Student News Interfaith Week

Interfaith Week 2022 took place from the 13th to 20th November. UJS held many events, and supported JSocs to host their own.

At the start of the week, UJS hosted a zoom talk with Zaynab from StandUp! Education which included great discussions about various challenges of interfaith work and advice on how to be inclusive within work and student environments.

UJS also co-hosted a student panel with Faith & Belief Forum where four different speakers shared what it’s like for them to practise their faith on their university campus.

In addition to this, UJS worked with the Multifaith Youth Centre and students of different faiths for an Instagram takeover. Each student shared videos explaining different aspects of their faith, such as their favourite festivals and challenges faced on campus. You can check out the takeover on the Instagram highlights at @ujs_uk!

On campus, JSocs got involved in various projects including interfaith Friday night dinners, interfaith stalls on campus, clothing and food bank collections in collaboration with other faith societies, and various other interfaith socials and dinners.

Mitzvah Day

This year for Mitzvah Day, UJS held a Winter Warmers collection in collaboration with Jewish Care. The warm items collected were donated to Homeless Action in Barnet.

On campus, JSocs got involved in projects including food bank collections, soup kitchen volunteering, food packing, litter pick-ups, and clothing collections. It was great to see that many of these initiatives were done in collaboration with other faith societies!

Lessons from Auschwitz

In November, UJS co-hosted a Holocaust education project called Lessons From Auschwitz Universities (LFAU), alongside the Holocaust Education Trust, and funded by the Department for Education. The course included three educational seminars via Zoom, as well as a trip to Auschwitz concentration camp, for 150 university leaders across England, including senior university staff, student union staff and student leaders. The first seminar focussed on antisemitism and how its rise across Europe in the 20th century culminated in the Holocaust. Faye, UJS Head of Campaigns, gave a presentation about contemporary manifestations of antisemitism on campus, and also about the IHRA definition of antisemitism. In the second seminar, participants heard from Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke, who had been born in Mauthausen concentration camp. There was a chance for participants to ask questions to gain a deeper understanding of life in the camps. Next came the trip to Auschwitz. It was a one day trip, with our flight taking off at 6:30 in the morning. Our first stop was Auschwitz I, where we viewed the haunting exhibits of luggage, shoes, belongings and hair belonging to Holocaust victims. Our second stop was Auschwitz II, where participants saw the train tracks that transported prisoners to the camp, and the barracks where they were housed. At the end of the day, we held a closing ceremony in the camp, when we heard from Rabbi Barry Marcus, Bradley Langer and Faye, and ended with the sounding of the shofar. The final Zoom seminar was a chance to talk about what we had seen and process together. We also heard from a third generation Holocaust survivor to learn about the lasting legacy and how it continues to impact lives today. The programme was important and impactful, and a memorable experience for all participants.