus to think about Jewish love for our parents and grandparents generations as well! David is also the founder of MLLNNL, a social and creative agency that helps global brands and Jewish non-profits like Taglit-Birthright Israel, Hillel International, Schusterman Foundation and The Israeli Consulate understand and engage the millennial consumer. David is inspired by human connection, millennial empowerment, and all things pertaining to the future.This is more than a conversation between two friends. David and I discuss how his interest in connecting people around the world goes even farther than J Date. Connect with InstagramLinkedInDownload J Swipe Don't forget to subscribe to The Great Day PodcastYou can watch the full episode on YouTubeAnd be sure to follow my Instagram page and Facebook page to stay up to date on everything I'm working on.I'm Meir Kay and Have A Great Day! Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where are the Women in the Hanukah Story? A conversation with Rabbi Jessica Lott from Hillel International and Rabbi Sarah Tasman, Founder and CEO of the Tasman Center for Jewish Creativity, we explore female connections to Hanukah through the ritual of lighting candles and through the story of Judith. It is in the retelling and talking about Judith that the question arises: how do we talk about Judith today and connect ourselves as females, to her story?

What is the power of questions? Rabbi Feigelson discusses how the right kind of questions can unlock conversation and community. Rabbi Joshua Feigelson is the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Prior to joining the Divinity School, Feigelson founded and served as Executive Director of Ask Big Questions, a social startup venture of Hillel International dedicated to improving civic learning and engagement through reflective conversations about questions that matter to all human beings. Under Feigelson’s leadership, the Ask Big Questions initiative helped over 300,000 people on 175 college campuses and in dozens of communities around the world to connect, understand, and trust one another, and won the inaugural Lippman-Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom. From 2005-2011, Feigelson served as Campus Rabbi at Northwestern University Hillel, where he was named one of the top 12 people to know on campus by the Daily Northwestern. While at Northwestern, Feigelson earned a PhD in Religious Studies; his academic interests include the intersection of American religion and higher education, with particular interest on the relationship between American Jewish life and American colleges and universities. The author of several book chapters and journal articles, Feigelson has been a keynote presenter and lecturer at numerous conferences, served on faculty for programs of a range of foundations and institutes, and been a scholar-in-residence at synagogues throughout North America.

Talent Development: Mimi Kravetz, Chief Talent Officer, discusses her experience creating this new department and managing professional development opportunities for staff at campuses spread around the world. Read Mimi's full bio, get links to Hillel International, find other episodes, explore podcast partners, learn how to start your own podcast, or send us your guest suggestions at www.itswhoyouknowthepodcast.com Have a great week!

