As 2021 rings in a new national lockdown, your UJS team have been preparing fresh new ways full you to engage with Jewish life on hey digital campus.
Whilst most students this term, and this year, have so far not experienced in person teaching, we will be continuing to enrich your Jewish campus experiences through diverse and engaging content, featuring some big-name speakers, whist campaigning on the issues that matter to you.
One of the highlights for me this month was seeing nearly one hundred Jewish student leaders come together to show their unequivocal support for the IHRA definition and its ability to protect and safeguard Jewish students when adopted and used correctly by Universities. This powerful, peer-led display of unity is what Jewish student activism means. To find out more about our IHRA Campaign, go to https://www.ujs.org.uk/ihra_campaign, and if you want help in lobbying your university to adopt the IHRA definition, get in touch with Bradley or Amanda.
Much of this month has been preparing for the coming term, which will undoubtedly be challenging for many students in a variety of different ways.
A pertinent event that might help with improving your own self-care mentality will be taking place on Monday 1st February at 6pm, where we will be joined on Facebook Live by a Mental Health First Aid instructor and Students Union Wellbeing and Resilience Manager. For those of us who thrive by keeping ourselves busy, an effective self-care routine and lifestyle certainly helps to keep us afloat.
As ever, if you are experiencing poor mental health, we are here for you and encourage you to take the steps outlined in our traffic light system and get the help you need and deserve. Go to https://www.ujs.org.uk/health_at_university for more information.
Another highlight of the past month has been witnessing the amazing work done by so many of our J-Socs to educate about the atrocities of the Shoah. Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 in the midst of the pandemic was always going to be a challenge, but as with so many other activities this year, Jewish students persevered.
Amidst a backdrop of rising antisemitism and digital hatred becoming an evermore pertinent issue, we have a collective duty to remember what the consequences are when racism goes unchecked. Despite such challenging circumstances, it has been so inspiring to see so many Jewish students taking the initiative to educate and raise awareness of our collective trauma, which resulted in so many local and national events commemorating the crimes committed by the Nazi regime.
As always, we are keen to hear your ideas for events, speakers, programmes, sessions or anything else you want us to facilitate. Get in touch with me if you want to chat more!