#openhillel

[treyfpodcast]

Episode 16 - Mizrahi-Palestinian Solidarity with Sigal Samuel

...Your episode of TREYF for the 20th of Adar II 5776

On this week’s episode: we cleared the air on statements made about Jewish hockey players, condemned the Canadian Jewish News’ questionable news coverage, and talked about grogger’s (yet again). We spoke with +972 journalist Mairav Zonszein about what got lost in the conversations about Trump’s speech at the AIPAC conference. Shkoyakhs were given to BDS activists in Oshawa, Ontario, and to a robot who infiltrated an Open Hillel event. Sigal Samuel, the Forward’s Opinion Editor, joined us for the Interview. We talked about Mizrahi-Palestinian Solidarity, and the popularity of intersectionality in the North American Jewish press.  Our recommendation goes to the Independent Jewish Voices' Statement of Support for the Blacks Students Network at McGill University.

Show Notes

Introduction

The CJN- Anti-Zionist Group Protests Lectures By Far-Right UK Politician

Independent Jewish Voices- Denounces Islamophobic Event and Silence of Canadian Jewish Establishment

The Montreal Gazette - Mike Brown finds fit as 'big brother' for Canadiens

The Forward - The Strange and Violent History of the Ordinary Grogger  

News 1: AIPAC not Trump with Mairav Zonszein

972- American Jews should protest AIPAC, not Trump

The CJN- JNF Cancels Mike Huckabee's Ottawa Negev Dinner Speech

Shkoykah

JewSchool - Open Hillel: Drone by StandWithUs polices thought at Brown University [Updated]

JewSchool -StandWithUs response to Open Hillel statement on “the robot”

The CJN- Pro Israel Group Barred from "Social Justice Week" At Oshawa University

The Interview - Sigal Samuel

The Forward- The Mizrahi-Palestinian Intersectionality Nobody’s Talking About

972 -Meet the Mizrahi activists who support the Joint List

The Forward- In Jewish Color

Recommendation

Independent Jewish Voices Canada-Statement of Support for the Black Students Network at McGill University

[jewsnotfundedbysheldonadelson]

but how can we teach children about Judaism without help from Sheldon Adelson?

[jewsnotfundedbysheldonadelson]

Elena says:

Last week, the strangest thing happened.  I was at a Shabbat potluck and my friend asked me to make kiddish.  For a moment, I was like “what? participate in a Jewish endeavor without any funding from Sheldon Adelson?  How will I do that?” But then, I just opened my mouth, and -- guess what?  The words for kiddish just came out!  I never realized that I could do that without the support of a billionaire before.  Now I’m thinking that I could get really out there and leyn or build a sukkah or something without first submitting a grant proposal to several wealthy donors!

well done, Elena, well done.  you are an inspiration to us all.

[openhillel]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Guilford College Hillel Declares itself an Open Hillel

April 2, 2015 --  Early Thursday morning, Guilford College Hillel declared that it is now an open Hillel, becoming the fourth Jewish campus community to do so.  In response, Open Hillel’s Steering Committee has issued the following statement:

“Open Hillel applauds the students of Guilford Hillel for bravely declaring their community to be open to all Jewish students and free discourse about Israel/Palestine. With this decision to become open, Guilford Hillel has demonstrated that it is committed to building a pluralistic Jewish community. In the wake of Hillel International’s rash legal threats against Swarthmore College’s Hillel, Guilford’s opening demonstrates that Jewish students will not be deterred from creating vibrant communities of open discussion.

“Hillel International’s exclusionary Standards of Partnership continue to exclude and marginalize Jewish students on campus.The leaders of Guilford Hillel -- like those at Swarthmore, Vassar, and Wesleyan before them -- are furthering Hillel’s stated mission of making Jewish life truly accessible to all Jewish students by declaring that the Standards of Partnership run counter to the needs of their community.  

