Volume 67, Issue 3

Students Respond to Anti-Semitic Campus Activity
By Shmuel Honig

During the past two months, both the intensification of anti-Israel violence on college campuses and the emergence of a national academic movement encouraging divestment from Israel have ignited a simmering passion among Yeshiva students, converting dormant anxiety about campus anti-Semitism into flurries of activity. As an expression of this new activist spirit, on October 12-13 close to 100 Yeshiva and Stern students bused to the University of Michigan to protest the Second National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, a gathering that asserted that “racism is inherent in Zionism” and that aimed to encourage divestment from Israel by corporations and universities.

An Open Letter to Ellen Schrecker
By Nephtuli Taubenfeld

As an expert on “McCarthyism,” you’ve no doubt seen the extent to which censorship can be carried, and sadly the repercussions of such attacks. Zack Streit, in his recent editorials, brought this tired, political weapon into Yeshiva, attacking you and your colleagues for not toeing the party line. Apparently, he expects all members of the faculty to agree publicly with what he believes to be the popular opinion of the student body. His assertion claiming to understand fully the views of the students notwithstanding, we students cannot accept the notion that teachers should be unable to voice their true opinions. I’ve therefore decided to respond to the July 17 ad in the New York Times onto which you affixed your signature.  Although I thus am giving your ideas a forum in this university, my treatment allows for a reasoned rebuttal of those opinions and views. 

Reflections on Yoni Jesner, Friend and Martyr
By Yechiel Robinson

Around 1:00 PM on Thursday, September 19, in downtown Tel Aviv, an Arab terrorist stepped on a bus and blew himself up, murdering six people.  My friends Yoni Jesner and his cousin Gideon Black, two nineteen-year-old British students, were riding that bus.  Yoni suffered severe brain damage and died the next morning, Erev Sukkos, at about 10:30 AM.

Har Etzion Alumni at Yeshiva Remember a Dear Friend
by Zev Nagel

His parents named him after Yoni Netanyahu, killed leading the successful Entebbe rescue on July 4, 1976, that saved the lives of 104 hijacked hostages.  Netanyahu died a national hero, immortalized a legend for his commitment to the Jewish people.  Like his namesake, Yoni Jesner, killed on September 20th, 2002 in a terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv, will be remembered for the remarkable impression he made on everyone who knew him and his dedication to the land and the people of Israel.

Israeli Supporters Rally Outside UN
by Zalman Abramchik

On Sunday, October 6th, Israel supporters gathered at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza outside the United Nations for a rally backing Israel’s and the United States’ war on terrorism.  The rally, coordinated by the Coalition for Jewish Concerns-Amcha, was the fifth one of its kind arranged by this group since June 2001, and the first of this academic year.

Jewish Heroes
By: Shalom Ozarowski

On the fourth day (in Israel) of Chol Hamoed Sukkot, I experienced one of the most memorable hospital visits of my life.  Together with a group of about 10 YU and Stern students in Israel for the Chag, I visited the Beit Shikum (Rehabilitation Center) at Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv.  Modeled after Torah Shield, our official purpose was to visit terror victims.  We coordinated our trip with a staff member from the hospital, and brought packages with soda and gift-wrapped blockbuster videos.  The fanfare was nice, but I found the visit to be more personal with a smaller, informal group.

Iraq: Peace for a While
Avi Narrow-Tilonsky

Despite President Bush’s conviction that we must attack Saddam Hussein, some difficulties have arisen from the hasty planning that has given rise to the government’s aggressive foreign policy.  In my opinion, the most valid objections that can be levied against the “American” plan are lack of patience, presentation, and unity of thought on the part of the United States.

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