ROSE PROJECT LEADS INTERFAITH STUDENT MISSION TO ISRAEL

WINTER 2016Rose Project

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“Today’s students are exposed to anti-Israel rhetoric that distorts Israel and the conflict in order to demonize the Jewish State and delegitimize its existence,” said Lisa Armony, director of the Rose Project. “Students often don’t have the knowledge to debunk anti-Israel propaganda, nor do they understand just how complex and layered these issues are. The mission allows students to experience the complexity of the region for themselves so that they can think critically and create accurate and affirming conversations about Israel on their campuses.”

The decision to bring Jewish and students of other faiths on the mission was based on several factors. It enabled Jewish students to share with their peers their deep connection to Israel as fundamental to their Jewish identity. Additionally, because students had relationships before the trip, they felt comfortable discussing sensitive issues in an environment of trust and openness. The dynamics also lent themselves to discussions about challenges facing other communities and explorations of common values of social justice.

The journey began in Jerusalem where students visited holy

sites and gained insight into the overlay of politics and religion. Other highlights included visits to Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl, numerous archeological sites, and local neighborhoods. They learned what it means for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state at the Knesset, and met with parliamentarians, among them former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.

They performed a simulation exercise in Sderot, and learned about the devastating toll of more than a dozen years of Hamas rocket fire on the local population.

“It was helpful to learn about the politics of the borders because it gives so much insight into the domestic state of Israel and the dynamics of the region, allowing for a better understanding of the Israeli nation,” said Jasira Woods, a third year Peace Studies major at Chapman University.

The mission supports the Rose Project’s commitment to fostering robust and honest dialogue about Israel and the Middle East on OC college campuses.

A tour of Israel’s borders helped them grasp the country’s security challenges.

A diverse group of Orange County college students gained firsthand knowledge of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as participants in the Rose Project’s first student interfaith mission to Israel.

The 10-day trip is part of the curriculum of the Rose Project’s Jewish Campus Leadership Initiative (JCLI), a leadership development program for Jewish students at Chapman University, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. JCLI participants invited students leaders of other faiths on their campuses to join them to study Israel’s history, politics, sociology, religions, economy, culture, and internal and external challenges. The students came from the African American, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist communities and hold leadership positions in student government and media, Greek life, Black Student Union, Hillel and other campus organizations.

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Visits to Jewish and Palestinian communities in the West Bank exposed them to a range of perspectives on the conflict and the potential for peace and coexistence, including opposition to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Movement.

“On campuses today, anti-Israel activists present BDS as the single and moral path to Palestinian rights,” Armony said. "Our students heard an alternative view from people who live the conflict and seek a genuine peace. They now have a very different story to tell on their campuses.”

Now back at school, mission participants are staying engaged in dialogue and learning about the region. They have written papers, started discussion groups and present their experience to various audiences.

“This trip truly gave me a good understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and also opened my eyes to the instability of the Middle East in general,” said UC Irvine student Ramy Dihom.

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The Rose Project was established in 2008 by Jewish Federation & Family Services during a turbulent time for Jewish students on the UC Irvine campus. Our strategy for creating a more civil campus climate for the students and for Israel included fostering the conditions for vibrant Jewish student life and empowering Jewish students to be self-sufficient and able to contend with the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic challenges they were facing. While the campus climate has improved significantly, the Rose Project remains committed to its core mission of supporting Jewish college students in Orange County. Thus when the board of Hillel Foundation of Orange County asked JFFS earlier this year to collaborate in seeking the most effective path for the continued delivery of outstanding Jewish programs and engagement on Orange County college campuses, we were eager to cooperate with our Community Partner.

The boards of JFFS and Hillel, together with the Rose Council, the governing body of the Rose Project, formed a task force to create an interim governance and staff structure. The result was the formation of a strategic partnership between the Rose Project and Hillel that maximizes the Orange County Jewish community’s ability to support Jewish students on our campuses in what we feel is the most efficient and impactful way.

The alliance has joined the Rose Project and Hillel staff as a team to serve students and fulfill the complementary missions of the Rose Project and Hillel, the latter being to ensure in every student an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel. Rose Project director Lisa Armony is concurrently serving as Hillel’s executive director. Both Hillel and the Rose Project remain separate organizations with independent boards and unique brands. Nonetheless, this partnership allows for greater communication among the boards, alignment of goals, more effective strategic planning and budgeting, sound board governance, greater operating efficiencies and enhanced opportunities to provide diverse educational, cultural and social programming that will keep our Jewish students informed, engaged and connected. Hillel International and Jewish Federations of North America have given our community their full support as we begin this groundbreaking enterprise, and we are grateful for the resources they provide to enhance this partnership and to provide outstanding service to our students.

