Miriam Berger

On a Friday night in July, I and three other American Jewish college students assembled for Shabbat services and a kosher dinner. But this night was different from all other nights. For amid the formal Hebrew prayers and familiar tunes, we spoke to each other only in Arabic. “Sabaat Salaam,” we greeted each other at the service’s conclusion. Shabbat Shalom.
The two months I spent this summer studying and speaking only Arabic through the Middlebury Arabic Language Institute in California were full of such seemingly strange occurrences. But having pledged along with 180 other students of all ages and backgrounds to speak, read and listen only to Arabic, situations like this quickly became the new norm.

The movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israeli activity in the West Bank and Gaza, commonly known as BDS, has been gaining steam at a few campuses across the country and has been sparking an incendiary debate nationwide. At the center of that debate are Jewish students–many of whom support the cause.

Jews in the ROTC have to balance class, religion, and training for the likes of Iraq and Afghanistan. Here’s why they joined, and how they feel as Jews fighting in the US military.