JLIC and Yavneh on the Front Lines: Building Jewish Campus Life After October 7th
During the past 16 months, college campuses have been in the news, with many questioning what place there is for Jewish students in the current climate. The Orthodox Union’s JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus) is active on dozens of campuses around the US and Israel, and provides guidance and leadership for tens of thousands of students. Rabbi Aron White recently sat down with four leaders from JLIC and Yavneh (a project of JLIC) to discuss the changing landscape of Jewish life on college campuses.
Please tell me a little about yourself, and your involvement in Jewish life on campus.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: I have the privilege of leading JLIC at UCLA alongside my wife for over 21 years now. Additionally, we serve as the JLIC Directors of the West Coast, overseeing JLIC couples in graduate schools, undergraduate schools, and junior colleges. We’re now in over 30 campuses on the West Coast, and we’re blessed to be doing this work, especially now when the Jewish community is turning to Torah for answers to their big life questions.
Rabbi Noam Friedman: I grew up in New Jersey with a typical Modern Orthodox tri-state area upbringing. After some serious flirtation with law school, I fell in love with campus work and have been with JLIC for over a decade. I started as the founding director of JLIC at Columbia University/Barnard College for 8 years, and currently serve as executive director of JLIC Mizrachi at Reichman University in Herzliya.
Tal Attia: As COO of JLIC, a large part of my portfolio is recruiting, hiring, and training staff to work on campus. Before serving JLIC in this capacity, I worked on campus as a JLIC Director at Brandeis University and Binghamton University with my husband Isaac.
Gracie Newmark: I have been involved with JLIC and Yavneh since 2017 when it first began. I started as a fellow at Muhlenberg College and now serve as the Associate Director of Yavneh. Yavneh has developed a successful formula for cultivating future leaders and fostering vibrant Jewish communities. Every year, thousands of religious, passionate, motivated, educated, and relatable students enter college. Yavneh creates opportunities for these students to grow into leaders. Rooted in the values of loving all Jews and caring for others, Yavneh is developing the next generation of Jewish leadership – empowering hundreds of student leaders on campuses across North America. These leaders connect their peers to meaningful Jewish life, Israel, vibrant communities, and each other through peer-based relationships and innovative community-building initiatives. Over the past five years, Yavneh has successfully recruited, trained, and mentored a network of over 400 students, carrying out this mission on 95 campuses across North America.
Post-October 7th, what has changed in Jewish life on campus?
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: There’s been a real change in students’ interest in being involved in community. For example, we started a simple program on Wednesday evenings called “Jewing Dinner” – Jews coming together for dinner, for no other reason than to have community. And it’s exploded; we have 60, 70, sometimes 80 students coming per week. People are more interested now in everything from Torah classes to Shabbat lunch. We’re seeing a real surge in participation across all types of programming.
Rabbi Noam Friedman: The post-October 7th landscape on an Israeli campus is obviously very different than it is for our North American counterparts. Many thousands of Reichman University students have served in reserves during this war; many hundreds of young people in our international community are olim and serve in the IDF. They continue to balance reserve duty with their academic responsibilities, while navigating the intense emotions of the moment in Israel and their new lives here, often thousands of miles from family and their original homes.
Tal Attia: Students have experienced more fear, deep discomfort, and disruption of their campus environment since October 7th. They have had professors express anti-Zionist views and had peers they thought were friends either stop talking to them or join encampments and protests. Certainly many students have expressed the feeling that their sense of belonging has been challenged. However, one cannot believe everything they see on the news. The media sensationalizes the extremes but fails to cover the day-to-day realities. The average inappropriate remark by a professor doesn’t make the news, but neither does a bustling kosher cafeteria or an uplifting communal event that bolsters Jewish pride, belonging and agency.
Gracie Newmark: Since October 7th, antisemitism has become more visible, and many Jewish students feel a stronger need to assert their identity. There is a renewed sense of purpose, with students engaging in advocacy, education, and community-building in unprecedented ways. We have supported students in remarkable initiatives, from organizing campus vigils and challah bakes to running learning programs in honor of fallen soldiers. Additionally, there has been a significant increase in interest in trips to Israel to volunteer. Through Yavneh’s partnership with JNF-USA, we have sent numerous students to volunteer in southern Israel to help rebuild what was lost in the aftermath of October 7th. This opportunity has deepened our fellows’ connection to the land and people of Israel as they experience a new side of the country they love.
What new opportunities for engagement now exist on your campus?
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: New opportunities for engagement are everywhere now. We’re seeing involvement from medical students, dental students, law students, and sciences – people from all walks of life. People are meeting with rabbis and the Jewish community even before coming to campus in ways we haven’t seen before. Even simple programs are meaningful now. We had a breakfast program for people to come and meet each other, and one student came over and said, “I want to share something with you.” We wondered what he would say, and he told us, “Having breakfast just so we can come and be together is such a Jewish thing. It’s beautiful to see.”