At a time when Jewish communities throughout the country struggle with engaging the next generation, we look forward to working together as a community to ensure that that the needs and interests of Jewish students are well served, and that they have the tools they need to become strong leaders on and off campus and contributors to their Jewish communities long after graduation.

JimWeiss

MESSAGE FROM THE ROSE PROJECT CO-CHAIRS

Jeff Margolis

Mohammed Dajani Addresses CSUFPalestinian scholar and peace activist Mohammed Dajani spoke, in October, to more than 150 Cal State Fullerton students, faculty and administrators about the need for moderation and reconciliation in Palestinian society. Dajani's talk was cosponsored by the Rose Project and the Office of the CSUF President Mildred Garcia and coordinated by CSUF professor and Hillel advisor Scott Spitzer.

A former PLO activist, Dajani shared his journey from revolutionary to the founder of the Palestinian Wasatiya Movement for Moderate Islam. He discussed his belief in the need for Israeli Jews and Palestinians to learn about

each other’s suffering as an important step toward a peaceful end to the conflict and a viable two-state solution. Dajani is a strong advocate for Holocaust education for Palestinians. He made headlines last year when he was harassed and forced to resign his professorship at al-Quds University after leading Palestinian students on an educational mission to Auschwitz.

He closed his speech at CSUF by urging students to reject the Boycott, Divest and Sanction Movement and to pursue initiatives that promote peace and coexistence.

In October, retired Israeli Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak kicked off a Rose Project-coordinated lecture series on democracy and human rights in Israel. Barak spoke about Israel’s unique status as a Jewish and democratic state. The architect of Israel's Basic Laws, he discussed Israel’s constitutional revolution and the ways in which Israeli democracy is informed by Jewish law. The event was held at the UCI School of Law before an audience of students, faculty and community members.

Retired Justice Dalia Dorner will deliver the second lecture of the series on Israel’s challenge to protect human rights in the face of terrorism and asymmetric warfare. Her talk will take place at Temple Bat Yahm on Tuesday, February 18 at 7 pm. Sitting Justice Salim Joubran will conclude the series with a lecture on religious freedom in Israel and the role of the Supreme Court. Joubran has the distinction of being the first Israeli Arab to hold a permanent seat on the high court. The talk will be held at Temple Beth El of South Orange County on Tuesday, April 5 at 7pm.

During their stay, the justices are meeting with judges, lawyers, academics, students and representatives of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities. These visits afford diverse audiences with unique opportunities to learn about the important role of the rule of law in Israel, the strength and diversity of its judiciary and the challenges facing the legal system from the perspective of three eminent members of the Supreme Court.

The Rose Project’s Distinguished Lecture Series is co-sponsored by Hillel Foundation of Orange County and the UCI School of Law, School of Social Sciences and Department of Political Science. Lectures are free and open to the community with required advanced registration.

For more information or to register visit JewishOC.org/Rose.

Distinguished Lecture Series with Israeli Supreme Court Justices

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Dr. Mohammed Dajani visited Chapman University’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education during his visit to OC.

He is pictured with CSUF Professor Scott Spitzer (l) and Rose Project Director Lisa Armony (r).

Rose Project Brings Distinguished Speakers to OC Community

ChiefJusticeAharon Barak

RetiredJusticeDalia Dorner

SittingJusticeSalimJourban

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Fostering strong academic ties between Israeli and OC universities is a cornerstone of the Rose Project’s work to promote a civil campus climate for Israel. To that end, the Rose Project provided funding for the fourth consecutive year to the UCI/Tel Aviv University annual engineering workshop.

Held in Tel Aviv in October and attended by UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman, along with four deans and a group of faculty members, this year’s workshop focused on how the Internet of Things’ interfacing technologies

Legal scholar Dr. Mohammed Wattad began his second year of residency this fall at UC Irvine as the Rose Project’s Visiting Israel Professor. An expert in comparative criminal and constitutional law, Wattad teaches undergraduate courses in Israeli democracy and human rights and Islam in the Political Science department.

Wattad is on faculty at Tzfat College of Law and a frequent contributor to Israeli media. He received the Israel Studies Association's Young Scholar Prize in 2015 for his research on the Supreme Court’s role in shaping Israeli constitutional democracy. His recent article on

Rose Project Supports UCI-Tel Aviv U. Collaboration

will transform innovation over the next decade. Big data and visualization, communications and security, and sensors and systems were specific focuses of the meeting.

