78 | MAY 28 • 2020 

A

s University of 
Michigan students, 
we have experienced 
many stressors driven by the 
pandemic, including the adjust-
ment to online school, cancel-

lation of milestones and loss of 
various experiences. 
I, Sarah Wish, a rising 
University of Michigan senior 
from New Jersey, was abrupt-
ly sent home from my study 

abroad program in Denmark. 
I, Marissa Levey, a recent 
University of Michigan grad-
uate, lost my last two months 
of senior year, including my 
graduation.
Through our own research 
and conversations with 
students, we realized that 
students everywhere were 
struggling. With no central-
ized resource to specifically 
support students, students did 
not have a way to navigate 
the constant influx of news 
and spread of misinformation 
during this time. 
 We decided to create an 
Instagram account, sponsored 
by the Mount Sinai Health 
System, dedicated to supporting 
students during the pandemic.
The Instagram, @covid-
19studentsupport, is a platform 

committed to supporting stu-
dents, by students, during the 
pandemic. Even though we are 
U-M students from New Jersey, 
our content is geared to support 
all students of all backgrounds 
from all campuses during these 
hard times. 
We aim to share scientific 
evidence-based COVID-19 
information, to support student 
mental and physical well-being, 
and to address common student 
questions and concerns about 
the virus. 
We hope this account gives 
students a way to navigate this 
trying and unprecedented time, 
by acknowledging the challeng-
es our peers are facing and pro-
moting ways to cope with these 
difficulties. 
We aim to specifically 
address the unique stressors 

Online Support

Two Jewish U-M students start Instagram 
account dedicated to supporting students 
during the COVID-19 crisis.

Sarah Wish & Marissa Levey } jewish@edu writers

Sarah Wish & Marissa Levey 
started an Instagram account to 
support college students.

COURTESY OF U-M HILLEL

for college students 
by college students

Reading Between the Lines

Inter-collegiate book club tackles
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor.

I 

turn to you, neighbor, in 
the hope that an honest 
telling of my story may 
touch you — and help create 
some understanding, if not 
agreement, between us.”
So writes Yossi Klein Halevi 
in the opening chapter of 
Letters to My Palestinian 
Neighbor, the book which 
our Israel-themed book club, 
“Reading Between the Lines,” 
is currently reading. 
Meeting virtually every 
Friday afternoon, the book 
club includes students from 
Michigan State University, 
Eastern Michigan University, 
Western Michigan University, 
Kalamazoo College and Grand 

Valley State University.
Launched in April and 
organized by Maddi Jackson 
(director of Israel Education 
and Programming for MSU 
and the Hillel Campus 
Alliance of Michigan), 
Reading Between the Lines 
provides an opportunity 
for students from all these 
colleges to connect through 
reading. In the midst of quar-
antine, we gather on Zoom for 
lively discussion of the latest 
chapter of Letters, engaging 
and exchanging thoughts, feel-
ings, questions, concerns and 
ideas. 
With topics of conversation 
ranging from politics to the-

ology, from ancient history to 
personal identity — and the 
intersection of all these issues 
in the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict — our weekly book club 
hour is both fun and intellec-
tually stimulating.
Halevi has the profound tal-
ent of simultaneously voicing 
his perspective and resonating 
deeply with his reader. His 

writing takes a complicated 
conflict, one that is rooted in a 
long and nuanced history, and 
translates it into something 
both understandable and inti-
mate. 
The book club provides a 
refreshing chance for par-
ticipants to think about the 
world beyond our usual social 
bubbles. Seven time zones 

Noa Dahan, Isabella Lieberman
and Sarah Weiss } jewish@edu writers

