A trunk full of books, a bicycle and $30. That’s what my mom says she and her family had with them when they left Poland as refugees in 1979.
My grandparents and great-grandparents survived the Holocaust, but life in Poland after the war was still not great for Jews. My grandmother was born in Belarus, where Jewish children were spit on in the street, and Shabbat candles were lit and prayers whispered behind closed curtains. As an adult in Poland, my Bubbie became accustomed to the word zyd used as an insult or, as a compliment, being told that she was, you know, not like the other Jews. She understood the power and meaning that hateful words possess.
Led by my Bubbie, my family gave up their citizenship and left Poland for the United States with the hope that their children would be freer to live safely as proud Jews. They were right to do it. As she grew up, my mom’s Jewish identity was firmly planted and grew at preschool, summer camp, Hebrew school, and through holidays and celebrations.
I asked my Bubbie her thoughts about the recent sharp rise in antisemitism on college campuses. She responded that “nothing has changed.” She recalled her mother-in-law sharing the story of mandatory “Jew-free Tuesdays” on the university campus in Poland she attended in the 1930s. While the Holocaust had not yet officially started, the seeds of hate had already been firmly planted in the DNA of campuses in Europe.
In November, the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel published a poll that stated that 73% of Jewish college students experienced or saw antisemitic incidents since the beginning of the school year. Sadly, November 2023 feels worlds away from now, April 2024.
Without looking at a new poll, I am confident that we all know that number must have risen exponentially since the fall. Even my TikTok algorithm has stepped up its game, sharing more and more videos each day featuring students rhyming those familiar chants, threatening the destruction of our people and homeland.
Unfortunately, it seems our top universities are leading the way, inspiring and allowing hate to grow, often under the guise of “free speech.” Of course, all speech is not free, and there are limits to free expression in every public environment. Schools must ensure that one person’s right to free speech does not shut down a Jewish student’s right to safety and security.
If they don’t already have one, universities must create a mechanism for students who have witnessed or encountered antisemitism or verbal threats against Jews or Israel to submit a complaint and then they must provide the resources necessary to follow up on those complaints. They must work with university police and local law enforcement to take swift and decisive action against all verbal threats. The word must get out: You cannot make threats against Jews and Israel, and get away with it.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., teaches that the Holocaust was preventable. Verbal threats are actually warning signs. By taking immediate action, universities still have the opportunity to lead the way, slow down the hate train, and ultimately, even save Jewish lives. Left unchecked, history has taught us that verbal threats can become actionable and then it is too late.
Remarkably, my great-grandmother managed to complete her master’s degree in pedagogy in Poland in the 1930s. This was in spite of the many odds stacked against her, which included those university-sanctioned “Jew-free Tuesdays.” Not long after that, most of her family was deported and murdered at Auschwitz, while she escaped and survived by hiding in the Ural Mountains.
As a teenager who has always invited friends over for Shabbat dinners, traveled to Israel and worn my Star of David necklace daily and proudly, this story can’t help but feel like a scary fairy tale from long ago. Yet when I think about going to college next year and hear the threats against Jews and Israel that have spread throughout campuses, this unbelievable history sadly becomes a little closer and more real to me.
Times are definitely scary for Jewish students on campus. Universities must do what they failed to do for Jewish students in the past and act now to deter and shut down verbal threats before the hate becomes more institutionalized, and it is too late.
This article won first place in the B’nai B’rith’s 2024 “None Shall Be Afraid” Essay Contest.
