One Month Later

In early November 2023, along with several community leaders, I spoke at Goleta Beach to the Santa Barbara Jewish community about the antisemitic backlash Jewish students were facing in light of the then recent flare in the war between Israel and Gaza. This gathering was highlighted local news here, here, and here. A full copy of my remarks can be found below.

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This morning, I began my day as I have every day for the past month, by opening my phone to see what I missed while I was asleep. One of the first things I read was a post that asked, “How has your life changed since October 7th?” 

It is a question so simple on the surface, but in reality, impossible to answer in the few minutes I have to speak here today. So much has changed in our lives in the past thirty days, and each one of us has a different version of the story to tell. 

When I chose to become a campus rabbi, I did so because I knew that I wanted to help fight the battle against antisemitism and misinformation that has been growing on college campuses since I graduated ten years ago. 

I always knew that combating antisemitism would be a part of my job, but I never anticipated it would look like this. 

I never thought that I would have to stand on campus with my students and try to convince the public that the Simchat Torah massacre happened and that there are still over 240 innocent hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. 

I never thought I would be preaching on Shabbat about the traps of propaganda and false narratives built by antisemites -- akin to what we saw in Nazi Germany. 

While we continue our mission -- to provide a safe space for students to be openly Jewish on campus -- one of our main priorities this month at Santa Barbara Hillel has been responding to antisemitic incidents and actively educating as many people as we can about the realities of the horrific attack on our people.

Nearly every day, we are counseling students who are harassed for their Jewish identity, who have observed antisemitic graffiti on campus and in their homes, who feel afraid to walk to class alone, or unsafe in classes where antisemitic propaganda has taken over their professor's narrative. 

When a Jewish student refused to get off her bike to move aside for a mass of anti-Israel protestors on campus, she was accosted by a participant who yelled, “F*ck you, you stupid Jew.”

Another Jewish student called me mid-panic attack after spending an entire class listening to anti-Israel protesters outside of her classroom. 

Week after week, our students are pushing through their pain and grief to testify at student senate meetings about their experience being Jewish on campus. Standing before their peers and being publicly live-streamed on Facebook, they have torn open their wounds, hoping their pain will be noticed and addressed. Begging their university to take the antisemitism they are facing as seriously as any other case of hate on campus. 

Unfair does not even begin to describe what our students are dealing with right now. As Jewish college students, they should not have to spend their days speaking out and filing complaints about the antisemitic incidents they are facing and witnessing. They should not be stuck worrying if somebody will rip down the photos they hung of innocent hostages. And they should never be forced to consider if telling their professor they are Jewish will affect their standing in a class. 

And yet, here we are.

Our anger, our fear, and our sadness are all legitimate. 

Our students deserve better.

We all deserve better. 

The truth is — this is a war. 

It is not about Israel vs Palestine. 

It is not “just another conflict” in this seemingly endless conflict. 

What happened on Simchat Torah was a pre-meditated attack on civilians, and we must not allow the misinformation, propaganda, and rising antisemitism around us to distract us.  The reality is-- the gruesome attack by Hamas has rippled suffering throughout Israeli and Palestinian society and Muslim and Jewish communities worldwide. 

Our lives have changed significantly since October 7th. 

As our Hillel director, Josh Levine, noted in his most recent letter to the community, “Jewish students are discovering that the epicenter of antisemitism in America is the university campus.” 

I implore you, now, more than ever, we must stand together as a community-- to combat bigotry and hate and to support our students as they work to rebuild the broken system they inherited.