“We call upon Hillel International to respect the student leadership of Guilford Hillel and prioritize inclusive communities over the political agenda of right-wing donors. Hillel International has a chance to show that it has learned from its mistakes and the immense backlash that it has received over the last several weeks. Open Hillel stands ready to work with Hillel International and students everywhere to create communities that can belong to us all. We hope that Hillel International will support Jewish student leaders who rightfully prioritize the needs of their Jewish campus community.   We further hope that Hillel International will seize this opportunity to shift from pursuing legal actions against its students to supporting local leaders’ efforts to serve all Jewish students.

Open Hillel’s national Communications Coordinator Caroline Morganti, a junior at MIT, commented, “I commend the Guilford Jewish community’s decision. Having first met a delegation of Guilford students at the Open Hillel conference, I know that this has been a months-long communal conversation for them.  I’m thrilled that they have taken this step.”

[openhillel]

Jewish Professionals stand with Swarthmore Jewish students!

(Do you work in the Jewish world or are otherwise a Jewish communal leader? Add your name here!)

“As Jewish professionals and leaders committed to making Jewish life flourish, we call upon Hillel International and Eric Fingerhut to stop driving students out of the Hillel community. By threatening Swarthmore's Jewish community with legal action, Hillel International is wasting valuable resources that could be used to engage Jewish students instead of pushing them away. Hillel’s mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. We urge Hillel International to return to its mission.

We stand in support of the students involved with the Open Hillel movement and the Swarthmore Jewish Community, fighting for inclusive and politically pluralistic Jewish communities on college campuses. We are deeply disappointed in the actions that Hillel International has taken against these motivated Jewish students.

We, the undersigned hope that Hillel International will prioritize its students over its donors and live up to Hillel’s esteemed name.”

Rabbi Richard Levy, Former Director of UCLA Hillel, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Ph.D, The Shalom Center, Philladelphia, PA

Ilana Sumka, Center for Jewish Nonviolence, Washington, DC

David Tulin, Former Philadelphia, BJE, Past Chair, Philadelphia Zionist Federation, Philadelphia, PA

Richard Goldwasser, J Street, Chicago, IL

Marjorie Dove Kent, Director Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, New York, New York

Dorothy M. Zellner, New York City, NY

Ira Grupper, New Jewish Agenda, Louiseville, KY

Larry Rubin, Washington, DC

Mark Levy, New York City, NY

David Herris Gershon, Pittsburgh, PA

Gideon Aronoff, New Jersey

Simone Zimmerman, Former J Street U National President, If Not Now Founding Member, Brooklyn, NY

Martin R. Federman, Former Hillel Director and Jewish Chaplain, Northeastern University, Somerville, MA

Moriel Rothman-Zecher, Former President Middlebury Hillel, Tel Aviv

Ben Meiselman, Ameinu, Ann Arbor, MI

Andrew Gordon-Kirsch, The New School, New York NY

Professor Amy Kaplan, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Professor Barbara Mann, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, NY

Professor Daniel Segal, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA

Professor David Biale, UC Davis, Berkeley, CA

Professor Emeritus Alan J Weisbard, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Professor Hasia Diner, New York, NY 

Professor Terry Winograd, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Professor Irene Tucker, University of California, Irvine,Irvine, CA

Professor Lawrence S. Moss, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Professor Naomi Koltun-Fromm, Haverford College, Haverford, PA

Professor Seth L. Sanders, Hartford, CT

Professor Todd Gitin, Columbia University, New York, NY

Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Professor Irene Tucker, University of California, Irvine, Los Angeles, CA

Professor Irwin Sandler, Arizona State University, Temple Chai, Phoenix, AZ

Distinguished Professor Eric Alterman, Brooklyn College, CUNY, New York, NY

Professor David Kader, Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Tempe, AZ

Professor Jeffry V. Mallow, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL

Professor Roger Waldinger, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

Professor Robert Rosen, University of Miami School of Law, Miami, FL

Professor David Abraham, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL

Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Professor, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Rabbi Alana Suskin, Rockville, MD

