4 | APRIL 4 • 2024
J
N
PURELY COMMENTARY
opinion
Every Jew Around the
World is Fighting Hamas
This article is a reprint. It was
originally published in The
Jerusalem Post and on JPost.
com.
I
feel like I’m living through
history. Like many Jewish
kids, I grew up in the tra-
ditional Jewish day school
and camp system. I learned
all about Israel, Jewish histo-
ry and the Holocaust. I have
always understood that there
was this historical anomaly
called antisemitism. Up until
October, this was just some-
thing we learned about in histo-
ry class. Then Hamas attacked.
My world and the world of
every Jewish person I know
turned upside down. It all
happened so suddenly. Having
heard of antisemitism or cam-
pus anti-Zionism in the past, I
now see it and feel it in every
fiber of my being. Every univer-
sity campus, friend and relative
I know is affected by a fierce
anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sen-
timent that makes me quiver.
With zero lead time, a vio-
lent wave of emotion erupted
like a volcano. Neither I nor
anyone I know has a clue how
to handle this. We have no
lived experience that guides us
through this. Our parents are
also inexperienced with this.
In fact, my own parents tell
me they have never personal-
ly experienced palpable Jew
hatred before this.
While we struggle here in
our universities and in every
city on the planet, our brothers
and sisters in Israel are suffer-
ing through a long, grueling
war. It is agonizing for us to see
our people under such a heavy
military burden, feel the guilt
of not being there and have to
find ways to survive here. Like
I say, this is all new to me. This
added dimension complicates
our everyday life here at the
University of Western Ontario
(aka Western University) in
Lomdon, Ontario.
So, how do I, a newly devel-
oping but rapidly maturing
young Jewish student, handle
all of this sudden and fierce
emotion? All of us have had to
find support from each other.
We’ve had to talk much more
with family than we ever did
(or wanted to). We’ve reached
out to our friends and joined
student groups that we might
not have otherwise joined.
There are more students going
to Hillel and Chabad dinners
than ever before.
We all want to huddle
together and share the warmth
that comes with togetherness.
There’s no way to handle this
much pain and confusion
alone. And this strikes me as
the silver lining in this calamity
and poses a potential oppor-
tunity.
It seems clear to me that, in
a very brief moment, Hamas
was able to convert a sharply
divided Jewish nation into a
tightly unified one. We now
reach out and hold onto each
other tighter than ever before
in recent history. It is, I realize,
internal division that weakens
us and, I think, that invited this
disaster. It is unity and better
put, achdut, that will be the key
to our survival here in exile and
in Israel.
JEWS MUST FIGHT FOR
ISRAEL ON CAMPUS
And so, to me, the way forward
is clear: I am no longer just
some kid going to Western to
get a degree. In record time, I
have become a warrior for the
Jewish people. It is incumbent
upon me and every student on
every campus (Jews and allies
alike), to recognize the current
state and get to work. We
must organize. We must reach
out, to each other and to non-
Jewish allies. We need to find
every friend that we can. And,
mostly, we need to stand strong
in the face of adversity. We
need to make noise when noise
needs to be made.
We need to engage university
administrations when they are
weak or just getting it wrong. I
feel like we are the modern-day
Maccabees. We didn’t ask for
this war, but we are definitely
not going to lose it — if histo-
ry is any indication. In some
regard, I feel a burst of energy
I’ve never had before.
Although we are thousands
of miles away from the physical
conflict, as students on campus
we are still greatly affected by
it. The only way to cope with
all the hatred in the world is to
come together as a community
and show our strength in num-
bers.
The slogan I see on signs in
Israel now means everything
to me: “Beyachad nenatzeach”
(“Together we will win”).
The writer is an undergraduate at
Western University studying kinesiology
and business.
JUDAH EISEN JERUSALEM POST
CHAIM GOLDBERG/FLASH90
ZAKA personnel work at a field with destroyed cars from the Oct. 7
massacre, near the Israel-Gaza border, Nov. 23, 2023.
Jewish students protest at
Western University in London,
Ontario, demanding the release
of the hostages held by Hamas.
JEREMY URBACH
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