The tents are gone. But last year’s encampments on U.S. campuses have wrought a change in mindset and mood so profound, there’s no going back to the way things were. Vicious antisemitic rhetoric and the intimidation of Jewish students on quads and in classrooms challenged Chabad campus representatives in ways they could not have anticipated. For some it was a moment of truth, a time to clarify their mission as they confronted new moral dilemmas. A year after anti-Israel protests roiled the country, Lubavitch International convened eight leaders to talk about what they’ve learned, what’s happening now, and what’s next for Jewish life on campus.
What happened on your campus last year, and how are things now?
Hirschy Zarchi, Harvard University
Media reporting suggested that the challenge universities faced was balancing the free speech of the protestors against the virtue of maintaining a safe space for learning. The irony is that the only ones who are exhibiting free speech on campus these days are the protestors and haters. It’s the silent majority who are intimidated and afraid to speak their conscience out of fear of being cancelled, harassed, and boycotted.
But the hateful and misguided protestors are, thankfully, starting to be defeated. Hate doesn’t have long-term staying power, and lies don’t have legs to stand on. The administration has also started to enforce its code of conduct more vigorously.
The real work has yet to be done—the work of changing the culture and uprooting the hateful curriculum, programming, and indoctrination pursued by many in the faculty, including some deans. Instead of educating students and teaching them how to think, many are teaching them what to think. Of course this is a pedagogical failure in the extreme.
Devora Elkan, Oberlin College
At Oberlin there is only one outward-facing voice, which is militantly pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist. There are students with pro-Israel opinions, but there is no outward-facing pro-Israel voice because students fear how it may affect them socially. The anti-Israel voices are, for lack of a better word, bullies. The fact that they’re also primarily Jewish makes things that much harder.
The encampments on our campus lasted for about forty-eight hours, as the students were having internal disagreements about who was there for “the cause” and who was there for virtue signaling. Then their focus shifted to what they called the “People’s College,” which involved doing daily teach-ins on the conflict, from a pro-
Palestinian point of view. As of this year, what’s left is a flag and some posters tied to a tree in the center of campus, and it’s remaining there as a registered “art installation.”
Although we don’t see the physical encampments, there is much going on under the surface. What we are seeing this year has crossed the line from anti-Israel territory to antisemitism. You can hear it in the comments students make in both social and academic settings. Students are socially blacklisted or “cancelled” because of their opinions. So although I believe that things are settling down in Israel, there is a side of it, here in the U.S., that is brewing and has yet to erupt.
Dov Greenberg, Stanford University
On campuses across the country, hatred of Jews and the demonization of Israel weren’t just tolerated—they were celebrated. Now the tents are gone, but the hatred persists. It has moved into classrooms, where Israel is demonized. And when young minds are fed lies about the Jewish state, it inevitably leads to hostility against Jewish people everywhere.
Mendel Altein, MIT
When the encampment was set up, MIT should have moved it off immediately. Instead they issued warnings and notices to no avail. They allowed the problem to grow. Only when the tents would have interfered with graduation ceremonies were they finally removed at 4 A.M. in a crash evacuation with police and garbage trucks. Their unwillingness to take decisive action and to follow their own rules and regulations was a real mistake. I met with President Kornbluth and found her to be a warm Jew. But she’s very new to this campus, and I think she wanted to ensure that everyone would be happy, which was impossible. The leaders who should have acted did not.
I think it’s important to state that while the media portrayed MIT as being a hotbed of violence and antisemitism, and some students were targeted and afraid to leave their rooms, it wasn’t the prevailing atmosphere on campus. The reality is that students here want to study—it’s an intense academic environment. Most Jewish students will tell you that it is a warm and inviting place, with a daily minyan and a kosher meal plan.
How did your approach to your work change in response to the protests?
Mendel Matusof, University of Wisconsin
I helped organize a large outdoor Havdalah ceremony in the center of campus, near the encampment. Then, on October 7 this past year, we had more than a thousand students walking around campus wearing their Judaism and their support of Israel proudly.
