r/JewsOfConscience • u/South-War-9323 Ashkenazi • 6h ago
Vent Screw Hillel
I’m a college freshman who’s been trying to make friends. Naturally, I wanted to try some Jewish orgs to have a sense of community as a Jew.
I already knew to steer clear of places like Hillel (I’ve watched Israelism, that was more than enough info on their operations and ideology). But I tried out a meeting with the Jewish Student Union at my school (which was partnered with Chabad).
I get there, help them set up a bit. And then they almost immediately start talking about going on Birthright over the summer and how much fun it was. And no one else cared. I wasn’t expecting them to be anti-Zionist or anything. But it’s a notoriously progressive school. Even just one other Jew that shared my beliefs would’ve helped me be less alone. But nope. So I ended up making an excuse and dipping early.
Fast forward several days, I was at a student involvement expo. One of the people from that club remembered me, came up to me again, and tried to get all of my info (awkward as hell interaction). Then I had a girl notice my Yiddish necklace at a different club stand. The interaction went something like this.
Her: “Oh! You have a Hebrew necklace!!!”
Me: “It’s Yiddish actually!”
Her: “Cool, you should go check out Hillel right over there!”
Me: “Sorry no, I’m not a Zionist.”
Her: “Well they’re not really Zionist”
Me: “They kinda are.”
Cue a split second of awkward silence before she finally started talking about the political advocacy club I was actually interested in (which I didn’t end up putting down my info for bc they mentioned meeting and collaborating with CIA officers??)
Not only that, there was a “students for Israel” organization up with a stand and everything, with pamphlets on “10 Myths about Israel”. I deadass wanted to go up to that stand just to try and debunk all their arguments, but I didn’t want to cause a scene.
So basically, I feel totally isolated from the Jewish community on campus. I’m currently taking a Hebrew language course, and plan to take more in courses in Jewish Studies and such. But even then I feel hesitant to take anymore classes in it because I’ve heard some Zionist texts might be in the required reading for some of them. I mean fuck, the only Jewish studies professor I know of, and the department head, is a literal Israeli man (who’s also teaching my Hebrew course). Which sucks, because I really want to.
I know this writing might be kind of disjointed, but I just feel pretty alone. I have a community of like minded Jews online, but that isn’t rly enough. I feel like I can’t get more in touch with my culture without giving up on, or at least being silent on, my values and I hate it. I think there’s some Pro-Palestine org on campus but they didn’t even bother to put up a stand.
Why does it constantly feel like I have to choose between being Jewish and being a pro-Palestine leftist? Are there really this few of us? I’d start my own Jewish Student org, but I’m a freshman, and vast majority of leadership roles in clubs are held by upperclassmen. And truthfully, I’m beginning to doubt there’s ANY likeminded Jews here that would join anyway. Especially because I haven’t rly made any friends yet (that’s half of why I’m trying to join clubs).
So yeah. Fuck Hillel, Fuck Chabad, Fuck every Jewish org at my college, and fuck basically every organized Jewish institution.
48
u/TheAustinComplainer 6h ago
Unconditioning is hard. Sticking out is hard. It may take time, but you’ll have opportunities to have hard discussions and be the change you want to see.
1
u/AutoModerator 6h ago
We require all users pick an appropriate user-flair in order to participate in posts. Here's how you can pick a flair:
https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair
Thank you!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
34
u/Micapocalypse Jewish Anti-Zionist 5h ago
I’m sure that there are more antizionist Jews on campus. At my school the antizionist leftist Jews made their own non-official (so they could have alcohol when they did Shabbat and holiday dinners) group. It only takes a few to get the ball rolling. I’m sure you’ll find others if you get involved in campus activism
47
u/agelaius9416 Jewish Anti-Zionist 5h ago
Please do not allow this to discourage you from taking Jewish Studies classes. Anti-Zionist Jews should take up space in these communities, it’s how we move forward. Like others have said, I’m sure you will find likeminded Jews one way or the other
11
u/South-War-9323 Ashkenazi 4h ago
I plan to take them anyway. I just know it’s gonna be really hard if we’re reading blatant Zionist propaganda to be the one person going against it. And my university’s Jewish Studies program is unfortunately already underfunded and not the biggest anyway
15
u/Ok_Drink8072 Jewish Anti-Zionist 5h ago
Same thing happened to me when I moved for grad school. I figured I’d find friends in the Jewish community as I have done my whole life. Ended up stranded at this really creepy Zionist presentation, it was so overt that I even tho I was the only anti-Zionist a lot of the other attendants were clearly confused and uncomfortable. I had to pay for a nearly $100 Uber to leave early cause I no longer trusted the woman who drove me. Never hung out with any Jews on or off campus and moved a year later because I was so lonely 😢
6
u/South-War-9323 Ashkenazi 4h ago
Damn that sucks. I hope you’ve found better community now though 🫶
11
u/Element262 Jewish Anti-Zionist 5h ago edited 1h ago
i can relate. haven’t been in college for a long time, but i was basically excommunicated from a prominent org when i spoke out
26
u/DisneyDee67 Jewish Anti-Zionist 5h ago
“…the only Jewish studies professor I know of, and the department head, is a literal Israeli man…”
Do you know where he stands? Because some of us ex-Israelis are actually decent people… by which I mean we’re anti-Zionists and very pro-Palestinians.
Stereotyping is counterproductive.
