By Donald H. Harrison
LA JOLLA, California – One week after the annual hate-filled apartheid week organized by various student organizations at UC San Diego, pro-Israel students will get to counter-program with “joy” by sponsoring Israel week. The on-campus celebration will open this May’s observance of Jewish Heritage Month.
Ellia Torkian, representing Tritons for Israel, said there will be an Israeli shuk on Library Walk with booths offering Israeli food, samples of Israeli culture, and Israeli music. “We want to bring them joy,” Torkian said Wednesday night in a Zoom briefing sponsored by Hillel of San Diego.
During the month of May, there also will be an on-campus concert for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 Nova Festival massacre; a night with Israeli comedian Yohay Sponder (see video above); and a lecture by American-Israeli journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi, who has been active in efforts to reconcile Israelis and Palestinians.
Waylon Richling, president of the First Year Students at Hillel, told of a petition drive among students for UC San Diego to offer classes on contemporary Jewish studies. For years, UC San Diego specialized in biblical history while San Diego State University offered classes on modern Jewish history. Karen Parry, Hillel of San Diego’s executive director, said UC San Diego doesn’t even offer a class on the Holocaust. Richling said he’s collecting signatures “to bring more Jewish studies and Israeli studies to campus.”
Other efforts will be to involve Jewish students in student government, whether at the university level or at the councils of UC San Diego’s eight undergraduate colleges. Ariel Oppenheim, who is on the council of Earl Warren College, commented that every council has public input sessions at which Jewish students can make their concerns known.
Hillel of San Diego has engaged Jacob Mandel to be its community relations director. Mandel grew up in San Diego and was president of his Hillel House in the San Francisco Bay Area. Whenever an incident of antisemitism occurs on campus, Mandel said he will record it, report it to university and law enforcement authorities, and follow it through.
Mandel also will be responsible for liaising with various community Jewish defense organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Secure Community Network, StandWithUs, and the American Jewish Committee to name a few.
Another initiative is to create a Jewish faculty resource group. Parry said there are “challenges within a lot of the departments for faculty and students.”
Parry referred to a study that reported 83 percent of Jewish students say they have experienced antisemitism; 41 percent feel the need to hide their Jewish identity, and 66 percent believe that universities are not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Explaining the need for proactive programming, Parry said, “we are done with defensive only.”
Positive programming is working, she said. There is 20 percent more student participation in Hillel programming this year, with Shabbat attendance at the off-campus Hillel Center averaging 100 students. Hillel sponsors four student trips to Israel each year. And there are over 300 unique programs. One this month is an appearance by Dumisami Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel. Another this month is self-defense krav maga training by Dana Ben Kaplan.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.