Articles by Seffi Kogen

Perhaps it's fitting that May is Jewish American Heritage Month. After all, despite our success in America and the richness and beauty of our faith and culture, there may be no more consistent part of our heritage as Jews than to be violently attacked, viciously demeaned, and utterly disregarded as we cry out for support. In that respect, some of our fellow Americans have been doing an excellent job marking the month.

I have no doubt that if one asks young Americans whether they hate Jews, the overwhelming majority would say they do not. But a majority of them do not know what antisemitism is, and many can’t even recognize it when it’s staring them in the face. Antisemitism is a full-blown problem on American campuses.

American Jewish Committee, is calling for a day to publicly and proudly declare Jewish pride. On Monday, January 6, we’re asking all Jews across the U.S. to wear a kippah, or a Star of David, or a Hebrew t-shirt, or some other identifiably Jewish item. These simple acts will be a powerful public display of solidarity with those Jews who cannot strip off their Jewishness, a demonstrable stand against those who seek to harm us.

These incidents join a growing list of anti-Semitic episodes targeting Jewish students at institutions of higher education. But even worse, the episode at McGill shows how students aren’t just barring attachment to Israel; they are barring learning about it at all, for the simple reason that exposure to Israel inevitably means abandoning the good vs. evil narrative that prevails in progressive spaces.

Omar and Tlaib were not banned for who they are, they were banned for things they have done and might have done had they been allowed entry,

Ocasio-Cortez is a freshman member of Congress, a politician without strong ties to the Jewish community. How is she supposed to know what American Jews really think if she doesn’t seek out the views of mainstream Jews? But by elevating IfNotNow, she has committed a cardinal sin of progressivism and tokenized American Jews.

I can think of no better response to such a heinous violation of the sanctity of a synagogue than to encourage all American Jews to seek spiritual sanctuary in their sanctuaries, and to do so proudly and without fear.

A recent op-ed in these pages by Madi Norman, a member of IfNotNow Chicago, argued that young Jews feel unrepresented by what she calls “the Jewish establishment.”

The BDS debacle at the University of Michigan proved once again that Jews can be their own worst enemies.

We arrived in Paris, where UNESCO is headquartered, with 18 Jewish student leaders – half of whom were Americans studying abroad in Europe, and half of whom hailed from across Europe and beyond.

Monuments are not mere markers of history; they are instruments of memory. Whom we choose to memorialize says a great deal about who we are as a people.

In anticipation of the “Israeli Apartheid Week” events soon to take place across college campuses, Seffi Kogen illuminates the true historical context behind the idea of Israeli settler-colonialism.

As the question of U.S.-Israel ties increasingly risks dangerous re-branding as a partisan issue, pro-Israel advocates must prioritize bipartisan, inter-communal outreach strategies and maintain allies on both sides of the aisle.

A Barnard College sophomore recently articulated the sad choice many progressive Jewish students face on campuses around the country.