Students from Vanderbilt University’s Hillel are learning how to engage in conversation with their peers about Zionism and Israel. Led by Hillel’s assistant executive director, Veronica Grady, the program is part of Hillel International’s offerings called 4 the Moment. This year’s syllabus is Beyond Labels: Jewish Perspectives on Zionism. Grady says, “The intention behind this cohort offering was to offer students a timely and relevant experience to dig and dive deeply into a topic that might be interesting to them and in a way that is accessible for students.”
While most of Hillel’s learning programs consist of eight to 10 sessions, this cohort is just four sessions, and Grady says it was aimed at student leaders who are already engaged in Jewish life on campus. “It is designed to maximize the impact for top level Hillel students to be able to imbue their Hillel involvement further with Jewish learning that their other commitments might not allow them the time to do so.”
Grady says she and Hillel executive director, Ari Dubin, spent the better part of the year discussing ways to address the needs of students, something that is part and parcel of Hillel’s overall goals. But she says after October 7 and as the war continues, there is a new urgency to make sure students feel supported, particularly the student leaders. “We suddenly realized there was a pretty concerning gap for our student leaders, our most engaged, most involved, most active Hillel student leaders who were the ones being asked in university spaces, but also in social spaces and the classroom to speak on behalf of the Jewish community. To understand Zionism, to refute antizionism.” She says often, the students were unprepared and lacked the confidence to meet the moment. Grady says the curriculum provided by Hillel International seemed to fit the bill.
The first cohort consisted of eight student leaders, most of them board members. The program takes a traditional “chevruta” approach, with students reading text offerings out loud to each other and engaging in small group dialogue around the text and answering provided questions.
At the culmination of the four weeks, members of the greater Jewish community were invited to attend a dinner and sample the learning method for themselves. The student leaders at each table led the discussion using source material adapted from Hey Alma on the various types of Zionism, such as Post-Zionism, Non-Zionism, and Anti-Zionism. Participants were asked to share their views in pairs and then with the group.
The process helped each person dive deeper into their understanding of Zionism and the various forms and to articulate their views. Becca Carp, vice president of engagement for Hillel was one of the table leaders. She said the discussion helped her to see the various sides of the subject. “It shows me you can be a Zionist and disagree with other Zionists.”
Overall, the program provided helpful insights and tools for the student leaders who find themselves on the front lines as examples of Jews on campus. Carp said this year during the Founder’s Walk, the annual ceremony welcoming the incoming Freshmen, she and other Hillel students were videoed and laughed at while they manned an information table. “I was disheartening to see people videoing and to be made to feel othered from the first week.”
Visitors around the table shared their own experiences expressing their Jewish identities and dealing with antisemitism. Jacob Kupin, Metro Councilmember for Nashville’s District 19, said he personally felt othered during a recent council meeting dealing with the community’s security needs. “Last night was one of the saddest. We were booed, hissed at. We watched other groups needs being talked about, but not us. I felt if I stood up it would put a target on the Jewish community.”
Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Congregation Sherith Israel, said about half of his family is currently in Israel, something he wants to change. “I hope to make it more [than half] in Israel. It’s painful to me because I want to be there.”
Debby Wiston, executive director of West End Synagogue, says she was pleased to see a program like this because one of her own children had a difficult experience with a classmate. “My child had a classmate who was being antagonistic, so I sent him to talk to Hillel to get support. How fortuitous to have this opportunity to learn how to cope with this type of thing,” she said.
The Jewish Observer is published by The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville and made possible by funds raised in the Jewish Federation Annual Campaign. Become a supporter today.
Other participants agreed that programs like this go a long way toward arming students with appropriate tools to deal with the tough subjects. Howard Safer said, “I’m glad I had the opportunity to see the results of positive program of Jewish education and leadership coming from the students.”
Grady says she is pleased to see the students grappling with their own feelings about Israel as they work toward becoming more confident representatives of the Jewish community on campus and beyond. Specifically in the area of revisionist Zionism, a topic not covered in the curriculum. “It’s definitely one of the hardest topics and we brought in some of those voices outside of the source sheet. These are the voices that folks opposed to Zionism are focused most deeply on and I really believe in preparing students for conversations by giving them space to have their emotion filled reactions to new information in their safe space.”