Rabbi Becky Silverstein

Rabbi Dr. Barbara Shulamit Thiede, Charlotte, NC

Rabbi Drorah Setel, Kehillah Buffalo, Swarthmore College '78, Buffalo, NY

Rabbi Edward J. Klein, Queens Community for Cultural Judaism, Queens, NY

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Joseph Berman, Boston, MA

Rabbi Joseph Kolakowski

Rabbi Linda Holtzman, Jewish Voice for Peace, Philadelphia, PA

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Shomeret Shalom Rabbinic School and Learning Center, Berkeley, CA

Rabbi Maralee Gordon, Crystal Lake, IL

Rabbi Michael Lerner, Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, Berkeley, CA 

Rabbi Moti Rieber, Lawrence, KS

Rabbi Rebecca Lillian 

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, New York, NY

Rabbi Tzipi Radonsky

Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Pomona, CA

Rabbi, Upper Gwynedd, PA

Ariana Katz, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Philadelphia, PA

Aryeh Bernstein, Mishkan Chicago/Jewschool.com, Chicago, IL

B. Ever Hanna, Kol Tzedek, Philadelphia, PA

Dr. Jeffrey Shoulson, Center for Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Ben Lorber, Chicago, IL

Cantorial Soloist Susan Glickman, Temple Beth Avodah, Newton, MA

Daniel Sieradski, Founder and editor at large of Jewschool.com, Syracuse, NY

Alfredo Roldan Flores, Temple Shalom, Newton, MA

Leanne Gale, Former J Street U & Reform Jewish Community Co-President, Penn Hillel, Washington, DC

David Meyer, Habonim Dror North America, Brooklyn NY

David N. Goodman, Oak Park, MI

Diane L. Wolf, Ph.D., University of California, Davis, CA

Dr. Dov Waxman, Boston, MA

Dr. Hanna Chusid, Ed.D, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Henry Greenspan, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Dr. Shirley Rausher, New York, New York

Eric Wilmer, Columbia-Barnard Hillel, New York, NY

Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Tel Aviv, Israel

Eric Wimer, Columbia-Barnard Hillel, New York, NY

Erica Sigmon, Brooklyn, NY

Estee Chandler, Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles, CA

Franny Silverman, Brooklyn, NY

Gidon D. Remba, Jewish Alliance for Change, New York, NY

Hannah Frank, Hillel Chapter President, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA

Hayyim Feldman, Boston, MA

Hillary Kunins, New York, NY

Jacob Silverman, Orange County, CA

Jay Clayton, Swarthmore, PA

Jimmy Taber, New York, NY

Jonathan Rich, Los Angeles, CA

Judith Gelman, Chair

Larry Moskowitz, The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, New York, NY

Larry Saltzman, M.A.

Laynie Soloman, Rabbinical Student, Hebrew College, Boston, MA

Leah Zimmerman, Temple Beth Israel of Pomona, Pomona, CA

Lex Rofes, Former Hillel International Student Rep, Jackson, MS

Mackenzie Reynolds, Philadelphia, PA

Maia Ettinger, Esq., Guilford, CT

Max Rosen-Long, M.S.Ed, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Philadelphia, PA

Maya Paris-Saper, Jewish Educator Habonim Dror, New York, NY

Michael Levin, Ph.D., Chicago, IL

Mónica Gomery, Rabbinical Student, Hebrew College, Boston, MA

Neal Feldman, Denver, CO

Paul Glaze, Red Hare Media, Atlanta, Georgia 

Rabbinical Student Leora Abelson, Hebrew College Rabbinical School, Boston, MA

Rabbinical Student Marisa Elana James, Senior Organizer, RRC / T'ruah, New York, NY

Rabbinical Student Jeremy Sher, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel

