On Monday, Oct. 21, The Jewish Brandeis Bund held a vigil to honor lost Palestinian lives. The Bund, a recently formed Jewish-led group of anti-Zionist students, came together in the Shapiro Campus Center (SCC) slightly before the scheduled start time of 7:00 to set up folding tables, hang posters, and pass out masks among attendees. The group set up several different posters, including one large, red banner showing the word “Bund” in Hebrew in what would be the center of the vigil. They also hung a large black banner with green, red and white writing that read “stop supporting genocide,” and several sheets of paper depicting Handala (a prominent national symbol and personification of the Palestinian people). Some of the organizers wore keffiyehs, and some wore kippot.
As the time neared 7:00, more and more attendees entered the SCC, each of them being offered a surgical mask to wear by the organizers. They explained that this was both for protection from disease and for protection against any individuals who chose to record the vigil without attendees’ consent. Attendees formed a large semicircle around the organizers of the vigil, who stood near the large staircase.
Just a few minutes later, one of the organizers began speaking as the attendees sat quietly. In their speech, this organizer said “for over a year we have witnessed the Israeli-planned and U.S.-backed genocide of the Palestinian people. We as Jews feel obligated by our history to speak up against genocide and oppression wherever and whenever it occurs. We are here to mourn the martyrs killed in the last 75 years of occupation. Since October 7th, there have been at least 42,000 deaths confirmed by the Gazan Health Ministry, with the true toll likely being in the hundreds of thousands. We are here to mourn the victims of Israeli aggression in the West Bank, in Syria and in Lebanon, adding thousands to the death toll of this genocide perpetrated by Israel. We are the Jewish Brandeis Bund, a collective of Jewish students hoping to create an Anti-Zionist Jewish space on campus.” This organizer added that the Bund aims to stand in solidarity with Palestine, focusing on “learning on Anti-Zionism and Anti-Imperialism from a Jewish historical perspective. We also hope to create a coalition that helps all students, Jewish and not, under which student organizations can participate in collective action on campus.”
Another organizer spoke, providing general safety tips to all attendees. They cautioned attendees to be mindful of the building’s exits, and noted that while masking was not required it was encouraged in order to keep immunocompromised and disabled community members safe. They added that there was a medic present at the vigil if the need for one should arise, and that any aggression against attendees should be responded to with a reminder that this was a vigil.
Another one of the organizers stepped forward, reminding attendees that, as of the time of the vigil, it was the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. They noted that “Sukkot is a time of great ‘simcha’ – joy – in the Jewish calendar, celebrating the harvest and a year of abundance.” However, the speaker noted, “with the ongoing genocide in occupied Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, this year seemed ot only be abundant in pain and suffering. My heart is heavy for every civilian being killed.” They added that they “would like to offer the opportunity for us to join together in the Mourner’s Kaddish – a Jewish prayer of mourning. The Mourner’s Kaddish does not actually speak of death – it is a celebration of life, an ask for peace, and a hope for a better future. This prayer exemplifies Jewish mourning practices, which teach that even long after somebody’s body is gone, their soul still lives on with all those who remember them. For all the beautiful souls we mourn today, we remember you. Palestine lives. Gaza Lives. Lebanon lives.” Then, in closing, this speaker asked all attendees to join as they began reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish.
A different organizer began speaking, asking attendees a question: “why are we here tonight?” This organizer answered their own question after a beat, noting that all attendees were united by a common cause: holding space for people who are gone. This speaker noted that “even just one death should motivate praxis,” adding that both the Jewish and Muslim values of justice should motivate it, too. This speaker also noted that a person dies three deaths: one when the body ceases to function, one when the body is condemned to the grave, and one when the name is spoken for the last time. They also said that all their life, they “had been told that Israel was a … necessary blemish … that allowed our continued survival. What a lie that was!”
After that speaker finished their remarks, the organizers held an “open mic,” (even though they didn’t have a microphone), allowing other attendees to take a moment and speak to the crowd. More than a dozen students did so.
