At the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in New Orleans, one in four delegates was a student. Over 600 students came in total—a high for the conference—and 44 of those were from the Hillel Jewish University Center (JUC) of Pittsburgh. Though attendance was clearly high on the student front, students were frustrated that the conference did not speak to their interests or concerns.
“It wasn’t a conference for us, but we were there,” said sophomore Mia Jacobs, incoming president of the University of Pittsburgh Student Board at Hillel, regarding the General Assembly (GA). Pittsburgh students felt that the sessions did not include them. Pittsburgh senior Samantha Vinokor, president of the Pittsburgh Israel Public Affairs Committee, “would have really liked to see more student involvement.”
“We heard a lot about how we’re the future and there are so many students here, but then we were left to our own devices for a lot of it,” she said.
Some students chose to use their time at the GA to disrupt Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech during Monday’s plenary session. Five activists from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) were escorted out of the session.
While there were a few events exclusive to students, such as a question-and-answer session with Wayne Firestone, president of Hillel International, Vinokor would have liked to see a student sit on a panel that addressed student-related issues, or even “something as simple as picking students to introduce speakers, to let us feel more involved.”
According to junior Michael Zimmerman, “It didn’t seem that the follow-through was well thought-out. There weren’t as many things specifically aimed to interact with students or to really get us involved as there could have been.”
Jacobs attended a panel—along with about 65 other students—called “The Innovation Imperative: New Ways to Build Jewish Community to Engage the ‘Next Generation.'” Although this was a forum where student involvement would have been more than appropriate, Jacobs felt frustrated “because the way that the Federation and the Jewish professional world was approaching the problem of engagement of the younger generation is that it was a problem. And they don’t know how to handle it. Who knows better about engaging Jewish college students than the Jewish college students who are there, who are the leaders at Hillel?”
Pittsburgh students enjoyed the more interactive parts of the conference, including the Day of Service—organized by Jewish social action group Repair the World. Delegates worked side by side in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans to repair damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina—clearing empty lots, weeding and cleaning out abandoned homes. Both Jacobs and Pittsburgh junior Brooke Heyman intend to come back to help the area more.
“I can’t feel so strongly and just come home and say, that was great,” Heyman said. She wants to take other students down to New Orleans as well. Jacobs added that “We have to do something,” and has begun plans for an alternative winter break trip to New Orleans.