Meanwhile, professors are the leaders of this anti-Israel movement. So we are working with the administration to help students who are targeted by their professors, to make sure they are heard and protected. It’s made a big difference, and students are having far fewer issues in the classroom now.
Levi Haskelevich, University of Pennsylvania
I don’t know if this is a response to the protests or just the Jewish awakening post–October 7, but our student participation at Chabad has more than tripled this fall. We are maxed out and trying to find ways to accommodate more students in our facility.
We also added additional projects relating to Israel. For example, last year I joined a group of twenty-nine faculty members on a three-day trip to Israel. Since then I’ve been joining that faculty group’s meetings, and assisting them with the summer fellowship program that brought forty-one Israeli soldiers to Penn—all of them recently released from active duty. We arranged for them to meet with students and community members, and then set up a tour for a few of them to travel to Chabad Houses across the country where they spoke about their experiences.
Hirschy Zarchi, Harvard University
Our approach did not change, but we did introduce new programming to address the new reality. For example, after a movement emerged trying to deny Hamas’ October 7 atrocities, we held an event, “Bearing Witness,” at the urging of our friend Bill Ackman, where we screened the horrific footage of what they did. The program was attended by many influencers and addressed by Israel’s then-ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan. As our faculty advisor, Professor Ruth Wisse, later put it to me: a film that no one was ever supposed to see became one that everyone must see. The program has since been adapted and reproduced in halls of power and on campuses around the world.
Chana Rochel Novack, Washington University in St. Louis, MO
One of the largest shifts in a post–
October 7 campus world is with faculty and parents. While previously they may have left college life to their budding adults, they are showing up strong to give support in ways that have many rippling effects.
Parents of Jewish college students are now a force who want to be aware of what is happening on their child’s campus and will do anything they can to ensure the physical and emotional safety of their Jewish student. The partnerships between Chabad, the parents, and the university administration are stronger than ever, to support Jewish students on campus.
Many anti-Israel students had relationships with Chabad before the campus conflict began. How have these students been navigating that tension?
Levi Haskelevich, University of Pennsylvania
I haven’t noticed many Jews in this category at our campus. Some have stopped participating, but others who engage in anti-Israel activities continued showing up at Chabad. I don’t think it’s black and white for many of them. Perhaps they are still trying to figure out where exactly they stand.
Mendel Matusof, University of Wisconsin
There were pro-Palestinian Jewish students who stopped coming to Chabad or condemned us for our explicit support of Israel. Other anti-Israel students continue to come to Chabad, knowing that we pray for the soldiers, the hostages, and the security of Israel.
Devora Elkan, Oberlin College
Relationships have been surprising. The nicest, most supportive email we received on October 8 was from a student who identifies as Palestinian. He emailed us expressing his distress about what had happened, hoping that our families and friends are well, and wishing for better, peaceful days. A week later he and my husband held a joint teach-in for students to come and hear “two sides of the same coin” being discussed in a respectful way.
On the other hand, there are several Jewish students—leaders of the pro-
Palestine group—who used to be quite close to us, who will no longer speak to us or make eye contact with us, because they assume they know what our stand is. (They haven’t asked us, and we haven’t made any public statements.)
What about you? As a campus Chabad leader, how do you handle relationships with Jewish anti-Israel students?
Mendel Altein, MIT
As a Chabad emissary I need to be accepting of all Jewish students, so I had to strike the right balance. My support for Israel is unequivocal, but so is my support for every Jew. To that end, while we did a lot of Israel-related programming and support, we also offered Jewish social programming unrelated to Israel. That way students who did not want to engage in the conflict or take a stand would still feel comfortable participating in the Jewish community.
Still, one student, for example, would no longer come to Chabad because he knows that we stand with Israel. For someone like that, the bar to entry got higher. So we worked harder to be more welcoming to all Jewish students, no matter their position.
