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Looking For a Few Good Mensches: Israeli NGO Seeks to Inspire Jewish College Students in US to Confront, Transcend Rising Antisemitism

Be a Mensch instructor leads discussion with Israeli youth. Photo: Be a Mensch Foundation.

A nonprofit based in Israel is launching an effort to reach thousands of Jewish college students in the US amid what it called an “unprecedented global surge” in antisemitism.

Founded in 2012, the Be a Mensch Foundation grew out of a partnership between author Dr. Moshe Kaplan, MD, and Mordecai Geduld, which began after Kaplan edited and published a book of the same title in 2009.

Kaplan conceived the book, which comprises essays by Israeli academics and medical practitioners, as a vindication of the role of ethics in forming complete young men and women. Later, “Be a Mensch: Why Good Character Is the Key to a Life of Happiness, Health, Wealth, and Love” became the basis of programs the organization held to unite religious and secular Israelis.

Now, following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and the resulting war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Kaplan has published  a new book, titled “Extreme Trauma: October 7 as an Outlier in the Range of Human Potential,” to help Jewish communities across the world process the globalization of antisemitism promoted by social media, far-left groups, and far-right podcasters.

Jewish college students need access to “Extreme Trauma” the most, Be a Mensch spokesman Gavriel Sanders told The Algemeiner during an interview on Tuesday.

“Antisemitism right now is everywhere — Australia, South America — being fueled by social media and, of course, by the classroom,” Sanders explained. “The book is pretty blunt, hard reading, but what makes this particular work unique is its emphasis on the resilience of the Jewish people, and people of conscience who have been affected by this, and its active quest for hope, presenting us the choice between being bitter and better and showing us how to emerge better from this moment.”

Throughout the long history of antisemitism “that’s one of the historical characteristics of the Jewish people,” Sanders said, “our trying to operate at a higher level of awareness which recognizes the tragedies which befall us but stresses the importance of moving forward as victors, not as victims. So, for students, this book facilitates a perspective not only of looking back and remembering but also being an advocate of action and truth.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Oct. 7 massacre changed the Jewish experience in higher education. In the months following the Hamas attacks, colleges across the US were roiled by antisemitic activity, which included calls for the destruction of Israel, rationalizations for Hamas’ sexual assaulting of women as an instrument of war, and several incidents of assault and harassment targeting Jews on campus.

The issue has drawn a determined response from US President Donald Trump in the early months of his second administration, which has been resolutely following through on his campaign promise to inflict severe financial penalties on colleges and universities deemed acquiescent to antisemitism. Since taking office, the Department of Education, headed by Secretary Linda McMahon, has launched investigations of 60 universities that failed to address antisemitism after Oct. 7, and institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia University, and Princeton University have been stripped of billions of dollars in research grants and federal contracts.

In Israel, the Be a Mensch organization has tried to help Israeli college students comprehend what rising antisemitism has meant for Jewish students worldwide and what it could mean for the future of the State of Israel, establishing for-credit undergraduate courses and offering field trips and relationship-building activities that forge ties between secular and religious Jews, as well as Jews and non-Jews.

Similar initiatives in the US would seek to steel Jewish students and allies of the Jewish community against a world that is increasingly hostile, Sanders told The Algemeiner. Currently, Be a Mensch is touring the US to promote “Extreme Trauma,” holding fundraisers, and raising its profile with the goal of creating college courses based on material from the book. The courses have proven popular at colleges in Israel, so much so that Be a Mensch staff are spread thin due to high demand for the foundation’s message.

“We want to equip the students with a manual of answers, a go-to place for receiving the counsel of dozens of voices, such as Douglas Murray and Noa Tishby, who have risen to the occasion to offer substantive and accessible commentary,” Sanders continued. “‘Extreme Trauma’ was engineered to counter false narratives and declare the truth plainly and universally. It’s critical for our Jewish youth, who are caught in the ideological crossfire on university campuses across the globe.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Looking For a Few Good Mensches: Israeli NGO Seeks to Inspire Jewish College Students in US to Confront, Transcend Rising Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

i24 NewsThe Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.

According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.

In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.

The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.

Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.

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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen

The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.

IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.

Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.

Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.

Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.

Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.

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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsBlue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.

Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.

Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.

“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”

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