Wow. What a year. Words serve as an inadequate vessel to accurately capture how fantastic it has been working with you this past year. I’ve been moved by the dedication every one of you has shown to your fellow students. 

When I was on the Manchester J-Soc committee in my first year, I went on UJS Summit and found an organisation that was Jewish, pluralist, peer lead, Zionist and activist — the same characteristics of another organisation that means a lot to me.

I can’t quite believe that my time as a J-Soc Officer at UJS is now over.My involvement in UJS started in my first year when Ella Rose became my J-Soc Mum and then announced that she was running to be the next UJS President. Not really understanding what was going on, I was launched into the crazy world of UJS and ended up campaigning for this fantastic woman to be president.

It’s just over two weeks since delegates to NUS National Conference elected their new national leadership for the next academic year. In that time, we’ve seen the National President-elect make clear her opposition to antisemitism and her commitment to ensuring a welcoming a safe environment for Jewish students. 

In December 2016, I participated in the UJS Manhigut trip with students from universities across the UK.

How do you answer when people ask you how the trip was? I’m not sure that I can quite put it into words or if there are any words that can really sum it up. Thoughts were encircling my mind as to how and why anyone could deny another of their livelihood, of their family, of their freedom.

'Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity for speaking today. My name is Josh Seitler and I am the elected president of the Union of Jewish Students of the UK and Ireland and an Executive Member of the World Union of Jewish Students. I stand here in front of you representing the 8,500 Jewish students across 64 university campuses in the UK.

So the UJS Reclaim campaign is officially over for another year. This year saw more engagement from more campuses and more online engagement with our website (www.reclaimtheconversation.com) that last year. We had three times the number of campus events this year than last year which is incredible in itself.

Pots were sizzling, knives were chopping and the heat was on. The Great Jewish Cook Off was a new and innovative competition that I was proud to implement as a new UJS National Event this year.

Jonathan Arkush’s public suggestion that Jewish students should avoid the London School of Economics (LSE) troubled me as the President of Union of Jewish Students, as a representative on the Board of Deputies, and also as a proud alumnus of LSE.