Twas the Best of Times, ‘Twas the Worst of Times: Antisemitism, Israel and the Politics of Resentment on the Campus Today

ABOUT THIS LECTURE:

Is it as bad as we’ve been led to believe? 

How has the increasing support for the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment initiative effected campus climate and attitudes toward Israel? Is there evidence of greater hostility towards Jews and reports of instances of discrimination? Are the responses and interventions of the Jewish Community helpful? What has been the reaction of Jewish students and academics to the Hillel Israel guidelines? Should J St U be included in the campus Jewish Community? Is the next generation inclined to continue being actively engaged on behalf of Israel? Does the expression of support for BDS and embrace of an anti-Zionist position constitute antisemitism? 

These and other questions will be considered by a four decade plus veteran of the campus wars.

ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller is a faculty member at Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He worked with students and faculty as the Executive Director of the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA for 40 years, before accepting the position of Director Emeritus, which he now holds.

Chaim was ordained at Yeshiva University where he completed a Masters in Rabbinic Literature. He has lectured in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA, and in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He is a faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. Chaim was the founding director of the Hartman Fellowship for Hillel Professionals and a founding member of Americans for Peace Now. He was also a  rabbinic consultant to Barbra Streisand during the making of the film Yentl.

In 2014 Chaim initiated a fact finding mission for non-Jewish student leaders to Israel and the Palestine Authority which is now offered on sixty campuses across the country. The International Hillel Center has granted Chaim the Hillel Professional Recognition Award “for blending the love of Jewish tradition with the modern intellectual approach of the university.”