Hillel has proposed to include in its mission statement the sentence "encourages students in their support of the Jewish State of Israel." The mission statement is being put to a vote for Hillel on Tuesday March 4th at 6 p.m. I am adamantly opposed to this statement,,.l., and I call for all Hillel members to come to the meeting in the Roth Center and exercise your right to vote. For those of you who haven't been involved, all you have to do to be a voting member is to be on the blitz list and have come to one meeting (if you've never gone to Hillel come to the meeting tonight, when the statement will be debated, and you will be able to vote on the 4th).
If Hillel votes in favor of the mission statement, Hillel will identify a population, all those who consider themselves Jewish or are interested in Judaism, and direct them (if they wish to be involved in the only Jewish religious outlet presently on campus) toward a specific set of practices -- the "support of the Jewish State of Israel." Thus, the mission statement makes Hillel into an exclusive organization that does not welcome all Jews, but only those Jews who happen to fit the definition that Hillel has created.
People could argue that the statement as written allows for multiple viewpoints. They suggest that including the word "their" means that Hillel has no particular agenda. Although the statement could be read in this way, this interpretation raises the more fundamental issue of why Hillel feels the need to include the Israel statement if Hillel has no specific agenda. Secondly, people argue that the word "support" can include criticism. While the word could be interpreted in this fashion, if Hillel truly wishes to welcome people who may criticize practices of the Israeli government, it should make that desire clear by using a more neutral term such as "relationship." If "criticism" is included in the meaning of the word "support," then this column is in support of the mission statement, which is not my intention. This statement needs to hold for the future and will determine Hillel's religious and social programming as well as Hillel's relationship with other organizations on campus.
Finally, it has been argued that the support of the Jewish State of Israel refers to a religious as opposed to political affiliation. However, as Ariel Rubin has pointed out, this is historically inaccurate -- the phrase "Jewish state of Israel" has been used to limit the rights of non-Jews and to stop the recognition of Reform weddings in Israel. Moreover, even if the statement were meant to express a religious ideal, it is nevertheless not pluralistic. There are many religious doctrines, such as God, that Hillel has not included in the mission statement because they do not apply to all Jews. The use of a more pluralistic approach to God in the mission statement ("strives to engage students of all observance levels") does not mean that no one in Hillel can believe in God, since obviously many people involved do. Nor does it mean that we can't have religious programming that deals with God. It simply means that not everyone has to believe in God. In the same way, we should be including a pluralistic reference to Israel, such as "relationship."
At its heart, this debate is not about Israel. Rather, the question at hand is: what does it mean to be Jewish? I am smart enough to know that I don't know the answer to that question. When Israel was created in 1948, Jews were hotly divided on the subject. I therefore find it impossible to believe that a mere 55 years later Israel has become the one and only doctrine on which all Jews agree.
Finally, this debate is about the DUTIES and OBLIGATIONS of religious organizations on this campus. I propose that Hillel and all other religious organizations have the primary obligation to be a religious venue for a diverse population. Hillel has been criticized for failing to be accommodating to the more observant among us; if the statement passes it will exclude a second group of individuals. While the leaders in Hillel ought to recognize this problem, we cannot practically expect them to do so unless we speak up.
Now is your chance: if you are an adamant supporter of Israel or if you are not, if you are dissatisfied with Hillel's opportunities for more religious observance, if you have no religious beliefs but identify as Jewish or if you identify as some other religion or ethnicity, come, speak and share your thoughts. For every single reader out there, this debate is about YOU, whether you are Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, Muslim or Catholic, African American or Native American, Asian, Latino, Anglo-Saxon or none of the above. It is about whether you have the right to expect this campus to accommodate your religious practices and beliefs. It is about whether, having been assigned a label such as those listed above, you are then also assigned an identity. If you choose to call yourself Jewish, make sure that you have a say in what that label means. Tuesday the 4th at 6 p.m. in the Roth Center is when you can take part in deciding your identity. Vote.