The first student to speak noted that their best friend’s cousin had just died in the bombings in Lebanon, which spurred them to attend the vigil. Another student came up from the crowd to speak, telling the crowd “one of the thoughts I’ve had is that for a Palestinian boy, the greatest crime one can commit is to turn 18. Once he is 18, he loses his presumed innocence.” Another speaker began, noting that the thing that “sickens [them] the most is the language being used by Zionists and Americans and Israelis to justify this whole conflict. It’s the same language that should lend us empowerment. It is social justice rhetoric used to justify this conflict, used to perpetuate this dichotomy between Israel and Palestine.” Another student began speaking, identifying themselves as both Palestinian and Lebanese. They encouraged people to remember that, although it may feel like this conflict began on Oct. 7 of last year, it did not. They began telling their grandma’s story, explaining how she was born in North Palestine and forced to flee to Lebanon. They explained how, in Lebanon and Palestine, violence is never that far off. They encouraged attendees to not just learn about the intifada and how their culture has been affected by armed conflict, but to also learn about the other parts of these cultures. Another student added that there’s a fundamental narrative that, no matter what happens, “there needs to be a problem with Hamas.” They closed by noting that “the things they teach us in Hebrew school or summer camp may not be fully true. If that’s not trying to indoctrinate children into an ethnostate, I don’t know what is.”
After this student spoke, one of the organizers thanked students for coming, and asked them to donate to GoFundMes that had been setup to support Palestinian families. QR codes linked to the fundraisers were placed on folding tables near the SCC’s information desk, along with a printed photo showing Brandeis’ then-President Ron Liebowitz holding an Israeli flag with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another student, who identified themselves as Lebanese-American, noted that it can “feel really hard to be on this campus sometimes.” They spoke in detail about their experience hearing American government officials tell Americans in Lebanon to evacuate, as Israel was using American weapons to attack the country. They asked the attendees to consider Lebanese people as people, and closed by quoting Khalil Gibran’s poem that begins with “you have your Lebanon and I have mine.” Many more students came up to speak, with some drawing parallels between American police forces and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), another saying that they’d been called a “bad jew” for supporting Palestine and one more noting that violence in the region is not an “unfortunate necessity.” Another student, who identified themselves as having been born in Palestine and raised in Jerusalem, explained to the crowd what life is like in the area. They described the training they received in school, how they had learned to distinguish different kinds of missiles by sound alone, and how they were a fully equipped EMT just from school training by 12th grade. Another student, who self-identified as Kyrgiztani from the North of Iraq, spoke, thanking all their “Jewish brothers and sisters for coming,” adding that they want everyone to take a small portion of their day to read Zionist history so that they can stand their ground in an argument. Another student added that this university’s administration “values [white and Jewish] voices more highly than others” and one final student (who self-identified as Israeli), said that the most important thing anyone can do is educate themselves.
The vigil concluded with a brief moment of silence, after which The Hoot had a chance to interview some of the vigil’s organizers. When asked for more detail on what the Bund is and why it was formed, one organizer mentioned that they “wanted to create a space for anti-Zionist Jews on campus to get involved in organizing, charity work, education predominantly in the future. It’s based on the Jewish movement of the same name that sprung up at the end of the 19th century and was prominent through the beginning of the 20th century in Eastern Europe.” Another organizer added that they wanted “a space where anti-Zionist jews can feel comfortable expressing their beliefs but also where we can educate and share info on the histories of Jewish anti-Zionism, anti-Imperialism, anti-Facism and the really long and proud history of Jewish resistance and joy. Life outside of what Israel offers to Judaisim.” When asked how the organizers came together to create this event, they noted that “a couple of us live together, and anti-Zionist Jews know each other on this campus because anti-Zionist Jews are excluded from Jewish life on this campus. … We’re a community, and we hope to solidify that. … We intend to do more actual Jewish life, Jewish holidays and even shabbat services in the coming weeks or months, because we want to open that space for Jewish life that’s not militarily, financially, materially supporting the IDF or Israel and all of its crimes.” When asked what comes next for the Bund, organizers encouraged interested students to “check their Instagram @JewishDeisBund, all the info is going to be there. … We are planning on doing a lot of educational events in the future, that’s going to be our [big] focus.” When asked their thoughts on the night’s vigil, one organizer noted that “the speeches were super, super moving” and that it was a “powerful event” with “good turnout.” One speaker added that this vigil had a high number of people utilize the open mic, which aligned with the Bund’s goal of creating a space for anti-Zionist Jews at Brandeis.
Special thanks to Justice Associate Editor Sophia De Lisi ‘26 for her work on the interview with the vigil’s organizers.
