O
n April 26, while
anti-Israel protests
raged on campus-
es across the country, Hillel at
Kalamazoo College hosted the
largest Passover seder our small
liberal arts college had ever seen.
It was an incredible show of unity
in the face of an intensifying
antisemitism crisis on our cam-
pus.
While the aftermath of the
Oct. 7 massacre has only further
emboldened antisemitism at K
College, our Jewish community
has responded with resilience and
a love for Jewish life.
Every year, our Hillel hosts a
campus-wide seder, but this year
was different from all others.
Passover, the ultimate story of
Jewish survival and peoplehood,
needed to be read differently in
the shadow of Oct. 7, the ensuing
war and a global wave of antisem-
itism. On one hand, the dangers
facing our people in the Passover
story feel relevant today. On the
other, the Israel-Hamas war has
become a humanitarian catastro-
phe that feels at odds with the
Passover message of freedom.
Further, antisemitism on our
campus has reached new heights
since Oct. 7. Students at K were
deeply troubled to see our peers
disregard if not deny or glorify
the massacre. I will never forget
my horror first at the massacre
itself but then also at how many
of my peers declared, “Gaza broke
out of prison” as well as how they
were “rooting for everyone resist-
ing oppression today.
”
A disturbingly large number
of our peers rushed to defend
Hamas’ actions as decolonial
resistance and denounce anyone
who dissents from that view. One
student encapsulated the callous-
ness of activists on campus when
they said a few days after Oct.
7 that Jewish students and their
allies, called “white bitches,
” need
to shut up about Israel “as if any-
one cares.
”
As the war has unfolded, those
student activists have mobilized
to harass Jewish students and
faculty at K while demanding our
school remove “Israel-affiliated”
members of our Board of Trustees
and end our Israel study abroad
program.
This movement wants to tell
Jews we are not welcome unless
we pass an absurd political purity
test. After all, if even the “Israel-
affiliated” trustees must go, it
seems only a matter of time until
our campus Students for Justice
in Palestine chapter takes cues
from others and demands that
the college end our Jewish Studies
department and sever ties with
Hillel.
With this rabidly antisemitic
movement growing bolder and
more popular, it is imperative
that the Jewish community at K
College stand strong and make
our presence known.
We felt it was crucial to bring
together the K College Jewish
community and our allies for
our Passover seder to show that
we are proud to be Jewish. We
commenced with putting on the
best, most well-attended Passover
seder this college has ever seen.
My friend Ruby Winer and I
put together a custom Haggadah
that addressed the tragedies hap-
pening in Israel and Gaza and
commemorated the memory
of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising,
among other topics, while being
fun, engaging and full of songs. I
was proud when, after the event,
Dr. Jeff Haus, chair of Jewish
Studies at K, called it the best
Haggadah he had ever seen from
our Hillel.
Every member of our Hillel
invited their friends, professors
and student organizations. We
collaborated with the Refugee
Outreach Collective Club at K
to include a section in our pro-
gram about the plight of modern
refugees who face a similar expe-
rience as the ancient Israelites.
Finally, we reached out to invite
leaders in the Kalamazoo com-
munity as well as members of the
K College administration.
The result was a success we
could not have possibly imagined;
131 Jewish students and their
allies attended our Passover seder
at a college of only about 1,400
students.
We were joined by several
special guests, including Mayor
of Kalamazoo David Anderson,
local Congressional candidate
Jessica Swartz, Dean of Students
Malcolm Smith, and the incred-
ibly supportive director of
the Hillel Campus Alliance of
Michigan, Robyn Hughey.
This incredible turnout of stu-
dents, faculty, staff and communi-
ty members was deeply hearten-
ing to our Jewish community. We
have felt isolated, scared and anx-
ious for the future of Jewish life at
K, but the support we received at
our seder showed us that we have
more friends and allies than we
realized.
Jewish life at Kalamazoo
College is still difficult and full
of challenges, but we are deeply
grateful for this support that has
empowered us to keep fighting to
build a home for Jewish students
at K. @
Mason Purdy is a senior (class of 2024)
from Anderson, Indiana.
Kalamazoo College
Passover Seder
for college students
by college students
Mason Purdy } jewish@edu writer
More than 130 people
came to the Hillel seder
at Kalamazoo College.
76 | MAY 23 • 2024