By Amy Zewe
The answer is yes, and the degree to which they are facing persecution, at ages as young as middle school, is so alarming that a new organization is organizing to provide support and insight to Jewish students nationwide as they prepare to go on to college campuses all over the United States.
Club Z is working to initiate a Washington, D.C. Chapter. For those of you who are Jewish or know Jewish families with middle and high-school-aged children, I encourage you to distribute this information. Share this information so they can access valuable support to help their children navigate the now-hostile environment of the U.S. College and University Campus.
What a tragedy that in an age of liberal and Enlightenment thinking, the ageless hatred of antisemitism still flourishes—arguably more so than ever since the Holocaust.
C. S. Lewis, the famed 20th Century Christian apologist warned us that, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”
To share just a few recent examples of antisemitism within our schools…
In a Colorado middle school, AFTER a presentation on the Holocaust, students were found drawing swastikas on campus, and some were found etching them on their skin! Clearly, this draws the next question: How on earth was this topic presented to the students that they would take the content and weaponize it for bullying? I encourage you to read the article and note the ADL is looking into this.
In California, a school district approved a curriculum that labels Israel with war crimes and Ethnic Cleansing.
At Rice University in Houston, Texas, students celebrating the 75th anniversary of Israel were met with hecklers and shouts of interruptions accusing Israel of genocide and murdering children.
At NYU, Zionist students were met with a written message that they were not welcome. Click HERE for the photo. What an inclusive environment!
The CUNY system, the public university system in NY city has been fostering antisemetism in many ways, and an advocacy groups just released a 13 page report documenting how the CUNY system is systemically antisemitic—including discontinuing recruiting efforts from Jewish schools!
Again, these are just a few–very few–of the many instances constantly available but not found on the mainstream nightly TV or Cable news networks.
As Christian Zionists whose mission it is to comfort and love the Jewish people and Israel, we continue our homegrown effort to raise funds for The Hebrew Scholarship Program. This program helps a Christian student enrolled at a U.S. college to enjoy a semester at Hebrew University for a full immersion program into society and culture, and to fall in love with all the people. Students continue their degree programs by taking classes that are relevant to their major. Students return to their campus in the U.S. to share their experience and take with them a lifelong perspective of allying with Israel and its people.
The Jerusalem Connection network has the tools and reach to continue our mission to follow Yahweh’s instructions to bless Israel and her people, to provide aid and comfort. We can do this through education and sharing information. Pass along the Club Z information to Jewish families, even if they don’t have school-aged children, maybe they can pass this information on to their own networks and provide a resource of help and encouragement (and safety) for young Jewish students entering college campuses.
Participate in our Hebrew University Scholarship program by donating (one time or recurring) so we can continue to send at least one (if not more) student to Israel to gain insight and instill in the next generation God’s commandment to bless Israel and comfort Jerusalem (no matter what the major is) so that this perspective will follow them into whatever career path and community they find themselves in the years to come—and that their own children will follow suit.
Israel celebrates its 75th year in existence this spring. What glory are we witnessing? Prophecy is fulfilled in our lifetimes. A front-row seat to witnessing God’s promise to Abraham manifest.
For those of you who want to celebrate, you can attend Diamond Jubilee Galas in either Nashville, TN, on May 9 or Washington, D.C. May 17…simply to go to the ICEJ US website and click on events. (https://icejusa.org/israel75/ )
In addition to celebrating, remember that to be part of the long-term commitment to Israel, the kind of commitment that God has—which is as long as history itself, consider contributing to the work we do to keep our next generation educated, manifesting the instructions God provided us through His word, which is alive and in action—always.
Shavua Tov. Have a great week.