Campus Game-changers Inspire

By Matt Franzblau

Just when I was desperately in need of a ‘pick me up’ amidst this corona crisis, I most definitely received one as I was fortunate enough to be on a Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF-USA) Campus Gamechangers Zoom call featuring participants, professionals and lay leaders involved in both JNF-USA’s Caravan for Democracy and Faculty Fellowship Program.

JNF-USA’s Caravan for Democracy Student Leadership Mission to Israel provides non-Jewish college student leaders with a 10-day, fully subsidized mission to Israel with the goal of facilitating constructive dialogue about Israel and the Middle East on college campuses across the U.S. JNF-USA’s Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel provides academics in the U.S. with an opportunity to meet and collaborate with their academic peers in Israel while also exploring the beauty and complexity of the region.

The stories shared were truly inspirational as these brave men and women, who knew little about Israel before, came back from their experience both educated and empowered.

Participants like John Dominguez, who grew up in a half Christian - half Muslim household, admitted he had mixed feelings about the Jewish homeland as a youth, but it was his desire to see Israel with his own eyes that eventually led him to go on JNF-USA’s Caravan for Democracy. Upon returning to his college campus, he played a vital role in defeating a BDS resolution at Cornell, where he is a student government representative.

It’s not just the students though that are advocating for Israel as those in front of the classroom are getting out in front of the Israeli narrative on campus as well. That’s what we heard from Duke University professor, XIling Shen. After going on his Faculty Fellowship last summer, professor Shen helped start an on-campus seminar series that features apolitical speakers from Israel who talk about innovation and entrepreneurship.

These are just two amazing examples of new Positively Israel spokespeople who are helping to shift the dialogue about my homeland on America’s college campuses, a landscape once fraught with negativity and derision but now are evolving into spaces of optimism and open mindedness.

These advocates for our homeland are really some of the unsung heroes within JNF-USA’s lay leadership as they build and strengthen relationships with others on different ends of the political and sociological spectrum, all while spreading a message that's Positively Israel. Ultimately this gives me hope that one day soon, Israel will truly be seen by all as a light unto the nations.

For more information about JNF-USA's Faculty Fellowship Program or the Caravan For Democracy, visit jnf.org/college.

Matt Franzblau is the President of the JNFuture Board in Broward County, Florida. He also serves on the JNFuture National Board along with the Marketing and Faculty Fellowship Committees.