And yet, in the Biblical Pesach story, Rasha is not left behind. The entire Jewish community — the wise, the wicked, the simple, and those who don’t know how to ask — cross the red sea together. And together they wander for forty years, diasporic and free, a group filled with doubters and dissenters and rebels. In other words, questioning the Jewish community does not mean that we are separating ourselves from it. We question not from a place of distance but from a place of caring, engagement, and connection. And efforts to keep out the challengers, to blunt our teeth, are doomed to fail.
We call upon those who claim to speak for the American Jewish community to recognize that our community contains a multiplicity of voices.
The Forward’s SIgal Samuel on Mizrahi-Palestinian solidarity, Mairav Zonszein on what was left out from #DumpTrump at AIPAC conversation, and a discussion on Stand With Us’ robot.
StandWithUs responds to Open Hillel: we did not own “the robot.”
Open Hillel says pro-Israel group StandWithUs deployed a robot at Brown University to police thought during Israel-Palestine events.
A policy that truly defended the right to debate, or even just to listen curiously as others debate, would not require every local Hillel across the country to welcome Jewish Voices for Peace every time its name appeared on a proposed event.
This chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Rochester explains why he and 54 other Jewish academics advocate for Open Hillel.
Fifty-five leading professors join the Open Hillel Academic Council, call for open discourse and academic freedom in Jewish communities on campus.
Open Hillel members at the HaaretzQ conference made pointed remarks to Hillel CEO Eric Fingerhut: this event could never happen at a Hillel.
On Sunday, Open Hillel marched on the largest gathering of Jewish federations, demanding an end to restrictions against open discussion of Israel-Palestine.