Assembly on Antisemitism at College Campuses

 by Sam Levenson, SSLI ‘27

This morning, high school students at Schechter attended a program discussing the protests and riots at college campuses, which are against the state of Israel and, in some cases, are endangering Jewish students. The program had multiple components. First, college counselor Art Mandel, Rabbi Chesler, and Social Studies Department Chair Mr. Trupin spoke at the beginning of the program. Afterwards, students went into individual classrooms to have conversations and learn about topics of their choice concerning the situation. Lastly, students got to hear from Rabbi Rosenthal and Rabbi Fruithandler, who are also Schechter parents, and learn their perspectives on the situation.

Freshman Ephraim Berman spoke about the program’s importance: “Amidst all the chaos we are all seeing in the media, we might not know the entire story of what is going on.”

Students expressed concern about their and their friends’ futures at the colleges where the protesting is heavily prominent. Berman continued, “With it being the last day of classes for the seniors before they, too, go off to college, they might be hesitant about it all.” Freshman Sara Rosenthal said we should “learn about this as it’s happening so that we can make the right decisions for ourselves regarding our future in this country’s schools.”

Most students had received information from friends or read news articles about the colleges, but might not have felt a connection to it. Art Mandel spoke with alumni who are at college now and had asked them to send a video sharing their experiences with current Schechter students. Sophomore Mikey Benlevi said, “I was able to listen to personal individual experiences from alumni, which was very interesting and really touched my heart.”

Students learned about antisemitism on college campuses from Schechter alumni. (Y. Pedram)

The videos of Schechter students from their colleges helped the high school students think about how they would handle the tough situation. Rosenthal explained, “If I were on a campus that this was happening on, I think I would go to Jewish protests supporting Israel or just hang out a lot with people from Hillel and Chabad.” Art Mandel had emphasized the importance of these Jewish organizations at college and the strong communities they craft with students who have never met each other before attending the university. Benlevi said, “If I was on campus right now, I would respond to what's happening by organizing peaceful protests for Israel and urging my close friends who aren't Jewish to understand and educate themselves about what's going on in Israel to understand the truth.”

The students felt like they knew a lot more about the situation because of the event. Rosenthal said, “We learned that the police legally can’t get involved in stopping the protests themselves but were able to [intervene] because the encampments on the campuses are illegal.” The program taught the students about the encampments and building occupations, police response, first amendment rights, and the mob mentality that captivates the students and encourages them to participate in the protests.

As a part of the program, students were able to choose a topic of their interest to learn about. Many teachers spoke to smaller groups of students about their topics, which included a history of protests at colleges; politicians’ responses to the protests; and different ways the media talks about the protests based on their biases.

Students got to discuss the troubles Jews are facing in colleges in various breakout rooms. (Y. Pedram)

Benlevi was in the conversation about past college protests. He recalled, “I learned a lot about my teacher’s personal experiences and how college life and college professors were in the 60s during the Vietnam war.” Berman was in a conversation about responses to the protests from politicians. He said it focused on “more of the political side of the protests and how politicians from each side responded to it.” Berman also added, “It was easy to be able to acknowledge that the teachers in the room with us knew a lot about what they were talking about.”

Editor’s Note: Paw Print Now will be on pause for the next two weeks for AP exams. We will resume coverage on May 20. The staff wishes everyone luck on their tests!

Sam Levenson is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since October 2023. Sam is currently a freshman at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: slevenson27@schechterli.org.