Haredi Predators on Campus
A commenter named Yael wrote in the second comment on Beyond BT’s post, “An Amazing Opportunity…to Help Jews on Campus that.
Since we became BTs (quite a while ago!), we have had an “open house” and worked with Chabad, Hillel, JAAM, and Aish campus professionals as well as approached by Torah u’Mesorah and Ohr Someach to work with them.
Why is Hillel working with the likes of you, Yael? Your local Hillels should have a picture of you with a skull and bones warning below it in every employee’s office.
9 comments
I’m surprised that THIS is what got you about the piece. Not the comment from a 20-year-old kid that “sending your children to live on campus is dangerous, foolish, and near guaranteed to put them in an atmosphere that ranges from negative to hostile to a frum lifestyle.”
Wow. I have a bajillion issues with that, but here’s my biggest one: he’s 20. He has no perspective, experience, and he’s been frum for a hot minute. Try it in the real world kid.
Also: University of Chicago is a liberal school with very few Jews. Yeah, it’s hard to be frum there. Go somewhere else, like maybe one of the “Poison Ivies.” I hear they have a couple Jews.
“Not the comment from a 20-year-old kid that “sending your children to live on campus is dangerous, foolish, and near guaranteed to put them in an atmosphere that ranges from negative to hostile to a frum lifestyle.”
What can I do? I can’t put that poor thing to sleep…I have to focus on those seeking to spread the disease, not the flamers dictating to the already fahfrumpt.
Hillel as an organization has been fucked up for a long time. It’s been taken over by the zionists lock stock and barrel.
As a matter of fact, I heard that they fired at least one one, possibly more, officers who tried to focus only on American issues, or refused to cooperate in using Hillel as a zionist propaganda office.
mohammed,
I see no problem with that. Zionism is a part of normative American-Jewish ideology.
Hillel is a privately funded group, providing a public service. If they want to focus on Zionism, zei ge’zunt. That seems pretty benign. Although at my college Hillel (Colunbia) there was plenty of American-centric programming, and even some critical of Israel.
Hillel is a LARGE organization, and varies greatly from school to school.
HalfSours
There’s no reason accepting the right wing zionist narrative should be a criteria for running a hillel house.
Or why an organization for american college students should be spending its time and money propagandizing for a foreign country.
mohammed,
Do you have the same rules for the Islamic student organizations?
It is kind of strange for a Hillel to be cooperating in orthodox kiruv. I bet it’s a rogue operation. Soon enough they’ll be back to recruiting gentiles with Jewish last names for Birthright!
mohammed,
Hillel is not an organization for American college students. It’s an organization for Jewish college students. There are Hillel outposts on campuses in Israel too. There is no reason for the organization NOT to include a Zionist ideology being that Zionism is a part of the normative Jewish experience. Those who are anti-Zionist (like you I take it), are more often than not their target audience anyway. They function on College campuses, not yeshivot.
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