Rabbinical Student Joseph Gindi, Hebrew College, Boston, MA

Rachel Biale, Berkeley, CA

Rebecca Ennen, Washington, DC

Samantha Brotman, Champaign, IL

Sarah Snyder, Former Ohio State University Hillel Member, Boston, MA

Sean Segal

Susan Landau, Philadelphia, PA

Ted Greenwood, Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Miriam Grossman, Rabbinical Student, Hebrew College, Boston, MA

Abigail Weber

Rebecca Ennen, Washington, DC

Shelly Fisher Fishkin

Daniel Kaplan, Chicago, IL

Irene Lehrer Sandalow

Alanna Kleinman, Jackson, MS

Robert W. Snyder, Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ

Edward Goldstein, Newton Centre, MA

Hannah Ellenson, San Francisco, CA

Ernst Benjamin, Silver Spring, MD

Robert Jennings, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Anonymous, Philadelphia, PA

Anonymous, New York, NY

Anonymous, Oakland, CA

[openhillel]

Statement on Hillel International’s Legal Threats Against Swarthmore Hillel

Open Hillel is outraged that Hillel International threatened to pursue legal action against Swarthmore College in response to Swarthmore Hillel’s invitation to hear Jewish civil rights veterans speak.

Forced to decide between creating their own programming and remaining Hillel-affiliated, Swarthmore Hillel students chose autonomy. Instead of buckling under pressure and intimidation from Hillel International's legal team, Swarthmore Jewish students held fast in their commitment to openness and inclusivity by continuing to host Ira Grupper, Mark Levy, Larry Rubin, and Dorothy Zellner.

Hillel International’s mission is to engage Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. Instead of providing meaningful Jewish experiences that work towards achieving these goals, Hillel International is stifling Jewish life on campus and actively driving students away. Hillel International has a unique ability to engage young Jews. Instead, they have chosen to devote valuable resources to pursue legal action against their own students.  

Rather than empower young Jews who are working to create meaningful programming, Hillel International has tried to bully them into silence. As students involved in our Hillels around the country, we demand an immediate halt to any attempts to legally blackmail our peers and ask that supporters of openness in the American Jewish community join us in actively expressing our shame in Hillel International’s actions.

[openhillel]

Open Hillel Announces Rabbinical Council

We are excited to welcome the following sixty-nine rabbis, cantors, and rabbinical students to our newly-formed rabbinical council!  We thank them for their support and commend them for their dedication to pluralism and an open Jewish community, inclusive of all Jews: religious Zionists, progressive Zionists, secular Zionists, non-Zionists, anti-Zionists, and more.

All of the members signed the following statement:

"In the spirit of an open Jewish community, I commit to upholding the sacred Jewish principle of machloket leshem shamayim. I will not lend my name or my authority to any initiative that bars any Jewish individual or organization a place in the Jewish community on account of their beliefs or positions on Israel/Palestine. I accept that there is a range of opinion on Israel in the Jewish community, including BDS and non-Zionist Judaism. While I may agree or disagree with all or parts of these positions, I cannot agree to censor them or deny those who hold them the right to be heard in the Jewish community as Jews. Therefore, I support and endorse the Open Hillel campaign as well as similar initiatives to 'Open' Jewish Community Centers, Jewish schools, synagogues, and other Jewish institutions to be inclusive of the range of perspectives on Israel-Palestine that exist in the Jewish community."

Signed:

Rabbi Richard Levy, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Rabbi Alana Suskin

