Hillel 818 Response to JVP Speaker Co-Sponsored by CSUN Jewish Studies
To our Hillel 818 family:
On November 9, the Women and Gender Studies department at Cal State Northridge is bringing Penny Rosenwasser to speak on campus, one of the founding board members of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Despite its name, Jewish Voice for Peace is anything but. Read more here.
In normal times, their policies are a danger to Israel and to the vast majority of Jews who believe in the Jewish right to self-determination. In normal times, their anti-Israel ideas are used as cover for Jew-hatred. But in these difficult days, where antisemitic incidents are on a meteoric rise, JVP’s rhetoric and radical views are used as inspiration by antisemites around the world, and on college campuses, to inflict harm on Jews and particularly Jewish college students.
We are saddened that these views will be shared on our campus, potentially contributing to a hostile environment for Jewish students. But we are heartbroken that this program is being co-sponsored by CSUN’S Jewish Studies Department. A recent email from Jewish Studies justifying the co-sponsorship talks about the importance of “listening to someone whose view may be very different from mine” as “an exercise in critical thinking and intellectual humility.” The email also states that it’s “good for us as a community to hear challenging views in a face-to-face context.”
Normally, we would agree.
But when 1,400 people were intentionally targeted by Hamas and murdered, raped, burned, beheaded, and/or kidnapped simply for being Jewish, Hillel 818 will not condone the legitimization of a narrative that blames the victims of terrorism for that terrorism.
When the right to Jewish self-determination is facing an existential threat by Hamas, an organization whose very charter calls for the murder of all Jews everywhere, Hillel 818 will not legitimize an organization that inflames these views.
When antisemitism, the world’s oldest hatred, is becoming stronger and more powerful than it has been in nearly 100 years, Hillel 818 will not legitimize an organization whose rhetoric contributes to Jewish people everywhere feeling unsafe and in danger, especially on our campus.
Hillel 818 has a long and proud history of partnering with CSUN’s Jewish Studies department and we look forward to one day mending these wounds and working together again. But we are disappointed and hurt by CSUN’s Jewish Studies department’s decision to co-sponsor this program, and call on them to take their name off this event immediately.
Hillel 818 continues to believe that the best forms of Jewish resistance are celebrations of joy in the face of hate. November 9th is also the 85th anniversary of Kristellnacht - the night of broken glass - one of the darkest days in Jewish history. We encourage our students to join Hillel 818 on the 9th in supportive community, to ask questions and learn, to make Jewish themed glass art, and for challah baking - boldly standing in solidarity by participating in one of our most ancient traditions.
Am Yisrael Chai!
