A

s a sophomore at 
Kalamazoo College, 
I have felt outcasted 
as a Jew and enraged by the 
uneducated opinions on the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
and did not know what to 
do about it. During the first 
week of our winter trimester, 
Kalamazoo College’s Office 
of Religious and Spiritual 
Life hosted a community 
reflection centered on 
antisemitism, sponsored by 
Hillel at K College. The entire 
student body was invited 
to hear from Hillel members 
about their experiences with 
antisemitism and how to make 
changes. Topics included 
Zionism, the Holocaust and 
finding your Jewish identity. 
“During the reflection I felt 
empowered to finally share my 
worries and my fears with a 
community that knows so little 
about what we, as Jews, expe-
rience on a daily basis,
” said 
senior and president of Hillel 
at K, McKenna Schilling. “I felt 
incredibly proud of my peers 
for being able to stand up in 
a way that many people aren’t 
able to, and for representing 
the Jewish community.
”
I spoke about my March of 
the Living trip when I spent 
one week touring Holocaust 
concentration camps in Poland 
and one week celebrating the 
fortitude of the Jewish people 
in Israel. When people ask 
me about my experience, I 
still do not have the words 
to describe it. Nothing can 
match the magnitude of the 

uncomfortable, gut-wrenching 
pain of standing in those 
camps. I left the march feeling 
surprisingly happy. None of 
the survivors we met let the 
sadness and fear dictate their 
lives. They choose to tell their 
stories so that something like 
the Holocaust never happens 
again. 
After hearing stories from 
survivors about the darkest 
moments in their lives and 
the success and happiness that 
they have now, I felt inspired, 
a strong sense of responsibility 
and desire to continue sharing 
and educating the community 
at large so that we, as the 
Jewish people, can continue to 
prosper and flourish. 
Proud is an understatement 
to describe the feeling I had 
after my peers and I shared our 
stories during our community 
reflection. @

Ali Randel is a sophomore at 

Kalamazoo College from West 

Bloomfield.

for college students 
by college students

Community 
Ref
 ection

Hillel at Kalamazoo College sponsors 
program on antisemitism. 

Ali Randel } jewish@edu writer

Ali Randel is 
pictured in Israel 
on the March of the 
Living program. 

38 | FEBRUARY 17 • 2022 

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