Illustration by Nicole Harmon

They asked tough questions and spoke their minds. By the end of the day on November 2, Prozdor's college-bound juniors knew a lot more about the increasingly strident anti-Israel rhetoric that is permeating some American university and college campuses—and the underlying issues.

The mini-conference at Brandeis University, sponsored by Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, included sessions on Israeli history, media bias and a keynote address by Michael Eglash of the Israeli group Upstart Activists. Teens also had an opportunity to hear from Boston-area college students about how they are responding to antisemitism on campus.

"From the feedback we have received, students and parents alike thought it was extraordinary," says Prozdor Director Marjorie Tarmy Berkowitz. Plans are underway to hold a follow-up event in the spring for seniors.

Upcoming Prozdor events will focus on international exploration: In February, Informal Education Coordinator Rachel Sklan will escort the juniors to London, where they will stay with members of the Noam Youth Movement and study Jewish life in England. After hosting 25 tenth-graders from the Alliance School in Haifa over Hanukkah, Prozdor sophomores will travel to Haifa in April for a reciprocal week of exchange study with the long-distance members of their Jewish ethics videoconference class. And this summer, the second year of Keren Or programming, cosponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council, will include the successful mix of text study and tzedek work. For details, contact Informal Education Director Dan Brosgol, at 617-559-8806 or dbrosgol@hebrewcollege.edu.

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