To all Rabbis: We expect you to prepare teens to fight campus antisemitism!

Unprepared students are vulnerable to believing the slanders, losing their Jewish pride and walking away from Jewish identity..

By Shirley Lewis, INN    , Aug 24 , 2021 11:30 AM

campus anti-Semitism

campus anti-Semitism

US university campuses are cesspools of anti-Semitism. Most Jewishstudents begin their freshman year without the vocabulary to beat it back. By omission and/or commission lying about Israel is lying about Jews. That’s today’s campus anti-Semitism – a narrative of lies about Israel.

Our unprepared students are vulnerable to believing the slanders against us, then losing their Jewish pride, then walking away from their Jewish identity. Even Orthodox students, whose identity is strong to begin with, need the strengthening that a rabbi can provide.

There is no excuse for religious leaders in every kind of congregation to not prepare our students:

1) Tip sheets on the five top Big Lies told about Jews on campus have been prepared (see below) and can be easily downloaded free of charge.

2) Rabbis know which students are high school juniors and seniors based on the dates of bar and bat mitzvah. This makes it easy to reach out to EVERY student even if he/she did not stay active in the congregation.

Giving our students the most basic tools to debunk the blood libels and other slanders against us is the bare minimum a rabbi can do to assure Jewish continuity in America.

Rabbis who deliberately resist preparing their students to combat the lies and slanders to which they will be constantly and disgracefully subjected on campus are making sacrificial lambs of the young people in their charge and need to be convinced or replaced.

Debunking the Biggest Lies of Israel on Campus

The five files attached, front and back of flyers, are what students feel are the “the most common lies” told on campus about Israel, and how to respond to each claim.

debunking_the_indigenous_people_claim.doc

Download File

debunking_the_indigenous_people_claim_page_2.doc

Download File

debunking_the_ethnic_cleansing_claim.doc

Download File

debunking_the_ethnic_cleansing_claim_page_2.doc

Download File

debunking_the_genocide_claim.doc

Download File

debunking_the_genocide_claim_page_2.doc

Download File

debunking_the_illegal_occupation_claim.doc

Download File

debunking_the_illegal_occupation_claim_page_2.doc

Download File

debunking_the_apartheid_claim.doc

Download File

debunking_the_apartheid_claim_page_2.doc

Download File

The above tip sheets are from Students Supporting Israel, under “Resources”, bottom of “Common Myths and Facts” page:

https://www.ssimovement.org/ and

https://www.ssimovement.org/store/c1/Donate

This is what we are giving our rabbi if he will not commit to training teens on how to fight today’s anti-Semitism – along with note that we are leaving the congregation. But we don’t really expect that this will happen. We rely on the responsibility rabbis have for making our teens proud of their religion, faith and the Jewish homeland.

:https://americansaa.threadless.com/designs/jewish-lives-matter/womens/t-shirt/fitted?color=white

Shirley Lewis is a 75 year old child of Holocaust survivors and a supporter of Students Supporting Israel, Zionist Organization of America and Palestinian Media Watch. She is appalled at the lack of rabbinic involvement she sees in protecting and informing Jewish students.

August 25, 2021 | 1 Comment »

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  1. It is vital that we be able to regain the competency to fight antisemitic vitriol in the US collegiate system. Ms. Lewis’ tip sheets are very short(perfect length for a college student to actually read) with links for those curious enough to pursue the topic further. A very useful tool to combat this plague that has been an increasing issue for many years. The problem, however, is greater than even this might correct. There is an institutional basis existing in the very university systems, themselves, that supports the free expression of antisemitism and pro-Pal propaganda, as these are extensions of the liberal culture that has swamped the universities. Trump recognized this and approached the inclusion of such antisemetic attacks under Title VI the Civil Rights Act of 1964 via Executive Order. It was noted at the time that this would be very useful in addressing antisemitic attacks on college campuses. The Executive Order also authorized the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Anti-Semitism. The Executive Order has, however, been pulled from the White House webpage. As of early July, Jewish groups were pushing the current administration not to withdraw Trump’s Executive Order, but to expand on it. In any case, Ms. Lewis’ tip sheets should be very useful compliment to legal support afforded by Trump’s Executive Order.