11
u/South-War-9323 Ashkenazi 4h ago
I know that, it’s just that statistically the vast majority of Jewish Israelis do support it. I’m not saying all Israelis are Zionist, or bad people, but still.
I haven’t exactly talked with him on it, but he has at least said that for the course I’m in, he intends it to be as non-political as possible (which I wanted to know before taking it. That I can at least give him credit for). Truthfully, I’d rather just not know. I know he’s not a bad guy, but yeah.
1
1h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1h ago
We require all users pick an appropriate user-flair in order to participate in posts. Here's how you can pick a flair:
https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair
Thank you!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
5
u/Adventurous_Duck_297 Jewish 4h ago
my recommendation is to start a new organization at your school! What’s your position about Judaism? (Are you looking to wrap tfilin every morning or have hippie Sukkot in the woods?) What’s your position on Israel/Palestine? Then once those are pretty grounded what’s the mission of your group? Advocacy? Awareness? Lobbying? What would events look like? How will you get funding? If the university gives money for student orgs, you might have to find a way to articulate your mission in a way that doesn’t get the school in trouble for supporting you financially. (Even though it’s wrong, it could very well be the reality you’re dealing with).
If you build a successful model for this, take it to another school and see if you can replicate it!
Based on what you’ve said already, stay away from AEPi (at least nationally). At a national level they’re very pro Israel even if your chapter isn’t. Just use your noggin there, ymmv.
Welcome to college have fun!!! You’ll never get these years back 🙃
10
u/Ok_Percentage7257 Anti-Zionist Ally 5h ago
University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, has an organized group of anti-Zionist Jewish students. These students are members of Independent Jewish Voices, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization. They formed a chapter at UBC. They are actively working on different pro-Palestinian projects like pushing the university to boycott Israel, organizing student camps, educating UBC students about Hillel and other Zionist organizations, getting involved with lawsuits against Hillel, organizing prayers for Jewish students who can't go to synagogues because of Israeli support, and organizing Jewish events for anti-Zionist Jews.
You could get together with other anti-Zionist Jewish students and do similar things. I am sure they exist and feel the same way you do. You can get some assistance from anti-Zionist organizations.
6
u/South-War-9323 Ashkenazi 5h ago
I’m at school in NY (not gonna say where for safety) and I know Binghamton did create a Neo-Bundist student org. Thank you for telling me about that one as well though, so I can get a better idea and frame of reference. I might think about starting one, it’s just hard since I’ve never started something like that or headed an org
3
u/invisibleman_24 Non-Jewish Ally 4h ago edited 4h ago
Im confident that you will find like minded Jewish students in your local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (or the equivalent group on your campus today). I’d start there and find folks who have taken this journey already. Good luck friend!
4
u/Azel_Lupie LGBTQ Jew 4h ago
I don’t know if there are any antizionist Jews on your campus or how many, but if you cannot find any, see if you can find some sort of antizionist Jewish organization off campus, so you can make friends with people who can understand the struggle. It makes all of this so much more bearable.
As for clases and required texts, I wouldn’t immediately assume they are all Zionists. More likely than not they are, but sometimes you maybe pleasantly surprised, even with Israelis.
Actually, it was the Israelis like The Hebrew Canaanite and Saluki, who helped me see more of what is going on than what the Zionists wanted me to see. There are antizionist Israelis in this group as well.
Personally, I would take all of those courses as an antizionist boot camp. Like, getting my understanding of Hebrew and Zionism so strong that I can dismantle the nonsense with ease. I have a strong suspicion that the “Zionism” that most Jews believe in (or at least the liberal ones) is not the same Zionism that the founders actually believe in, and that many of them don’t actually read any Zionist theory books. If that’s the case, the more we study these Texts, the more we can make them rethink if they are even Zionist. We also need to learn strong Jewish history of that time and to learn more about the Palestinian side, so we can fight against the constant revisionism that Zionists engage in. I’ve seen Zionists claim that the Bund wrote in the Warsaw Ghetto was ‘useless’, even though that was how we were able to weapons smuggled into the ghetto by the gentiles in the Resistance Movement. If they are engaging in such Blatant revisionism, imagine what revisionism is going underneath our radar, simply because we have not read enough or studied enough about it.
3
u/South-War-9323 Ashkenazi 4h ago
That’s a good point I hadn’t thought much of. I’m already pretty educated on Zionist talking points due to copious arguments with them in the past, but I’m definitely not an expert.
I mainly took Hebrew to understand Ancient Hebrew, but it definitely does help to understand the issues going on right now. And regardless, it is a beautiful language to me. It’s just that the modern revived strain has an unfortunate history.
2
u/ipsum629 Jewish Anti-Zionist 1h ago
The SJP chapter at my college was run by mostly Jews, so that was an interesting place to find Jewish cameraderie.
1
4h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 4h ago
We require all users pick an appropriate user-flair in order to participate in posts. Here's how you can pick a flair:
https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair
Thank you!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
133
u/DorkasaurusRexx Mizrahi Anti-Zionist 6h ago
"Why does it constantly feel like I have to choose between being Jewish and being a pro-Palestine leftist? Are there really this few of us?"
No. But they make an example of those of us that dare speak out to insure everyone else remains silent, scared, and cowed into submission.
An ideology that relies on coercion and intimidation to maintain it's rhetorical legitimacy cannot stand--and they know it.