Colleges across Canada should provide accommodations and a safe environment for Jewish students to experience their religion freely, Rabbi Julia Appel said at an online event for Humber College.
“We are talking about Jewish students’ ability to be Jewish on campus.”
Appel is the Director of Innovation Training and Curriculum at Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.
Humber College hosted the event “Advancing Inclusion: Addressing The Impact Of Antisemitism On College Campuses” on Thursday morning where Rabbi Appel talked about how to understand and identify antisemitic acts.
“It doesn’t have to be extremely complicated, rather ask yourself, is what I’m seeing an acting in some of those classic antisemitic tropes?”
B’nai Brith Canada reported that antisemitic incidents rose 18 per cent from 2019-2020.
Statistics Canada data for 2020 police-reported hate crimes in Canada showed that hate crimes targeting Jewish populations are the second most common type of hate crimes reported by police, representing 13 per cent of all hate crimes.
Appel also spoke about how antisemitism can surface on campuses when issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are discussed.
“No matter what you think about politics, to understand that this is engaging in a process of isolation and that it’s not just about political government.”
“It really affects Jewish individuals in your community. And the effect can be to silence or frighten or isolate Jewish students, staff, and faculty.”
She urged College faculty and administrators to look out for antisemitic acts and take action.
“When antisemitism or violence against Jews happens anywhere in the world, your Jewish students, staff, and faculty will feel it. It affects them. We are small people in any instance in antisemitism, we feel it and we wonder about our own safety,” Rabbi Appel said.
She added that religious accommodation is one of the most important issues, where a student can miss up to seven days of class because of Jewish holidays, and their professors won’t help them catch up.
“If you are a faculty or staff, can you put information about religious accommodation right at the top of every syllabus, can you make sure that especially first-year students are very familiar with the religious accommodation and who to talk to, can you make sure that your faculty has a good understanding and not quizzing Jewish students on how observant they are or why do they take this day off?”
Appel said that the colleges should also provide Kosher food options for Jewish students who are traditionally observant, and provide these accommodations for all religious minorities.