Dov Greenberg, Stanford University
At Stanford Chabad we stand proudly with Israel. Our commitment to Israel is not political; it is moral, rooted in the values of Torah and the shared destiny of the Jewish people. We are unapologetic about our support for Israel, while we continue to welcome every Jew. There’s no contradiction here—it is a reflection of our commitment to our values of truth, faith, and the infinite dignity of the Jewish people.
Hirschy Zarchi, Harvard University
Harvard Chabad seeks to be a home for every Jew on campus, and indeed a safe space for any student at Harvard and beyond. However, we absolutely have no aspiration to be a home for every idea. Some ideas are just bad, and they shouldn’t find a home anywhere.
Mendel Matusof, University of Wisconsin
I need to be there for every Jew, so I am careful not to push the anti-Israel students away. Yet at the same time, I want to create a safe space for Jewish students, and I want to assert the Torah’s unambiguous moral clarity. So that creates tension.
I messaged students in the encampments privately telling them that despite the fact that I disagree with them, they are always welcome at Chabad. And the students responded positively, grateful to know that they are welcome.
Devora Elkan, Oberlin College
We have made a very conscious effort to not make political statements, as we don’t believe that is our job. I believe that by “staying in our lane” and doing our jobs as shluchim of the Rebbe, we are able to maintain a safe, warm, and open environment that is inviting to all Jews. I want all students to celebrate Shabbat, eat matzah on Passover, and connect to their Jewish soul, regardless of their political or social stands. And that is what happens at Chabad. That being said, for students who are seeking support and guidance on a personal level, we are here to help them in whatever way we can.
The main dilemma I faced this year was a personal inner discrepancy: On the one hand, I am Devorah the Israeli, who grew up in Israel, who was an Israeli tour guide, whose friends and whole family still live there, who’s had three brothers in reserve duty since October 7, some facing the atrocities of the war firsthand. Yet on the other hand I am Devorah the Chabad shlucha to Oberlin College, one of the most liberal colleges in the U.S. On a daily basis, I wrestle with these two opposing truths.
Every week, at my Shabbat table, I feed students who wish harm on my family. As a shlucha, my mission is not about me. It requires me to have sharp clarity and strong stability in my own identity. It forces me to work through inner dichotomies. And that makes me better able to support students from all walks of life in developing their own Jewish identities.
Looking back, looking forward, what are your takeaways?
Mendel Altein, MIT
We met many people we’ve never heard from before. They wanted to know how they can help to ensure that Jewish life at MIT is thriving and supported.
Alumni who graduated twenty years ago are now newly invested in their alma mater. People who care about the future of Jewish life recognize that it’s here, on college campuses, where they can have the greatest impact.
Levi Haskelevich, University of Pennsylvania
I think it’s important that we avoid letting the noise about the protests in the media overwhelm us and steal our time. But we need to keep our eyes open, report antisemitic events, and create a safe space for Jewish students. We also need to continue doing what we can to help strengthen their Jewish identity.
Chana Rochel Novack, Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Students created tefillin groups, raised money to sponsor a Chanukah party for Israeli soldiers, and organized commemorations for the lives lost. Individually, students found new ways to identify as Jews and receive support from other Jewish students, showing up to Shabbat meals and services.
Attendance at Chabad’s Shabbat dinner is up 25 percent since before October 7, and program participation has grown in every area. More Jewish students are studying with Sinai Scholars and the YourIsrael classes offered at Chabad that explore Jewish texts and values. Jews want to know more about their Jewish identities.
Mendel Matusof, University of Wisconsin
Since October 7, Jewish students have been lining up to put on tefillin. The last time I put out a table for tefillin, we had three hundred students lining up. Before October 7, I’d barely get half that. This year more students bought tefillin than in the last five years put together. Tefillin has become a symbol of the Jewish response, and that’s not something we could ever have anticipated.
Dov Greenberg, Stanford University
This is not just a crisis; it is an opportunity to shape the Jewish future. This is a time to act, and a time to lead.
This article appears in the Spring/Summer 2025 issue of Lubavitch International, to subscribe to the magazine, click here.
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