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, New York, New York

Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari

Rabbinical Student Ariel Tarash

Rabbi Barbara Shulamit Thiede

Rabbi Becky Silverstein

Rabbi Borukh Goldberg

Rabbi Brant Rosen, Chicago, IL

Rabbi Bruce Elder

Rabbinical Student Bryan Mann

Rabbi Burt Jacobson

Rabbi Caryn Broitman, Vineyard Haven, MA

Rabbi David Basior, Seattle, WA

Rabbi David Cooper

Rabbinical Student David N. Goodman, Philadelphia, PA

Rabbi Douglass Goldhamer

Rabbi Dov Noily

Rabbi Edward J. Klein

Rabbinical Student Elizabeth Goldstein

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann

Rabbi Gerald Serotta

Rabbi Gila Colman Ruskin

Rabbi Isaac Serotta

Cantor Jan Mahler

Rabbi Jeffrey Falick, Royal Oak, Michigan

Rabbinical Student Jeremy Daniel Sher

Rabbinical Student Jessica Rosenberg

Rabbi Joey Wolf

Rabbi John Friedman

Rabbi Joseph Berman

Rabbinical Student Joseph Gindi

Rabbi Lauren Grabelle-Herman

Rabbinical Student, New York, NY 

Rabbi Laurence Edwards

Rabbinical Student Laynie Soloman

Rabbinical Student Leora Abelson

Rabbinical Student Lex Rofes

Rabbi Linda Holtzman

Rabbi Maralee Gordon

Rabbinical Student Marisa Elana James

Rabbi Meryl Crean

Cantor Michael Davis

Rabbi Michael Lerner

Rabbinical Student Miriam Levia Grossman

Rabbinical Student Mónica Gomery

Rabbi Moti Rieber

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kramer

Rabbi Nina Mandel

Rabbi Phyllis Berman

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

Rabbi Rebecca Lillian

Rabbi Roy Furman, Chicago, IL

Rabbinical Student Salem Pearce

Rabbinical Student Sarah Barasch-Hagans

Rabbinical Student Sarah Noyovitz

Cantor Scott Simon

Rabbinical Student Shahar Colt

Rabbi Shai Gluskin

Rabbi Shaul Magid

Rabbi Shifrah Tobacman

Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg

Rabbi Shoshana Friedman

Rabbi Steve P. Nathan

Rabbi Suzanne Griffel

Rabbinical Student Trisha Arlin

Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer

Rabbi Susan Averbach, Society for Humanistic Judaism, San Francisco, CA

Rabbinical Student Mackenzie Tzvia Reynolds

If you are a rabbi, cantor, or rabbinical/cantorial student who would like to add your name to this list, please do so here.  Also, feel free to email [email protected] with questions, or email founder and president of the Open Hillel Rabbinical Council, Cantor Michael Davis, [email protected].

[openhillel]

Statement on Hillel International CEO Eric Fingerhut's Withdrawal from J Street Conference

Open Hillel condemns Hillel International CEO Eric Fingerhut’s decision to boycott the J Street Conference due to the presence of Saeb Erekat,  the Palestinian diplomat who negotiated the Oslo accords with Israel. Hillel International recently boasted about its ability to “disagree constructively,” but Fingerhut’s actions suggest otherwise. His decision to go back on his commitment to speak to over 1,000 students because of the presence of a voice with whom he does not agree is cowardly and hypocritical.

Hillel needs to realize that J Street U students, integral parts of their campus Jewish communities, are not pawns in the fight against BDS. They are liberal Zionist anti-occupation activists that deserve Fingerhut’s presence as much as the activists of groups to their right like AIPAC as well as those further left such as Jewish Voice for Peace. Fingerhut’s decision to cancel his speech is yet another instance of the interests of right-wing donors being prioritized over those of students.  The fact that Eric Fingerhut attended the Christians United for Israel conference but declined the opportunity to speak to nearly 1000 Jewish students shows the deeply misplaced priorities of the President for the Center for Jewish Life on Campus.

As Hillel International spokesman David Eden reminds us, the Standards of Partnership are at the heart of the problem. By declaring that those who “apply a double standard to Israel” are beyond the pale, Hillel International sends a strong message to students who oppose Israel’s occupation.Today, we have received a painful reminder of who is and who is not welcome in Hillel International’s tent. We at Open Hillel stand in solidarity with the students of J Street U and all other groups, irrespective of political affiliation, who demand their rightful place at the Jewish communal table.