“We’re here to make a difference,” said Dasee Berkowitz, one of 300 students from 40 countries attending this week’s World Gathering of the World Union of Jewish Students.
Berkowitz, a 20-year-old student at Barnard College in New York, was not just spouting platitudes. A year ago, she and other Jewish students decided to create an organization that would bring Jewish young people back to their roots.
Today, their organization, called Lights in Action, disseminates information about Judaism, Zionism and Jewish culture to 50,000 American college students.
“We had to do something to reignite the flame of Jewish pride and identity, and this is what we came up with,” said Berkowitz, sitting in the packed auditorium of the Arad Community Center, where much of the conference took place.
“You see all these students? Each one is working in his or her community, trying to foster Jewish continuity.”
Jewish leaders agree that at a time when assimilation is at an all-time high and anti-Semitism is rampant, such student activists are at a premium.
Judging from the impressive list of speakers who addressed the participants, the students’ efforts were taken seriously.
“You are the future of the Jewish people,” Ignatz Bubis, the head of the Jewish community in Germany, told the gathering during Sunday’s opening-nigh ceremony.
“We are again experiencing anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, and throughout Europe,” Bubis said. “But I have faith in the young people.
“Last month, six young people organized a huge demonstration against anti-Semitism and violence against foreigners. I’m proud to say that three of the six were Jewish,” he said.
NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS NEEDED
Sometimes being a leader requires personal sacrifice, said Hebrew University Professor Barry Chazan. “We need a whole new generation of Jewish leaders, and that will mean that a lot of you will have to throw away your law books and medical texts.
“We desperately need Jewish teachers and communal workers who know about Judaism,” he said. “I know many of you don’t want to be Jewish teachers, but neither did Jeremiah.
“But God said, ‘Go wherever I send you.’ And he did.”
Dr. Ahmed Tibi, chairman of the Association of Arab Academics, called on the youths to maintain an open mind with regard to the peace process and the Palestinians.
“For many years, Arabs refused to speak to Israelis. They refused to negotiate. But in the past two to three years, the Arab world has undergone and ideological revolution.”
Tibi said the Palestine Liberation Organization “has openly declared its willingness to talk directly with the Israeli government and its representatives. Regretfully, these calls have not yet been answered. In the meantime, victims are falling on both sides,” he said.
Though the vast majority of students rejected many of Tibi’s claims, including his assertion that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, they admired what they termed his courage in coming to speak to a group of student Zionists.
“We’ve been presented with a wide range of opinions, and I appreciate that,” said Jakov Pekovic, a student at the University of Belgrade in Serbia.
“I came to this conference first and foremost to meet other Jewish students and exchange information and ideas. Back in Belgrade, there are only 2,500 Jews, and we feel very isolated,” said Pekovic, referring to the situation that has arisen with the civil war in what used to be Yugoslavia.
‘A REAL EYE-OPENER’
“The war has separated friends,” said a friend of his from Zagreb, Croatia. “We don’t travel to Belgrade, so Jakov and I don’t see each other back home.
“It is odd for us to hear so much about anti-Semitism from the other participants, and in the workshops, because there is no anti-Semitism in Yugoslavia,” said the young woman from Zagreb.
“We are also not concerned with the threat of assimilation, she continued. “The fact is, perhaps 80 percent of Yugoslav Jews are already intermarried.
“What concerns us as Jewish students is Jewish education. We know very little about Jewish customs and laws. Many of us would like to lead a traditional Jewish life, but we don’t know how. It would be wonderful if a rabbi would come and live in Zagreb,” she said.
“So far, this conference has been a real eye-opener,” said Rinat Levy, an Israeli graduate student at the Hebrew University. “It’s been great to hear the concerns and goals of Jewish students in the Diaspora.”
Levy, a communications student, said she would like to see “more contact between Israelis and Diaspora Jews. The Israeli students have a lot to teach the others about what it’s like to live in Israel and serve in the army. We grow up with a great deal of Jewish pride.
“On the other hand, foreign students can teach the Israelis a lot about student activism,” said Levy.
“In Israel, the student union concerns itself with everyday needs: tuition, housing, the price of books. Abroad, the students deal with assimilation and other real issues,” she said. “We have a lot to teach each other.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