The UCI/TAU workshops are dedicated to increasing and improving the higher education of engineers and scientists. They convene scientists, industrialists and entrepreneurs to exchange views, to strengthen existing partnerships and enable new international partnerships and research collaborations in an effort to develop improved opportunities for future technologists and researchers.

the unconstitutionality of academic boycotts of Israel earned him a nomination for the 2015 Young Scholars of Public Law Award from the Israeli Association of Public Law.

The Visiting Israel Professor Program is a partnership between the Rose Project and UCI that brings outstanding Israeli faculty to campus to teach courses and present students and faculty with sophisticated scholarship about Israel and the region.

Wattad is available to speak to community and academic

groups throughout the academic year.

For more information, contact Rose@JFFS.org.

Visiting Israeli Professor Returns to UC Irvine

Dr. Mohammed Wattad (4th from left) with UCI students from his Israeli Constitutional Democracy class.

UCI/Tel Aviv University annual engineering workshop.

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Rose Grants and SubsidiesThe Rose Project provides grants and subsidies to OC college students and organizations for Israel-focused programming and leadership development opportunities. Funding from the Rose Project supports vibrant Jewish life on campuses, self-sufficient Jewish student leadership and community education and engagement. In 2015, the Rose Project invested more than $120,000 in campus and community programs:

• Subsides for students to attend AIPAC Policy Conference, Hasbara Fellowships in Israel,regional Jewish leadership symposia, and more

• Grants to partner organizations Hillel, Chabad of UCI, AEPi, Titans for Israel, Panthers for Israel and more for Jewish life and Israel educational programs

• Support for visiting Israeli educators in UCI’s department of political science

• Subsidy for an Israel Studies Speaker Series in UCI’s Jewish Studies Program

• Grants for academic symposia that bring together Israeli and OC university administrators, faculty and students

• Support for a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow on the UCI, Chapman and CSUF campuses

• Scholarships for outstanding Jewish student leaders at UCI

• Community and campus programs with luminaries including Washington Institute Fellow David Makovsky, Ambassador Dennis Ross and Jewish thought leader and Reut Institute Mentor Avraham Infeld

Preparing High School Students for Campus Anti-Israel Activity

To prepare and empower tomorrow’s college students, the Rose Project has teamed up with Congregation B’nai Israel of Tustin to develop an educational program geared to OC high schoolers. Consisting of four unique workshops, "Knowledge for College" will equip youth with tools for effective and constructive responses to anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on campus. Through films, guest lectures and panels, students will learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and gain knowledge to

debunk anti-Israel rhetoric. They will hear about the climate for Israel on area campuses and learn where to find support and community, and how to engage in proactive education and advocacy initiatives should they choose to do so. Presenters include current college students and campus professionals from Hillel and other groups. Students will gain confidence in their commitment to Israel and will be empowered to articulate the reasons for that commitment to others.The series begin on February 28 and meets for four consecutive Sunday evenings. It is open to 11th and 12th graders with a $20 fee. For more information or to register, contact Rabbi Robin Hoffman at rhoffman@cbi18.org or 714.730.5161.

Jewish college students are likely to encounter anti-Israel or anti-Semitic activity on campus regardless of the school they attend.

Jewish Federation & Family Services, Orange CountySamueli Jewish Campus1 Federation Way, Suite 210Irvine, CA 92603-0174

949.435.3484JewishOC.orgDATED MATERIAL

Rose Project Leadership CouncilCo-Chairs

Jeff MargolisJames Weiss, MD

Steven L. EdwardsDouglas K. FreemanEugene Spiritus, MD

Gerald Solomon

Lisa Armony, Director

JewishOC.org/Rose

The Rose Project supports vibrant Jewish life on Orange County college campuses, self-sufficient Jewish student leaders, and community education on Israel. Please consider a gift to JFFS in support of the Rose Project.

For more information, contact Lisa Armony, Director, at Lisa@JFFS.org.

Rose Project

Jewish Federation & Family Services is grateful to our partners and investors who have made possible the development and impact of the Rose Project.

Ernest & Irma Rose Foundation • Margolis Family Foundation

Adam & Gila Milstein Family Foundation • Kent & Karen Jordan

Michael & Amy Morhaime • Samueli Foundation • Robert & Linda Yellin • Israel Institute