RSS
Sinai Temple in Los Angeles Launches Program to Help Jewish Students Combat Antisemitism
Beren Scholar fellows attending a seminar provided by the program. Photo: Sinai Temple
A new “intensive” seminar based in the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and described as the “first of its kind” will prepare Jewish high school students to withstand and resist campus antisemitism, The Algemeiner has learned.
Announced in the shadow of the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, the Beren Scholars Program will educate cohorts of students in 11th and 12th grade about the history of antisemitism across the ages and its latest manifestation in higher education, steeling them against a wave of hatred that university administrators have failed to stop.
A key component of Beren Scholars is a lecture series featuring the world’s leading Jewish and non-Jewish antisemitism experts, including Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Dr. Pastor John Paul Foster, and Sarah Idan, a former Miss Iraq winner and leading Muslim supporter of Israel. Connecting Jewish students with leaders drawn from every culture and faith will, Sinai Temple says, expand their network of support and hone their ability to serve as ambassadors of the Jewish community on and off campus.
“The program will culminate with a trip to Sacramento where students will practice their news skills, meeting with state lawmakers to advocate for Jewish causes,” Sinai Temple said earlier this month.
The establishment of the Beren Scholars Program comes amid an eruption of antisemitism on college campuses unlike any in US history.
According to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published last month, there was a “staggering” 477 percent increase in anti-Zionist activity involving assault, vandalism, and other phenomena during the 2023-2024 academic year. The report revealed a bleak picture of a higher education system poisoned by political extremism and hate, noting that 10 campuses alone accounted for 16 percent of all incidents tracked by ADL researchers, with Columbia University and the University of Michigan combining for 90 anti-Israel incidents — 52 and 38, respectively. Violence was most common at universities in the state of California, where, for example, anti-Zionist activists punched a Jewish student for filming him at a protest.
It is this harrowing reality which prompted Sinai Temple and the Robert M. Beren Family Foundation to equip Jewish students with the tools they will need to overcome a hostile world, Rabbi Erez Sherman, co-senior rabbi of the synagogue, told The Algemeiner during an interview.
“What might have began as a defensive idea will be turning into a proactive vision,” Sherman said. “Looking back now post-Oct. 7, it’s clear that programs like this should have been with us many years before, but we became a bit too complacent. They used to say ‘we have to teach our college students’ and then they said ‘we have to teach our high school students.’”
Sherman added that numerous incidents going back years portended the crisis Jewish students face today. But he explained that Oct. 7, its suddenness and cruelty combined with the higher education establishment’s indifferent response to it in some cases, convulsed the Jewish community, forcing it to accept that even institutions reputed to be the most tolerant and diverse can, either through intentional neglect or incompetence, become bastions of antisemitism. Moreover, he explained, the community recognized the urgency of mobilizing allies in non-Jewish communities.
“Little things were creeping up,” he continued. “But I don’t think we understood the magnitude of what lied beneath the surface. When it exploded on Oct. 7, we realized that we had to address it, and Sinai Temple and this community was very fortunate to, number one, already be in a space of Israel activism — so we didn’t have to recreate anything — and two, to also be in a space of allyship creation, wonderful relationships with our Catholic Church, Faithful Central Bible Church, the Mormon Church.”
Sherman hopes the work in which the Beren Foundation and Sinai Temple is engaged will spread to synagogues across the country.
“What’s unique is that this is coming out of a synagogue and not any other organization that’s just fighting antisemitism or just working on college campuses,” he said. “We want people to realize that their own houses of worship have value beyond just worship and praying to G-d. They can also take action.”
Julie Platt — the daughter of the late Robert M. Beren, a generous supporter of the Orthodox community who died last August — called it a “great blessing to carry on our father’s legacy knowing that our work will support the next generation of Jewish students.”
She added, “In a world where Jews are thinking to retreat, our Beren Scholars will not hide. Instead, they will stand tall, speak out, and create a world of empathetic, intellectual, strong, joyful Jewish leaders.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Sinai Temple in Los Angeles Launches Program to Help Jewish Students Combat Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.
Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.
The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.
On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.
Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.
Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.
ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.
RSS
Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
RSS
Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.