Israel Draws Red Line Against Syria, I.S.   Prime Minister Netanyahu has just issued a major warning to Syria after it launched missiles at Israeli jets. Israeli jets launched a counter-attack on Syria, after an anti-aircraft battery launched missiles at Israel Air Force planes returning from an intelligence mission in Lebanon.     ISIS Capital In Syria Falls To Coalition Forces   Syrian troops backed by the U.S. have completely driven the Islamic State from their capital of Raqqa in Syria. With Russian minister in Israel, Netanyahu says Israel won't accept Iran in Syria.     Israel Sets Up ‘Red Lines' With Syria   Dr. Martin Sherman, Founder & Executive Director of the IISS speaking at ILTV studio to discuss the recent rise in tensions in Syria.   Israel Busts Hamas Army Boots Hidden In Slippers   The Israeli crossing authority recently discovered a massive shipment of army boots en route to the Hamas army disguised in a shipment of fluffy, emoji-faced footwear.   Netanyahu: ‘We Will Keep Ties With P.A.'   The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has reportedly told his closest security council that Israel will not break ties with the Palestinian Authority over the reconciliation, however, it won't recognize the reconciliation deal.     Israel Approves New Jewish Homes In Hebron   For the first time in fifteen years, Israel has reportedly just approved the construction of thirty-one new Jewish homes in the city of Hebron.     Israel Drops Idea For Jewish American Database   Israeli government halts controversial plan to establish a database of every single Jewish-American college students in the US after Hillel International threated to drop all ties with Israel if they went ahead.     Israel Takes Renewed Stance On Health In Fashion   Israel is about to introduce new fines that seek to halt the dangerous trend of agencies that encourage dangerously underweight models on the runway.     The Future Is Coming. Get Connected   Dan Zajicek, CEO of Gilat Telecom speaking at ILTV studio about the Israeli company Gilat Telecom that is providing internet connectivity to millions of people across the Middle East and Africa.     Shocking Discovery Unearthed Beneath The Kotel   A massive section of the Western Wall has just been unearthed revealing a stadium that experts believe may be Jerusalem's ‘lost theater'.   Construction Of Light Rail System Is On Schedule   ILTV's Emanuelle Kadosh reporting on the new light rail that Israel is set to launch that will link Tel Aviv and the surrounding cities.     Hebrew word Of The Day: KAV | קו = LINE   Learn a new Hebrew word every day. Today's word is "kav" which means "line"     The Weather Forecast   Tonight will be clear to partly cloudy with a low of sixty-six or nineteen degrees Celsius. Tomorrow is expected to be clear with a high of eighty-five or twenty-nine degrees Celsius. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Fingerhut joins us for a fascinating conversation covering his life journey and professional arc as a United States Congressman, The Ohio State University Chancellor and President of Hillel International. Eric shares amusing anecdotes - such as his role in the Cleveland Browns departing town - as well as more poignant reflections of hearing Nelson Mandela address a joint session of Congress, and standing on the White House lawn for the signing of the Oslo Accords. Eric also tackles head-on his dreams of Jewish unity, his passion for collegiate Jewish life, and the challenges he faces at the helm of the world's largest organization dedicated to this population. --- Jews You Should Know introduces the broader community to interesting and inspiring Jewish men and women making a difference in our world. Some are already famous, some not yet so. But each is a Jew You Should Know. The host, Rabbi Ari Koretzky, is Executive Director of MEOR Maryland (www.meormd.org), a premier Jewish outreach and educational organization. MEOR operates nationally on twenty campuses and in Manhattan; visit the national website at www.meor.org. Please visit www.JewsYouShouldKnow.com, follow us on Twitter @JewsUShouldKnow or on Facebook. Want to support this podcast? Visit Patreon.com/JewsYouShouldKnow. A small monthly contribution goes a long way!! Have feedback for the show, or suggestions for future guests? E-mail us at JewsYouShouldKnow@gmail.com. A special thank you to Jacob Rupp of the Lift Your Legacy podcast for his invaluable production assistance.

Avraham Infeld, President Emeritus of Hillel International (http://www.hillel.org/, presents his lecture "Welcoming the New Jewish Family" before audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. Event in partnership with HoneymoonIsrael (http://www.honeymoonisrael.org/) DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP For more info, please visit: www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/ www.facebook.com/honeymoonisraelfoundation www.facebook.com/temple.chai twitter.com/VBMTorah www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/

Today on Balanced Living For Busy Professionals Diane talks to Ori Shavit. Ori’s life is all about a passion for food, photographing it, learning how it was prepared and where it comes from and generally, the entire food culture. During that time, she eagerly ate almost any kind of animal on this planet. Today she shares with Diane the change in her life that led her to become vegan and the joy of vegan food. It’s not deprivation. Vegan eating is robust, tasty, soul satisfying, sustainable and responsible. Diane and Ori cover how they both became vegan and happily so in spite of big food business, and a vegan food desert in Ori’s native Israel. Big food business tells consumers they need to eat meat, processed foods, high sugar food, and we’re flooded with information we don’t really understand and people are addicted to the sugar and chemicals in the food being advertised.  Ask yourself – how did your food get to your plate? Who suffered for it? Who died? What does it have in it? What is the impact on the environment? On your body? Today, Diane covers all these questions with her guest Ori Shavit.  Ori will be on lecture tour to colleges around the US in spring 2016 in collaboration between Hillel International and Jewish Veg organizations.   How to reach Ori: http://vegansontop.co.il/about-vegans-on-top/ Ori's Tedx Talk http://vegansontop.co.il/english-version-coming-soon/   Contact Diane feedback@dianerandallconsults.com Website http://www.dianerandallconsults.com Leave Comment or Voice Mail http://www.balanced-living-for-busy-professionals.com