Jewish student life still flourishing despite rising campus antisemitism
A panel, including UJS president Sami Berkoff, gave their verdict on communal student life to an audience at Limmud
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Jewish student leaders have countered claims that rising antisemitism in the aftermath of October 7 has now made life intolerable for thousands of students at campuses across the UK.
In a session at Limmud, UJS president Sami Berkoff, Bristol University student Zack Colton, Aston University’s Jacob Goldwater, and Dalia Blass, Yachad’s youth and student worker, did not shirk away from detailing how responses to the conflict in the Middle East had left Jewish students facing threats, taunts, and the very real fear of antisemitism impacting on them over the past 14 months.
But all the speakers at Tuesday’s event also detailed how Jewish student life is flourishing across British universities, be it through involvement with J-Socs, through political engagement, or through attempts to forge links with other student societies, or with interfaith projects.
Berkoff told the audience that while the number of antisemitic incidents on campuses had now subsided from their initial critical point after October 7, there was still a “tense” atmosphere at universities.
But for the Union of Jewish Students, where they would once be having engagement with around 6000 of the 9000 Jewish students at British universities, today the figure was closer to 8000.
“Jewish student life has never been stronger,” she said.
Alongside what can still be a “scary and tense atmosphere” across UK campuses “we’ve seen more Jewish students than ever doing Jewish student things”, added Berkoff.
This was not just because of the fear factor, she said.
A recent Jews and Booze club night in Nottingham drew a sell-out 1,200 crowd; UJS football and netball tournaments are increasingly popular as well.
The UJS president also revealed that as student fears grew about the pro-Palestine encampments on UK campuses, she had actually managed to engage with some students taking part in them.
They had contacted at times for advice on whether posters or social media posts crossed a “red line” into antisemitism.
Berkoff also said “global media” coverage of the encampments in the US had not helped in terms of helping spread fears about their impact on student life.
“I always say my third year of student life is my favourite year of university,” said Berkoff, of her time at Durham last year. “There clearly is normal student life still going on.”
She revealed that as a result of media reporting of the encampments, Berkoff was approached by someone at a conference in America who asked:”Are you ok? It’s awful in the UK.”
This person, said Berkoff, appeared unaware of how media reporting here had suggested the situation was out of control in the States.
Colton told the audience how in terms of interfaith work, there had been attempts made to directly tackle the issues arising from the war on Gaza, or projects “haven’t happened at all”.
He said the J-Soc in Bristol always had strong links with other societies within the university, or within the city, but “post October 7 dialogue has been a lot harder.”
But there had been successful approaches made to break down barriers, although there was still a strain of thought within the community that suggested Jews should look inwards in order to protect themselves at a time of peril.
Colton argued that the strength of interfaith work was that it attempted to counter real concern in the community, by looking “outwards” and seeking to engage with other faith groups.
The panel discussed how efforts to forge links with Islamic Societies across several campuses had proven successful, with agreement reached that while differences of opinion remained on Israel-Palestine, the welfare and happiness of students here was paramount.
At Aston University, Goldwater, who began his studies after a gap year in Israel, said he was “surprised in a good way” by what he had experienced on campus.
“It’s about balancing your fears with your desire to get involved,” he said of full engagement with student life. “Once we are there in that community, the feeling of strength is unbelievable”.
Blass, who has daily contact with students across campuses for Yachad, revealed that some politically-engaged students from within the community had been left with a sense of feeling homeless, as a result of their own concerns around the situation in Gaza.
“The recurring theme I’ve encountered is the feeling that some politically- engaged students, guided by their Jewish values when it comes to Israel and Palestine, do not feel comfortable in mainstream Jewish spaces, but equally might not feel at home in non-Jewish pro-Palestine spaces,” she said.
“A lot of work we do at Yachad is to try and hold that space for students who care deeply about what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank, care deeply for the rights of Palestinians, but equally feel like they don’t entirely fit in with either camp.”
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