Hi Everyone,
We are heartbroken and filled with grief and anger about the injustices in the world and we are inspired by the many ways people are uniting in our shared humanity to support a more just world.
This week, Israel continued its bombing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including the horrific massacre of people sheltering in tents in Rafah.
In this edition, we are focusing on the student encampments on university campuses as well as advocacy in education.
Resistance to the violence perpetrated by the Israeli state is growing. Students on campuses across Canada, the USA, and here in Toronto continue to stand up and voice their moral outrage against the ongoing genocide.
In solidarity with Palestinian liberation, students are currently exercising their right to free speech and peaceful protest, as they call for their educational institutions to terminate partnerships with academic institutions that sustain apartheid policies of the state of Israel and divest of all financial investments with Israel that are complicit in genocide and occupation.
Student activists have a long history of organizing and resisting oppressive policies and regimes. And this activism is well aligned with important aspects of a university education – debating, engaging in differing perspectives, and critical thinking. These skills are fundamental to students’ engagement as citizens and as future professionals in their communities. In our experience, this was key to our growth and development as social workers and therapists. A central aspect of social work is the integration of a systemic analysis in our understanding of the social conditions of people’s lives. Social work theory recognizes intersectionality, privilege and oppression as essential to our social change work.
In the 1960s, students demanded the end of the Vietnam War. In the 1980s, student encampments across North America called for the divestment of all assets tied to business with South Africa, supporting the ending of apartheid. These protests were influential in shifting public opinion and pressuring for changes to oppressive policies and regimes.
As Jewish social workers, a vital aspect of our work focuses on supporting clients and communities impacted by oppression and trauma. We are moved and inspired by the student protests and encampments and have been standing in solidarity, leading and engaging in Shabbat services (Jewish ceremony) with the students and faculty in the U of T encampment. Multi-faith gatherings have been healing and spiritual space for us all, honoring and caring for our personal and collective grief and our shared humanity.
The following words are from a recent Shabbat service:
The 2 Shabbat candles,
light meeting light,
reflecting the interdependence we need to care for ourselves,
for each other and for the earth.
One candle for our grief, one candle for our hope.
When I think about the Shabbat candles, I think about warmth, strength, resilience, and compassion and how we can hold all these aspects of ourselves, especially in this moment.
I invite all present to notice the grief and hope that is alive in each of us at this time and allow it to be held in the light and warmth of the Shabbat candlelight.
May this light embrace us all.
May it hold our grief and longings for a different world.
As part of a coalition of Jewish and Palestinian parents, we are also advocating to disrupt anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Semitism in our school system. We support the teaching of the ongoing Nakba and Palestinian history alongside the Holocaust and Jewish history. We are deeply concerned about the Jewish schools that have recently been targeted and are committed to supporting those impacted by anti-Semitism and anti-Palestinian racism.
Below, we have included articles and podcasts concerning the student encampments as well as news clips of our advocacy regarding the inclusion of Palestinian history in our educational system.
Please feel free to share our website. If you have contacts in social work and therapy schools or student groups whom you feel would benefit from the resources we have gathered on our website, please send us their contact information.
Standing in Solidarity,
Jewish Social Workers & Therapists for
Social Justice & Palestinian Liberation
