Israel is in a state of emergency. Since October 7th, hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers have been mobilized to wage war on Hamas in Gaza and to present a deterrent to Hezbollah in the north of the country. Civil society, along with Jewish communities in the Diaspora, has mobilized to demand the return of the hostages and to make the world aware of the atrocities committed by Hamas. On social networks, on the streets, and in the media, activists are combating biased and false news. In Jewish institutions and synagogues around the world, and in the communities surrounding them, Hasbarah (public diplomacy) has become a critical tool, and combating anti-Semitism has become a priority, as de-legitimization and violence targeting Jews have mushroomed around the world as immediate effects of the war. Dozens of events and demonstrations have been organized by Jewish communities and institutions in support of the Israel Defense Forces, which are being vilified on university campuses, in the media, in parliaments and even in international forums.
What impact is the war having on adults, youth and children in Diaspora Jewish communities? What strategies do they use to support Israel and in the face of the rising wave of anti-Semitism? In our Auditorium Online conference series, on Jewish education today and tomorrow, we ask leaders from Latin American institutions to tell us about the challenges they are facing in the current situation.
Thinking Jewish, beyond identity
Ethel Barylka, who teaches in the Melton Master's program, holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Literature and General Philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She highlights the fact that the majority of Jewish schools in Latin America were fully prepared and ready to resume studies on Monday, October 9, and to provide a response for their students, families, and staff, which testifies to their professionalism in the face of the terrible reality of those first days. Ethel believes that “the awareness of vulnerability and human finitude” that the situation fosters can generate profound reflection on who we are and where we are going. In that sense, she highlights the need to set ourselves apart from everyday experience in order to gain perspective; to halt our regular routine for a while, so as to think and “to avoid returning to the same place we started from.” The Hamas attack generated a feeling of helplessness and vulnerability because it evoked the historical trauma of the Shoah: “The State ceased to exist for seven hours,” she says. This situation destroyed the myth that Israel is invincible and generated a nationwide, spontaneous mobilization of solidarity as people of every social group felt the need to find themselves in action, which could have a great impact for the future. Likewise, Ethel highlighted the need to eradicate the emphasis on group identity from school discourse and start talking about peoplehood, because “the existing fragmentation in identity discourse does not help us build what we want for the future.” She explains, “There are certain basic cultural assets of the history of Israel that are unknown because the students live in predominantly non-Jewish societies.” She asserts that as educational leaders “we need to be active creators of the Jewish destiny, while at the same time finding elements to think of a new spiritual horizon necessary for the future, inspired by our texts and our civilization.”
The reality and the school
“I have a sense that October 7 changed our Jewish lives in some way, although we still don't know how,” says Erica Herszkowich, who holds a B.A. in Political Science and a Master’s in Educational Project Management, and serves as General Director of the Martín Buber School. She views her experiences as a teacher in the current situation in the context of the terrorist attacks that occurred in 1992 and 1994 in Argentina. At her school, the staff is making special efforts to address the needs of students, teachers, small groups of parents, students of Argentinian origin now living in Israel who have returned temporarily because of the war, and a contingent of students who were visiting Israel at the time of the attack. They are also carefully observing the actions and decisions of other institutions in the country. “We are one people; what happens to one group affects us all,” she reflects. The key, for Erica, is to transparently inform families about safety measures, work with teachers on the sensitivity that this situation requires, and accompany students in special activities appropriate for each age. With regard to the effects of the war, the school has noticed “an increase in religiosity, which often obstructs intra-community dialogue.” Erica explains that the task that the Martín Buber School has undertaken is to seek “that reality finds its way into the school and that the school emerges and responds to reality in the proper measure.” She remarks, “The feeling of rawness is still there, but as a community we are strong, because it is the only option we have.”
The Eliezer Max school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, held a ceremony with the students immediately after the October 7th attack, recounts Silvia Grinstein (Bilba), a Melton Master's degree graduate and special coordinator of Jewish culture at the school. However, beyond the ceremony, “We felt the need to work on clarification based on facts, not opinions,” due to the “bombardment of information and misinformation on social networks”. The school undertook this task with the students of each level separately, ensuring that each age group received the information they could absorb and had an opportunity to ask questions and express thoughts. In addition, the school invited a senior journalist to meet with the institution's teaching staff, to collaborate in clarifying questions, and they organized online meetings with Brazilian families residing in Israel so that they could explain what was happening. After these events, the families organized themselves into a solidarity committee to raise funds to be donated via Keren Hayesod to some of the affected kibbutzim, and the students expressed themselves through letters and wishes to Israeli families and army soldiers. “The most important thing was that the kids could understand the situation and empathize with them,” Bilba comments.
Meir Bunytow, a Jewish educator and director of the Jewish Education department of the Bet Hayeladim school in Mexico, recounts what those first hours were like as the institution’s staff began to work together to organize the work they would do with the students in relation to the situation in Israel. “What to do with each of the planned activities, how to support a teacher on our staff who lost a nephew in combat, how to transmit information to the students in accordance with their age, all of these were questions that we had to discuss together,” he comments. The school focused on action, so that the students could feel part of the community and its efforts to identify with the State of Israel. At the same time, joint strategies and guidelines were generated in coordination with Jewish communal organizations in Mexico, along with other schools in the country, specifically in relation to security. With regard to current challenges, Bunytow mentions the “importance of raising awareness that the war hasn’t ended, without causing the children unnecessary stress.”
Whether in Mexico, Brazil or Argentina, support for Israel is currently the overall priority on community agendas. The situation in Israel impacts institutions and also the individual experiences of Jews around the world. Sharing experiences, expanding our work as educators beyond a particular city or school, and defining joint strategies is increasingly necessary in the quest to provide Diaspora support for Israel at this critical time.