Since early in the month, GAJE has called attention to the emotional and other forms of preparation by our children and by the men and women who comprise the widely diverse Jewish educational system for the return to school.
We did not specifically mention, but should have, the unique preparations and strength of character required of our children returning to university or entering the halls for the first time. For their educational environment, more than most, has become toxic for Jewish students since October 7.
It is therefore, to focus upon the challenges that our university students face during the everydayness of their respective learning experiences, that we call attention to an op-ed written by Bev Shimansky, chief campus and culture officer for Hillel Ontario and Jay Solomon, chief advancement officer for Hillel Ontario. Entitled, Unapologetically Jewish and stronger than ever, the article appeared on the eJP website at the end of August. As the title suggests, the authors describe a positive, non-defensive attitude that will permeate people, programs and perspectives this year.
Compared to last year, the first full academic year after October 7, when many newly arriving students wondered “what it would mean to be visibly Jewish on campus,” the authors write of “a renewed sense of determination” for returning students on campus who “will live proudly, joyfully and unapologetically as Jews.”
To their great, everlasting credit, Hillel and its students are rallying behind an assertive and unbowed projection of Jewish identity and life. As the authors state, they “refuse to let this [aggressive, bold anti-semitism] be the defining story of Jewish campus life.”
The authors then list five priorities on campus, “each a response to this moment and each a commitment to our collective future”.
We reproduce the priorities.
(To read their full descriptions and applications, we urge readers to go to the following link: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/unapologetically-jewish-and-stronger-than-ever/?utm_source=cio)
1. We will unapologetically celebrate Jewish joy with more people, in more places, than ever before.
2. We will confront antisemitism with courage and strength.
3. We will innovate and elevate Jewish and Israel experiences.
4. We will build lifelong Jewish journeys.
5. We will cultivate a culture of connection, growth and leadership.
The authors conclude by saying that they will live by the following mantra in the school year ahead: “More semitism – the enthusiastic and joyful celebration of Jewish identity – is the best response to antisemitism.”
We earnestly, whole-heartedly support our university students as they seek and, hopefully, experience the “enthusiastic and joyful celebration of Jewish identity”.
The heartening, forward approach described by Shimansky and Solomon in the fight against campus antisemitism, meshes, like two perfectly-fitting gears, with the call, in last week’s update to fight back against the haters and vilifiers of Israel, Jews and of Judaism. The enthusiastic, joyful celebration of Jewish identity is also a key “weapon” – if indeed, not the key weapon, in our fight.
We conclude by reminding readers that the enthusiastic, joyful celebration of Jewish identity requires us, first, to know who and what we are as Jews. To know that, requires Jewish education.
Jewish education is the first step.
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GAJE’s legal team will appear before the Court of Appeal at 10:00 on November 21, 2025 to argue that the Divisional Court was wrong, in September 2024, to reverse Judge Papageorgiou’s decision of August 2023 that had allowed our case to proceed.
If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
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Shabbat shalom
Gmar Chatimah Tovah
Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
September 26, 2025
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 