A blog by Amanda Sefton, UJS Sabbatical Officer

This year for International Women’s Day, UJS brought together Jewish female leaders to share some of their top tips, and inspire young Jewish women to be brave and #ChoosetoChallenge.  

This year, UJS is partnering with HIAS to mark Refugee Shabbat, which is a moment for congregations, organizations, and individuals around the world to dedicate a Shabbat experience to refugees and asylum seekers. This is part of our wider commitment to campaigning for refugee rights following overwhelming student support for such initiatives in the 2020 Conference.

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.

Tu B’shvat is an annual Jewish festival that is celebrated on the 15^th day of the month of Shvat. This year, this falls on the 28^th January. A different name for the festival is Rosh haShana la’Ilanot, or the new year of the trees. For us at UJS, this name captures the beauty of Tu B’shvat, as we welcome spring, and the Earth begins to regenerate. 

Today is 76 years on from the liberation of Auschwitz, and the day that the global Jewish community comes together to remember the 6 million Jews who were murdered. This day is not just about commemoration, but also about looking back and learning the lessons from this time to make sure it never happens again.

Though the past six months at the helm of UJS have certainly been anything but normal, I have been blown away by the tenacity and perseverance of Jewish students across the country. Whilst many saw this year as being a write-off for Jewish life on campus, the reality could not be further from that, and I am proud to represent the 8,500 Jewish students in the UK and Ireland and their J-Socs who have not just been surviving, but thriving, creating new and more innovative ways than ever before to engage with their Judaism.

Being a student now is not easy, but the determination of Jewish students to see Jewish life on campus booming has been admirable.

Do take a read to see what our amazing team have been doing to support Jewish students during these unprecedented times to ensure that “more Jewish students [are] doing more Jewish things” digitally.

A new report by the Community Security Trust (CST), has found 123 antisemitic incidents affecting Jewish students, academics and student bodies in 34 different towns and cities across the UK during the past two academic years. These incidents, revealed in a new report Campus Antisemitism in Britain 2018-2020, included antisemitic incidents perpetrated by fellow students, academic staff, students’ union officials and student society officers.

The response of some universities to complaints of antisemitism was found by CST to be inconsistent and, in the worst cases, increased the harm felt by Jewish students. In one example, a Jewish student at the University of Warwick was subjected to a disciplinary complaint by academic staff after he reported that a lecturer had made an antisemitic comment in a lecture. The complaint against the student was later dropped with no action taken.

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Like many things in 2020, this year’s UJS conference was completely transformed to allow democracy, voting and debating of UJS policy to continue. Moving conference online could have been a challenge, but out of that adversity we saw students signing up in droves to engage in what the future of our Union looks like. This virtual conference saw over 50 motions submitted and with over a hundred students, from all over the UK and abroad, taking part. Conference is an opportunity for every Jewish student to have their say and guide the work of UJS moving into the future. Not every motion could be discussed, not every motion passed, but every Jewish student was given an opportunity to join the conversation.

Welcome to UJS Incubator!

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) strives to promote peer-leadership and provides opportunities for professional development ahead of graduation.

Like many things in 2020, this year’s UJS conference was completely transformed to allow democracy and debate to continue.