Thinking back to when I was 18 years old and a Freshman at Adelphi College majoring in History and Government. My days were pretty conflict free and easy.
I was living in Flushing, NY. in a beautiful Colonial Home. I took the subway to Jamaica, and then got the Long Island Railroad, and took the train to Garden City, L.I.When I got there at about 9:00 p.m. I went from Class to Class. I had lunch at the snack -bar, and by 4:00 p.m., I was headed back to Flushing. I remember that I was able to walk from building to building. It was lovely. It was like being in the Country. Nobody bothered me. at lunch time I sat at a table with a girl-friend, and the rest of the table were filled with young men who either liked my girl-friend, Kitty or me. There were white Christian students and black Christian students and Jewish Students. There were also Chinese students, and Indian Students. I remember there were gay-students on campus also. There was a Society they attended; the Mattachine Society but there were no demonstrations, and there was no hostility between any of the students. The black students sat by themselves. I think I was the only one who talked to them out-side of our classes.
Today, there is friction on the campuses. Jewish students are assailed. Not by Christian students, but by Muslim Students, reacting to what they believe is happening in Israel; and the Jewish students, mostly from non-orthodox homes are being targeted for what the Muslim students believe the reality is today between the Palestinians and the Israeli. The young, naïve, Jewish students, many of whom know nothing about the politics of Israel or Palestine, believe what the Muslim students are accusing and charging them with.
When we have had a speaker from the Israeli Consulate at our Meetings, the speakers tell us that the worst problem facing them is the trouble on American College campuses.
Why don’t Jewish parents speak to their children who are college-students .and tell them what is happening in Israel today? American-Jewish parents know that there is no peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And they don’t know why there is not?
Most American-Jews are unfamiliar with the problems of Israel. The American economy has not been good. Money buys less than it did it the past. Both parents work. They have trouble at their jobs. Jobs are not as secure as they were years ago. The parents may not like their jobs. Both parents need to work to support their College children.
I have two sons in their Fifties. They are well-educated, married to well-educated wives. The older son has two children, a girl of 20 and a boy of 18. If they are to finish college, both parents will have to work. It’s hard to compete at a job and raise children at the same time! Some parents want to give their children a secular education, training them to enter the labor- market, and keep up with their religious education. Something has to give!
I am a fund-raiser for Israel. Israel has been my interest and my passion since I was little and knew that my father’s family in Warsaw was being killed in the Warsaw Ghetto because they were Jews, and, subsequently, I saw documentary films, about the war years. Had America lost the war; Russia would have gotten rid of its Jews, also. Today, we have Ecumenism, and the Christian People, especially the Fundamentalists are strongly supportive of the Jews.
Today, both the Jewish and Christian young are being assailed by the Moslem Youth. The middle-East today has extremist Muslims to whom both the Jews and Christians are Infidels! or unbelievers! What is to be done about this?
“MY MIGHTY RIGHT-HAND” Organization is our answer! The “Mighty Right Hand” is initiating a group of courses in Oranim on Tivon, Israel which will seek to re-claim the role of the American Jewish and Christian Students on the College Campuses in the United States. This link will take you to the Oranim Summer Program, curriculum, and costs: Oranim Summer Program
Elaine Levitt
