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in
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ONCE-YEARLY
AIPAC Conference
MSU Hillel’s delegation to
the AIPAC Policy Conference
MSU pro-Israel students share what they learned.
LEXIE KAY AND COLE LEVINE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
FRIDAY, MARCH 23
9 A.M. - 7 P.M.
SATURDAY, MARCH 24
10 A.M. - 3 P.M.
Find designer furnishings
and accessories at dramatically
reduced prices during the
Sample Sale at Michigan
Design Center, the region’s
premier destination for
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design expertise. Impressive
savings on furniture, lighting,
fabric, flooring, artwork, and
accessories await you.
Sample Sale admission is
a non-perishable food item to
benefit Gleaners Community
Food Bank.
U
pon arrival at the Walter
Washington Convention
Center in Washington,
D.C., we had little to no idea what
AIPAC’s annual Policy Conference
would look like. We’d been to a
previous policy conference, so we
understood the number of partici-
pants this conference draws each
year, but there was something
about this year that stood out to
us. Not only did 18,000 pro-Israel
supporters attend the conference
in early March, but the spirit and
excitement from the crowd were
especially different.
IT WAS CAPTIVATING.
As pro-Israel college students
at Michigan State University, we
know very well how hard it can be
on campus. For students around
the country, anti-Israel sentiments
not only threaten academic and
social success but can also prove
to be security threats.
While we do not experience
such drastic actions on our cam-
pus, we still hear from fellow
pro-Israel students about how the
students they interact with on
campus are often uninterested or
uneducated toward Israel. It can
be exhausting to try and create
positive change toward Israel on
campus when there is pushback
BIG BEAVER (16 MILE)
MSU sophomore Lexie Kay and
freshman Cole Levine are both from
West Bloomfield.
STUTZ
Rabbi Shalom Kantor of Congregation B’nai Moshe in West Bloomfield took
three students in the shul’s PBJ high school program to the AIPAC confer-
ence. Here are comments from two of them.
CROOKS
RD
DWA
WOO
“AIPAC taught me that no matter who you are, you can and will make
a difference in the world. Gender, religion and race make no difference in
speaking up for what you believe in.”
— Haley Whalen
1700 Stutz Drive in Troy,
north off Maple, between
Crooks and Coolidge
Congregation B’nai Moshe Rabbi Shalom Kantor,
Jeremy Rebenstock, Pierce Fox, Haley Whalen
and congregant Bert Stein
michigandesign.com
24
productive way. There were so
many incredible portions of the
conference each day that it felt
like every second was a learning
opportunity.
We will say, though, that one of
the best parts about attending the
policy conference this year was
getting to share the experience
with 15 fellow Michigan State
Spartans as a part of our MSU
Hillel delegation. Every college
student has a different perspective
and set of experiences, so when
you put together 17 pro-Israel
students, not only do we have fun,
but we can also spend time draw-
ing from what we observed at the
conference and brainstorming
how we can bring our experiences
back to campus.
Overall, we left AIPAC’s Policy
Conference with more excitement
to do bigger and better things
back on campus. With a mixture
of fascinating sessions, larger
crowds and dynamic speakers,
this year’s conference gave us
much more than we had hoped it
would, and we are excited to con-
tinue to be committed pro-Israel
college students in the years to
come. •
Teens At AIPAC
COOLIDGE
MAPLE (15 MILE)
from our peers.
However, even with the diffi-
culty and exhaustion of doing this
work, we love it; and at AIPAC’s
Policy Conference this year, we got
to join nearly 3,500 other students
to learn, share and, most impor-
tantly, get re-energized to do pro-
Israel work on campus for the rest
of this academic year.
From numerous breakout ses-
sions about battling the spread of
anti-Israel rhetoric to learning how
to structure and position fellow
pro-Israel students to make a larg-
er and stronger impact, we wove
through the conference learning
more and more as we went.
Seeing the Israeli innovation
highlights featured on the main-
stage during full-conference ple-
naries and in the AIPAC Village
lounge area were some of our
favorite parts of the conference.
We were able to see an Iron Dome
missile defense system up close,
as well as learn from the founders
of Israel’s largest seeing-eye dog
training facility. We were able to
hear from leaders in medicine,
economics and diplomacy, all
while occasionally walking past a
congresswoman or two. We also
got to learn from AIPAC about
how to lobby and share dialogue
about Israel in a healthy and
March 22 • 2018
jn
“Attending the AIPAC conference was a wonderful experience. At
AIPAC, I learned about the terrific relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Furthermore, I lobbied the Michigan senators to help keep the international
bond strong.”
— Jeremy Rebenstock