“Enriching the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.” That is Hillel’s mission statement, the thesis from which all Hillel programming on 550 college and university campuses around the world arises.
This statement served as a personal mission for my four years in college and has continued to serve as a foundational goal of my life for the year since I graduated from Brown University.
It is personal because I spent (and spend) many hours working to achieve this goal. I served in a variety of positions, elected and appointed, at Brown RISD Hillel, and I had the privilege of joining Hillel’s international board for my junior and senior years.
So, when institutions I love create policies that oppose this goal, it hits me personally. When Hillel itself strays from it, I am even more heartbroken.
Hillel has, unfortunately, done just that.
In 2010 Hillel created “Standards of Partnership” that deem a variety of individuals, groups and ideas non-kosher in Hillel contexts.
They bar anyone who supports any aspect of the BDS movement — not just those who support it in its entirety, but anyone who supports any form of boycott of, divestment from or sanctions of Israel.
They place anyone who “delegitimizes, demonizes, or applies a double standard” to Israel — without defining those terms — beyond the pale. They censor any groups who “exhibit a pattern of disruptive behavior” or “foster an atmosphere of incivility,” again without defining those phrases.
In other words, individuals who support BDS are not welcome to speak at Hillel.
If an LGBT Jewish student group affiliated with Hillel wants to bring Judith Butler, a world-renowned scholar on gender and sexuality, they cannot do so under the Hillel umbrella because she supports BDS. Even though she would be talking about a different subject, she is not welcome.
If J Street U, a dovish pro-Israel student group, wants to screen a film with the Palestine Solidarity Committee, they cannot at Hillel. According to the standards, Hillel couldn’t co-sponsor with a group like the PSC for anything — not a film screening, an educational conversation or a discussion about hummus.
No matter the content of the event, Hillel has drawn a “red line” stating that groups supporting BDS cannot associate with Hillel. Period.
Because of this, I have been involved in a campaign called Open Hillel since its beginnings almost two years ago. We held our first conference at Harvard University Oct. 11-13, and our growth has been rapid.
We exist to help create a Hillel system where all Jewish students — Zionist, anti-Zionist, non-Zionist or post-Zionist — are welcomed at Hillel.
Our institutions, Hillel especially, are not in the business of engaging Zionists. They don’t exist to foster Jewish identity in those who identify as pro-Israel.
They are in the business of engaging Jews, no matter what hyphenated identity those Jews happen to choose. Open Hillel exists to ensure that we remember that.
Thousands of young Jews feel ostracized. Dozens of people in my own network feel that Hillel is not the place for them.
More than 350 people came to the Open Hillel conference, and hundreds more expressed support through Twitter or Facebook. Thousands have signed our petitions.
That these Jews are alienated is not merely sad and disappointing. It is an affront to the Jewish people who, for centuries, has treated the ideas of “argument for the sake of heaven” and “these and these are words of the living God” as holy.
Critical debate and inquiry are not merely part of who we are, but the basic premise from which the rest of our tradition arises.
That we are placing the illusion of communal consensus on Israel above the inclusion of all Jews in our community implies that, on one of the most important modern issues of Jewish debate, we actually would prefer to all agree than to engage in holy argument.
As a result, young Jews are less interested in participating in Jewish life.
Hillel leaders have to decide whether to confront that alienation. Currently, they seem to be fine with losing hundreds or thousands of students if these students feel ostracized on issues related to Israel or Palestine.
Hillel’s leaders have to decide whether to continue prioritizing one goal — advocacy for the state of Israel — above Hillel’s articulated mission of enriching Jewish students’ lives.
Through Open Hillel, I and others will continue to push Hillel to achieve its mission. When Hillel chooses to re-affirm its principles, we at Open Hillel will have the pleasure of becoming obsolete.
I hope that day comes soon. The Jewish future might depend on it.
Lex Rofes, a Shorewood native, is a Jewish educator living in Jackson, Miss. He serves as Open Hillel’s Jewish outreach coordinator and was the Open Hillel Conference’s programming committee chair.
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