The Holocaust and Antisemitism

When I was in college I took a course called "The Holocaust and Antisemitism." The professor, Ken Waltzer, explained that you can't learn about the Holocaust without having a thorough understanding of the history of antisemitism. He was correct.

I'm now teaching my own college course about the Holocaust and much of my syllabus is based on Professor Waltzer's course from over twenty years ago. A few weeks ago I took my class on a tour of the Holocaust Memorial Center of Metropolitan Detroit (the nation's first freestanding Holocaust museum). As we walked around the museum I explained to the students that while the Holocaust is a historical event that happened decades ago, the antisemitism that led up to it continues to this day.

There were 1,879 acts of antisemitism in 2018 according to the Anti-Defamation League, including the attack on the three congregations sharing the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Over the past week alone, we have seen the antisemitic incident of anti-Semitic graffiti carved into a door and drawn on a stairway at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington. We have seen Amazon.com selling Christmas ornaments, towels and mousepads with glorified photos of the Auschwitz death camp. Jewish students are threatened on college campuses and the Jews in London are considering emigrating en masse if Jeremy Corbyn is elected.

Yesterday, as I was on a conference call discussing the upcoming #WeRemember campaign that the World Jewish Congress is launching for the 4th straight year in observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I walked into the university building where I teach my weekly Holocaust class at the University of Detroit Mercy. It was ironic that I was about to teach 34 non-Jewish students about the Holocaust while I was talking about the need for more Holocaust education so the atrocities of the Shoah won't be repeated. Still on the phone, I walked down a stairwell and saw a swastika drawn on the wall next to six neo-Nazi Wolfsangel symbols.

I brought my entire class into the stairwell and we crowded there as I showed them the symbols of hate on the wall of their university. I asked them what they thought we should do about it. I asked them how they would take what they learned over the course of the past semester in our Holocaust class and use that knowledge to educate their peers, their future children, and their future coworkers. How sad is that only seven decades since the Holocaust there is still so much senseless hate in this world?

Finally a Modern Textbook About Judaisms (Yes, Judaisms Plural)

Judaism is a millennia-old faith rooted in tradition, but the makeup of its adherents is diverse and continues to change. I don't believe the way its taught in university courses has adapted to those changes. I've been teaching the same course about Judaism at Oakland University in suburban Michigan for the past eight years, sometimes for as many as three semesters in the same year. I created the syllabus based on a similar course I personally took as an undergraduate student at Michigan State University where I later returned and taught the same course as a visiting professor. In all those many semesters I never updated the required texts for the course. It wasn't for a lack of desire, but no updated texts have been published that I feel provide a modern survey of the Jewish community.

Until now. Aaron Hahn Tapper, an associate professor in Jewish studies at the University of San Francisco and a Fulbright Senior Scholarship winner, must have recognized such a contribution was long overdue. Hahn Tapper's book "Judaisms: A Twenty-First-Century Introduction to Jews and Jewish Identities" (University of California Press) successfully frames the Jewish faith in the context of its peoplehood and shows the variety of communities and theologies that make up the Jewish people today. Brilliantly, Hahn Tapper pluralizes the term "Judaism" in recognition that the modern adherents of the Jewish faith are not merely a diverse group, but we are made up of diverse groups within our diverse groups.

We've all been taught not to judge a book by its cover, but the cover images of "Judaisms" alert the reader that this is not your typical course reader on the Jewish religion. A photo of an ethnically diverse group lighting a menorah at a biracial Hanukkah event is joined on the page with women at the Western Wall adorned in tallit (prayer shawl) and tefillin (phylacteries) along with a gender transition ceremony at a Jewish day school. This book, which serves both as an easy-to-read text for undergrads as well as a more advanced selection for graduate students (footnotes are available online), articulates that today's Jewish community is vastly different than the one at the turn of the last century let alone a century ago.

Back to School Tech: Technology Gadgets for College Students

The college students of yesteryear packed their laptop computer and a graphing calculator when they went off to school in late August. Today's tech-focused coeds take a large array of tech gadgets with them to campus. From Bluetooth speakers and keyboards to drones, fitness wearables and Go-Pro cameras, the 21st century undergrad makes Elroy Jetson look like Pebbles Flintstone. This back-to-school tech list has both the practical and the just plain fun gadgets for those headed off to academies of higher learning who are desiring high tech.


Parrot Bebop Drone: A drone might not be a required device to pack for college, but it will certainly be a fun, attention-catching toy for a creative college student. This compact, durable, easy-to-use quadcopter is great for capturing overhead video and photos. The Parrot Bebop is one of the most popular recreational use drones on the market and its small and lightweight enough for out-of-the-box usage. The Bebop's camera has been improved from previous drone models and has a 180-degree angle of view with a 14-megapixel sensor. The Bebop can be piloted with a smartphone or tablet. With a GNSS chipset with GPS, Glonass and Galileo built in, the Bebop will return to its take-off location on its own and hover in place 2 meters above the ground. It can reach speeds of around 45 mph. You'll have to recharge the Bebop's battery often between flights, but it will be fun to capture video footage on beautiful fall days from high above the campus.

Priced: $499 www.parrot.com

Ultimate Ears UE ROLL: Everyone knows college students love their music and they have to be able to take it with them. In 2015, no one is shlepping a heavy stereo to the park to play Ultimate Frisbee, but simply putting on your favorite playlist on your cellphone won't be loud enough either. The UE ROLL from Ultimate Ears plays your music loud in every direction. This is the most powerful, yet small wireless Bluetooth speaker. For added sound you can double up with a second UE ROLL or use one of Ultimate Ears' other Bluetooth speakers like the UE MEGABOOM. This comes with a downloadable mobile app for remote on/off and custom wake up settings.

Priced: $99.99 www.ultimateears.com

Tip of the Hat to My College Professor, Ken Waltzer

Yesterday morning I found myself in a room with about 30 Jewish teens. I had spent Shabbat as scholar-in-residence at Congregation Beth El, a Conservative synagogue in Phoenix, and was asked to talk about college life to these high school students.

I began by sharing with these teens -- some of whom will be off to college in the Fall -- what no one ever told me before I embarked on my college experience twenty years ago. I told them that as I headed off to college I didn't even understand what the differences would be between my future college professors and the school teachers I had encountered to that point. I didn't understand the concept of office hours or that many professors would treat their students as adults. No one told me that professors would invite students to have lunch with them in the cafeteria or actually be interested in your life outside of the classroom.

Rabbi Jason Miller with Prof. Ken Waltzer (2009)

Ohio University's Anti-Israel Student President Does Blood Bucket Challenge Calling for BDS

The president of the student body at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio was challenged in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by Dr. Roderick J. McDavis, the president of the university. However, rather than dumping a bucket of ice water on her head (like millions of others have already done this summer), Megan Marzec dumped a bucket of fake blood over her head in protest of Israel and then encourages an academic boycott of Israel on behalf of Ohio University. Marzec has since deactivated her Facebook account and made the video password protected on her Vimeo account.

Before dumping a bucket of fake blood over her head, Marzec (wearing a pink shirt stating "Ohio U Divest From Israel") says in the video, "I'm sending a message of student concern of the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state. I'm urging you, and OU, to divest and cut all ties with academic and other Israeli businesses and institutions," she said during in video. "This bucket of blood symbolizes the thousands of displaced and murdered Palestinians atrocities which OU is directly complacent in your cultural and economic support of the Israeli state." The video closes with red text stating "FREE PALESTINE" and "For more information on bringing BDS to Ohio University contact Megan Marzec," with her email address provided (mm590410@ohio.edu), follows that, and then the video ends.