With the rise of antisemitism, more attention has been brought to inclusive clubs and extracurricular activities that raise awareness for Jewish culture.
“The Hebrew Culture Club is a place where all the Jews and non-Jews in our school can come together and learn about the religion, the culture, Israel, and just have a good time and be a community,” said senior Avery C.
The club is extremely inclusive and tries to promote unity among all of its members who may or may not belong to the Jewish faith, with students permitted to join meetings whenever they want.
“One of the main things is that our club is called Hebrew Culture Club and not The Judaism Club; we like to focus on the culture of the Jewish people and of Israel itself. A lot of times we have holiday based meetings and events, but they’re more for getting to know how you can partake in the holidays and different traditions rather than the prayers and what the prayers mean,” said senior Logan F.
The recent actions taken in the Gaza Strip has prompted the Hebrew Culture Club to respond to the hateful nature of antisemitism.
“The club kind of just kept going on with it’ biweekly meetings and we kind of just wanted to show that although people are trying to tear a community down, we are still able to come together and our lives don’t have to change because other people are trying to affect them,” said Logan F.
Discussion of the discrimination faced by people of the Jewish faith has been promoted in response to the hateful nature of the Israeli invasion.
“When October 7th happened, we immediately wanted to bring attention with the Hebrew Culture Club to inform everybody of what’s been happening and how to talk about and understand what’s going on, and how antisemitism as a whole needs to be addressed,” said Avery C.
A more direct response to the antisemitism was taken by the Hebrew Culture Club in the form of activities to aid the Israelis.
“We also were able to do a donation drive at our school, so Hebrew Culture Club did a lot of donations and helped with the drive to donate supplies to Israel,” said Avery C.
Antisemitism has inspired students to become more vocal with their disdain for the hateful nature of discrimination against people of the Jewish faith.
“The other thing that we did was me and two of our other board members went to the board of education meeting and we spoke with the entire administration about what was going on, and what we like to change, and we discussed the curriculum and a lesson that should be implemented in the coming week […] and the administration was made aware that we were not happy with the situation,” said senior Shaina R.
Unfortunately, antisemitism was not contained to the Gaza Strip; antisemitic messages were written in the school bathrooms of, sending an alarming message of the existence of antisemitism.
“After October 7th, it was found that there were two swastikas in our school, and our immediate reaction to that was it was absolutely disgusting and how somebody in our school believed it or thought it was funny enough to actually do something like that,” said Avery C.
The reaction to antisemitic writings had a far more profound effect on a personal level to individuals.
“Personally, it makes me feel unsafe to come to school knowing that I’m proud to be Jewish and I’m not afraid, but now coming to school to a place where antisemitism happens and that people believe that The Holocaust was a good thing is not a good feeling to come to school knowing that people are out to get you,” said Avery C.
Even more hurtful than the nature of the hateful messages drawn in the bathroom were the people who supported that expression of hate.
“So the signs themselves, the swastikas, didn’t scare me, it was more of the reaction of the people defending the people who drew them that did; I know a marking on a bathroom stall is not going to hurt me, but it was the people in class saying that ‘it was the Jews’ fault that we now have to wait on the bathroom lines,’” said Logan F.
Several members of the Hebrew Culture Club have become extremely active in raising awareness of the dangers of antisemitism.
“I like to see the administration supporting, especially when the actual entire administration came while I was making a speech. I looked up and I saw them in the back of the room and it made me very happy to see them all be here and be supportive,” said Shaina R.
The Hebrew Culture Club has discussed the possibility of consulting a Holocaust survivor to assist with the goal of raising awareness of the dangers of antisemitism.
“Hebrew Culture Club is also trying our best to bring in Holocaust survivors to talk to all grades in the school so everybody gets an education on the Holocaust whether you take the course of not because it’s important to hear from a first hand experience, especially when we’re probably the last generation to ever meet a Holocaust survivor,” said Avery C.
Ultimately, the Hebrew Culture Club promotes unity and wishes new members join during these trying times to foster tolerance and a greater understanding of acceptance.
“A good reason for people to join the Hebrew Culture Club is because there’s a lot of antisemitism in the world from Jews and non-Jews, so it’s good for people to know the Jewish culture and how to talk to their Jewish friends and how to be respectful of a religion that may not be yours; it’s good to have everyone come together to learn about something that’s important in the world,” said Avery C.◼️
