Penn Chavurah hosted a rally at Penn Commons prior to their screening of the film "Israelism" on Nov. 27, 2023.
Credit: Chenyao LiuLast week, Penn Hillel celebrated a state committing genocide.
We struggle to find the words to express our outrage in this moment. We take no joy in writing this piece. We only attempt to say what must be said.
Hillel's Israel Week program is simply Orwellian. Israel maintains its siege as Gazans starve to death. Hillel hosts Israel-themed cooking workshops. Israel continues to bomb Gazan refugees. Hillel hosts spin classes, comedy nights, shakshuka giveaways — festivities under a bloody flag. The final event of Hillel's program asked the question, "Is there a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?" But who did Hillel ask? An Israeli. Never a Palestinian.
In reality, Hillel hosts Israel Week to distract and to distort. Hillel does not host these events for dialogue. If Hillel believed in dialogue, they would have spoken up when University administrators threatened our organization with discipline for simply screening a film, or now, when our peers face discipline for simply using the library while their posters displaying the faces of murdered Palestinian journalists remained visible on library tables. Nor does Hillel host these events out of a deep-seated belief in the value of heritage. If Hillel valued heritage for all people, they would defend the rights of our peers and professors to study Palestinian history.
Perhaps, if Hillel demanded an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israeli apartheid; perhaps, if Hillel so much as mourned the more than 30,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in the past five and a half months alone; perhaps, if Hillel called attention to the 20,000 children Israel's assault has newly orphaned; perhaps, if Hillel decried the forced displacement of over 1 million Palestinians from their homes into the Rafah Governorate, an area typically home to a population only one third as large; perhaps then, we might believe that Israel Week celebrates dialogue or heritage. But Hillel pretends that Palestinians do not exist.
For Hillel, Israel Week is every week of the year.
It is a profoundly challenging and upsetting time to simultaneously be Jewish and have to denounce Hillel. Now is the worst possible moment for division in the American Jewish community. We face the potential return of a president of the United States who defends flag-waving neo-Nazis — whether they organize themselves, as in Charlottesville, or whether he rallies them to overthrow the United States government, as on Jan. 6, 2021.
Faced with such a threat, the Jewish community should stand united. We should stand in deep solidarity with as many of our fellow citizens as possible. Our history teaches us that authoritarianism must be stopped before it rises. You can't put the genie back in the bottle.
But Hillel seems blinded by its commitment to Israel. Recall the remarks of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who questioned former Penn President Liz Magill in Congress this fall. Recall Stefanik's endorsement of congressional candidate Carl Paladino, who called Hitler "the kind of leader we need today." Recall Stefanik's endorsement of Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised neo-Nazi insurrectionists. Then, recall Stefanik's fateful question to Magill about the relationship between Penn's free speech policy and hypothetical "calls for Jewish genocide" on campus.
Stefanik did not ask this question out of concern for Jewish safety. Her question was a cynical ploy to cripple free speech and degrade calls for Jewish safety into weapons for her own political gain. But instead of calling out Stefanik for her blatant antisemitism, Hillel parroted her comments. Why? Because Stefanik sought to suppress criticism of Israel.
We need Hillel to change course. As progressive Jews, we need Hillel to stand up for us the way Hillel expects us to stand with them. That means standing up for the humanity of our Palestinian peers, not pretending that our peers do not exist or celebrating the state that acts to wipe them out. And it means standing up to a few donors, even if it costs you your job. Palestinians in Gaza are losing far more.
As long as Hillel’s idea of Jewish unity demands acquiescence to Israeli war crimes, Hillel divides Penn's Jewish community. Israel Week forces us to choose between Hillel’s version of Jewish unity and our Jewish values. We do not want this choice. We should not have to choose. But if Hillel forces us, we choose our values: לא תעמד על דם רעך (Lo Ta'amod 'al Dam Re'echa); "neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16). Palestinian lives are as precious as ours.
We ask of Penn Hillel what we have always asked. Open Hillel. Call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to apartheid. Let's raise the call together. We are ready when you are.
PENN CHAVURAH is a leftist Jewish student group founded in 2021 as a response to the strong Zionist ties of Penn Hillel, which isolates parts of Penn’s Jewish community. Chavurah serves as a place of Jewish community and cultural celebration on campus, with biweekly Shabbat dinners and other discussion and speaker events. Chavurah welcomes all students to attend our events and get involved! Their email is pennchavurah@gmail.com.
Penn Chavurah Board
Jack Starobin
Izzy Feinfeld
Lily Brenner
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
