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I was a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018, the day of the Pittsburgh synagogues shooting that took the lives of 11 Jewish people. Now, as a senior, not a day passes where I do not wear my necklace, over my shirt, where everyone can see it. I am proud to be Jewish and I am proud to #OwnMyStar.
What I saw at the No Fear Rally that I hope to take into my role in the Student Cabinet this next year is that, first and foremost, students need resources and need to know that people in high-up places and all over the world are supporting them.
When I read about [Jewish] history, when I talk to different people who have been through so many different persecutions, it’s just so amazing to me that we’re still here. We are such a tiny minority, but we’re so resilient and so strong.
“My first Hillel dinner at school was when I was a prospective student. My host’s name was Dana, and she, along with the people I met that weekend, are the reason I’m here. From the moment I stepped into the admissions building to check-in, I felt welcomed and loved, and it continued throughout the rest […]
I felt like ‘Oh my God there's so many Jewish people that are in the States and they live such a different life and they have so much to say and I don’t know anything about it and I love my people,’ you know? I feel like we are one.
Last year, we had a bunch of hate crimes on campus that targeted international students, black students, and Jewish students. There were some swastikas and Jewish professors received nasty emails. What resulted from that was a list of needs that we issued from the Jewish community to the administration.
Judaism at its core is about social justice, Tikkun Olam, and helping each other. Helping your fellow Jews, but also helping your fellow humans. That’s what an American republic is about too: helping each other and contributing to society. Those ideals are both very Jewish and very American.
“Ariel Walovitch, Northeastern University Hillel’s director of Jewish student life, contacted me a few days ago because she’s been running a mile a day for eleven days to honor the victims of the Tree of Life shooting and she’d heard that I was from Pittsburgh."
“When I was moving into my apartment at Michigan State University, someone said to me, ‘Do you have to hang up your mezuzah? Do you need to tell the entire world your Jewish?’ I said, ‘Yes, of course.’”
“I was hundreds of miles away from campus, completing the semester online because of the coronavirus, when I received a flood of messages about an act of vandalism on Yom HaShoah.”