Rabbi Noam Friedman: We see some uptick in religious engagement that people have come to expect, but that’s only part of the story. The ongoing challenges in Israel have also caused real struggles for many young people living here. Our professional team and community leaders strive to be attuned to these evolving needs and offer support however we can. In the early days of the ground incursion, a young man from our community got home from Gaza for the first time. He and his wife had both been called up within days of October 7th. His father, who himself had served as a lone soldier in the First Lebanon War, was present in shul when his son got an aliyah and bentched Gomel in a packed room of young olim and students. The father recounted his own experience getting out for Shabbat in 1985 after a difficult incident, reciting HaGomel in a shul where nobody knew his name. The contrast of watching his own son recite the Gomel berachah forty years later surrounded by supportive peers exemplified how much things have changed, and how important our community work is.
Gracie Newmark: Yavneh student leadership is built on peer-to-peer engagement. Leadership must empower students to transform their daily interactions – finding common ground, building relationships, and working together to create vibrant Jewish communities that are open and accessible to all students. Yavneh leaders are fostering positive Israel activism and dynamic Jewish programming at a grassroots level. Yavneh recruits and trains students during their gap year in Israel, develops all-star Jewish leaders through the Yavneh Fellowship during their time on campus, and strengthens students’ connections to Israel through educational trips and programs. Yavneh NYC, powered by Yavneh Fellows across New York City’s campuses, has engaged hundreds of students through comedy shows, paint nights, Torah learning, and volunteering. After the encampments at UCLA were removed, over 450 LA-based students joined together to help clean up their campuses, bringing Jewish unity in the face of antisemitism. The Yavneh Shabbat Project aims to strengthen Shabbat culture on campuses where it is lacking, with fellows traveling between campuses to create connections and plant seeds for sustainable Jewish growth. Through our “$25 for 25” program, over 500 students in 21 countries have participated in weekly Torah learning, with pairs dedicating their learning to fallen soldiers.
How has JLIC and Yavneh provided you with the tools to deal with these new realities?
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: Through the Yavneh Fellowship, we’re able to engage students throughout California and the West Coast, even in areas where we don’t yet have JLIC couples. Students are saying “We want something here in Arizona, in northern California, in eastern California” – places that weren’t typically large hubs of Jews. They want to be part of the Yavneh Fellowship, engage other students, and want the leadership and Torah study. JLIC has been incredibly supportive of growth, giving opportunities to grad students, new undergrads, and transfer students who are looking for more areas of growth.
Rabbi Noam Friedman: At its core, JLIC has always been about building vibrant Jewish communities with strong personal relationships as an indispensable foundation. In the early months of the war, it was inspiring to see the mass mobilization of community members quickly procuring and delivering supplies and food to the many soldiers from our community who were called up. After the initial emergency response phase, where we saw tremendous community mobilization and support, our community has shifted back toward strengthening our core day-to-day functions – minyan, Shabbat meals and a strong Shabbat life in general, Torah learning, chesed, and strong social connections. In that sense, our work before the war prepared us well for our community’s current needs.
Tal Attia: When the war broke out, JLIC sprung into action. Our leadership encouraged field staff to counter feelings of helplessness by taking – and empowering students to take – proactive and positive steps. Volunteerism has played a critical role in keeping up morale, fostering community, and building a sense of belonging amongst our participants. JLIC and Yavneh were well positioned before the war to do what was most needed – leverage the power of relationships, community, and learning – and so that is what we have continued to do.
Many people reading the news feel pessimistic about the prospects for young Jews on college campuses today. How do you feel, and what gives you a sense of optimism?
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: I have complete optimism for Jews on campus. We are seeing leaders grow in incredible ways. Each group that emerges has someone saying “I want to take responsibility,” “I want my campus to have more.” Students often come saying, “The programs are amazing, but I know another five Jewish students in our class who aren’t yet coming – what can we do to get them involved?” People aren’t turning away; they’re turning in, asking how to grow and expand what’s here. The students are bright, happy, smart, and engaged. They want a Jewish community that’s exciting and dynamic, and we see tremendous potential.
Rabbi Noam Friedman: While I am increasingly optimistic about the unique opportunities that living in Israel presents to college students, I don’t feel triumphalist about the state of North American campuses. The history of Jews and American universities is a storied one that we should hope gets repaired, even when it seems unlikely to succeed without addressing core institutional issues. From my new position in Israel, I’ve been inspired by students standing up for Israel and the Jewish people. There are few things more inspiring than living through this moment surrounded by young Jews in Israel, including countless university students, lone soldiers, and olim chadashim from around the world. Their conviction, clarity of purpose, and willingness to sacrifice in service of defending Israel – when you witness the actions of this young generation, it is impossible not to feel hope in the future of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
Tal Attia: The news capitalizes on pessimism. Jews have always chosen to attend various universities, and I anticipate that they will continue to do so. For many, the equation hasn’t changed all that much – secular college always had its challenges and opportunities, and they were prepared to undertake both. I am optimistic that students will continue to bring their intentional, value-driven selves to their campus communities, and seek opportunities for connection, learning, and leadership in their settings.
Gracie Newmark: Despite the heartbreaking events in Israel and difficult headlines, we have been incredibly inspired by the resilience and mobilization of our Yavneh fellows. Across the country, Yavneh students have stepped up to lead their communities, fostering Jewish pride and strengthening Am Yisrael. We are so proud of how the Yavneh network continues to bring light into the world during these dark times. More than ever, there is a growing sense that we are part of something bigger – a story that spans generations. The challenges are real, but so is the strength of Jewish students on campus.