Thousands of rabbis gathered Sunday in Brooklyn for its famous annual Chabad event — including hundreds on the front lines of some of the country’s most notorious and antisemitic campuses.
Several rabbis who attended the photogenic event in Crown Heights and lead the Jewish center at a liberal US college described to The Post how their campus has turned into a dangerous hotbed of hate since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.
“It’s alarming, unsettling — it’s shocking to students to see such immediate chutzpah, where protesters come out before the blood dries, to shout boldly on campus with no qualifications at all,” said Rabbi Levi Haskelevich, a Chabad rabbi at the University of Pennsylvania for 23 years. years ago, referring to protesters who support the Palestinian cause.
Haskelvich was recently captured in a viral video helping a student put on tefillin, or leather straps containing Torah passages for prayer, while a group of pro-Palestinian students marched past shouting “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.”
US college campus rabbis (from left) Shmuly Weiss, Levi Haskelevich, Schneur Oirechman, Meir Chaim Posner, Shalom Elkan are at the forefront of the battle against college antisemitism. Kevin C. Downs for the NY Post
“We have students who are doing their PhDs who say that since the attack they have not been able to find a safe place on campus,” he said.
In the five weeks since Israel was rocked by the surprise terror attack, several US campuses have been inundated with violent pro-Hamas rallies and horrific attacks on Jewish students.
Prestigious institutions including New York and Columbia universities in the Big Apple have received failing grades for their responses to antisemitism recently.
But as hatred swirls around them, many Jewish American students seem to be regaining a sense of pride in their religion and background, rabbis say.
Weiss, the Chabad rabbi at McGill University, said the hatred has given rise to great Jewish pride. Kevin C. Downs for the NY Post Posner, who has been the Chabad rabbi at Yale University for the past eight years, said he noticed an increase in “quiet dangerous things.” Kevin C. Downs for the NY Post Rabbis say there is a lot of “chaos” on campus as fighting between students over the Israel-Hamas war escalates. James Keivom
Rabbi Shmuly Weiss, who has been the Chabad rabbi at McGill University in Montreal since 2007, said that after receiving a donation of 100 Star of David necklaces, students who had never worn them quickly chose to wear them.
“It’s not just about Israel — they step up and say, ‘You know what? I will be a proud Jew.’ Students are scared, but they accept this tense situation we are facing. They are very, very proud of their Judaism,” Weiss said.
Still, Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Elkan at Oberlin College in Ohio said some students there were so scared after Oct. 7 that they urged him to cancel the campus’s Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony.
Haskelevich, the Chabad rabbi at UPenn, described the events on his campus since Oct. 7 as disturbing and troubling. Kevin C. Downs for the NY Post
The students feared the ceremony would be read as “too pro-Israel” from the school, he said.
To try to ease the tension, there have been conversations on campus involving both Jewish leaders and student leaders of the Muslim Student Association, Elkan said.
“We had a meeting last week with [the] Students for Palestine [group] talking about these issues in an effort to lower the temperature,” said the rabbi. “It’s a small group, 20 people, but that’s where the real change starts.”
Oirechman, the Chabad rabbi at Florida State, said state troopers now come on Shabbat to keep students safe. Kevin C. Downs for the NY Post Thousands of rabbis pose for a group photo in front of Chabad-Lubavitch’s world headquarters in Brooklyn on Sunday. Kevin C. Downs for the NY Post
Rabbi Meir Chaim Posner, who has been the Chabad rabbi at Yale University for the past eight years, said he has seen an increase in “silent dangerous things” such as discrimination and bullying of Jewish students on campus.
“Many, many students have close friends who suddenly don’t understand or don’t appreciate or don’t validate what they’re going through in terms of their grief, in terms of their pain,” Posner said, referring to the Oct. 7 finale.
“And then in the weeks after that, they will find close friends who are actively supporting Hamas,” the rabbi said.
NY Post front page from Oct. 26. shows the moment students locked themselves inside the Cooper Union library to escape pro-Palestinian protesters.rfaraino
Rabbi Schneur Zalman Oirechman, who has been the Chabad rabbi for nearly 25 years at Florida State University, said the biggest thing for students right now is safety.
“Jewish students were scared, and parents called in, and we had to call the governor’s office,” Oircehman said of the fear after Oct. 7.”[The governor] sending a group of Florida state troopers to ensure there is protection in case of any violence.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
