How do you face hate?

How do you face hate? It is a question that has been on my mind for years (my first ever Times of Israel blog “I read the news. And my heart hurts.” certainly is proof of that). So, when I was invited back to ISGAP-Oxford Summer Institute for Curriculum Development in Critical Contemporary Antisemitism Studies after having attended via Zoom while in graduate school (and after my husband predicted I’d regret it if I didn’t go), I started picturing myself at Oxford. While no longer an academic (I completed my two master’s degrees two years ago), I could not refuse the opportunity to join this gathering of academics staring antisemitism in the face.

About the time I decided to attend, I also accepted a position as director of education and advocacy resources for Hadassah. My association with Hadassah, including as an employee of the Ein Karem hospital in the 1990s and as a volunteer and board member after my return to the US, allowed me to envision the reach I could have with this role. What if I could take what I learn and bring it to the women of Hadassah, each of whom is a member of the larger Jewish community.

Perhaps I could figure out how to face hate.

Meanwhile, as autumn approaches, many Jewish college students – and their mothers – are beginning to worry about what kids will face as they return to campus. These fears are not baseless. Students for Justice in Palestine ran a six-week summer school to prepare students for their fall anti-Israel activities, Young Democratic Socialists of America are promoting student strikes and, more to the point, as Higher Ed reports, schools themselves are bracing for confrontation rather than taking the opportunity to tackle actually educating their students.

Given the hostility this past spring, it makes sense that Jewish and Israeli students and faculty are anxious now. Recent news does not help: UCLA actually criticized a ruling which said the school can’t allow Jewish students to be barred from spaces on campus and the American Association of University Professors dropped its 20 year opposition to academic boycotts, opening the door to allowing Israeli universities become academic pariahs. Dr. Tabia Lee, a Black woman who had been hired to lead DEI efforts at a California college, responded to concerns about campus antisemitism by bringing in Jewish speakers; the school neither supported it nor her and ultimately fired her. Perhaps more chillingly, a July 31 post from UNC-Chapel Hill’s SJP shared and endorsed statements which among other things condoned resistance by any means, “including armed rebellion” both in Palestine and “in the imperialist core.” This is an outright threat. At the same time, Community Security Service are gearing up to train Jewish students on 20 campuses in self-defense. I am not sure how I feel about that. “Apprehensive” seems appropriate.

Faculty too feels threatened.

One professor I met while attending ISGAP shared how he approached his administration with a well-developed curriculum for a course about antisemitism. First, the department head discouraged him, “it could harm your career,” and then denied him the request outright. He was told, essentially, that this was not something the department wanted to get into as it could harm education about other biases.

And now there is the lawsuit that six City University of New York professors are asking the US Supreme Court to hear. New York law forces them to be represented by a union which they do not want to be associated with. “The core issue in this case is straightforward: can the government force Jewish professors to accept the representation of an advocacy group they rightly consider to be anti-Semitic?”

This is where we are today.

To be able to spend two weeks at ISGAP meant I not only heard first-hand stories about situations on campuses in the US, Europe and elsewhere, but also attended some three dozen lectures on antisemitism, its history, its manifestations, its impact. Nathan Sharansky, chair of ISGAP, delivered his keynote about his 3D litmus test on antisemitism – demonization, delegitimization and double standards – which has long rung true for me. For two entire weeks, we immersed ourselves in learning, and the last two days we worked on and presented our own curricula. In my role at Hadassah, instead of semester courses, I designed modules, envisioning a model in which we offer a series of one-to-two-hour standalone lessons of which chapters and groups can avail themselves. For each session, a member will act as facilitator for fellow members. And attendees will return home with knowledge they can share with families and friends.

As I brainstorm the wraparound elements – a script, a quiz, visuals and the like as well as evaluations and marketing materials – I also reflect back on the “a ha moments” that illuminated my time at ISGAP. The first pertained to “why the Jews,” why have Jews been targeted since time immemorial. The other pertained to how and why the existence of Israel is intrinsic to Jewish identity. Both of these ideas were developed and made their way into the proposed modules…and will appear in future blogs.

But besides concrete information from the plethora of presentations we attended and the flashes of inspiration that came from synthesizing all that I learned and thought about, I walked away from ISGAP with one other amazing asset: a network of people from different disciplines and fields, brought together by our common concern about the swelling of global antisemitism and desire to do something about it. I was also very pleased to count among the attendees a number of Hadassah members.

ISGAP’s mission statement explains how a “key element of the ISGAP mission is to develop the study of critical contemporary antisemitism studies, and ensure that it becomes an accepted component of university education and curriculum, as well as policy development,” but as we look at the professor who was told that teaching about antisemitism on his campus is unacceptable and the CUNY professors who are being forced to be represented by an antisemitic union, I can’t help but wonder if ISGAP’s goal is further away than it was when it started out.

I hope not.

I also hope that those of us who attended the Institute and are not in academia – there were also documentarians and non-Jewish theologians – are able to affect change in our own spheres.

Hadassah The Zionist Women’s Organization of America Inc. is made up of almost 300,000 women, many of whom have experienced antisemitism themselves. Knowing this, Hadassah is asking women to take our survey and share their personal experiences with antisemitism during this unprecedented time. The idea is to publish a short report afterwards with this information to help show Congress, the media and more how antisemitism is impacting women.

Among Hadassah’s membership are mothers and grandmothers of college students. One of the modules I have planned will focus on sharing the critical tools needed for those different generations to navigate conversations with each other about Zionism. Dialogue can take place when people want to engage with each other.

The pictures from last spring – of confrontation and of hostility towards Jewish and Israeli students and staff on campuses – were anything but engaging. And this brings us back to an earlier point: As autumn approaches, many Jewish college students – and their mothers – are beginning to worry about what kids will face as they return to campus.

The Hashkiveinu blessing is a prayer which asks for safety from harm. May all our returning students and faculty be safe.

הַשְׁכִּיבֵנוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ לְשָׁלוֹם וְהַעֲמִידֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לְחַיִּים

וּפְרוֹשׂ עָלֵינוּ סֻכַּת שְׁלוֹמֶךָ
וְתַקְּנֵנוּ בְּעֵצָה טוֹבָה מִלְּפָנֶיךָ
וְהוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ לְמַעַן שְׁמֶךָ
וְהָגֵן בַּעֲדֵנוּ. וְהָסֵר מֵעָלֵינוּ אוֹיֵב דֶּבֶר וְחֶרֶב וְרָעָב וְיָגוֹן
וְהָסֵר שָׂטָן מִלְּפָנֵינוּ וּמֵאַחֲרֵינוּ
וּבְצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ תַּסְתִּירֵנוּ
כִּי אֵל שׁוֹמְרֵנוּ וּלְשָׁלוֹם מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ הַפּוֹרֵשׂ סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל יְרוּשָׁלָיִם

Lay us down, LORD God, in peace, and raise us up again, our King, to [new] life.

Spread over us Your tabernacle of peace,
And guide us with Your good counsel.
Save us for Your name’s sake.
Shield us from every enemy, plague, sword, famine, and sorrow.
Remove the adversary from before and behind us.
Shelter us in the shadow of Your wings,
Guard (our going out and our coming in, and grant us life) and peace, now and always.

Blessed are You, LORD, who spreads Your tabernacle of peace over us, And over all His people Israel and over Jerusalem.

(Translation source)