Above photo: Northwestern Jewish Voice for Peace Sukkot that we removed by the university. Onyekaorise.
Northwestern University tore down a sukkah I built with other students.
Supposedly under the guise of fighting antisemitism, because it said “Stop Arming Israel” on it. The school is using Jewish identity as cover for repressing Palestine solidarity.
On the first day of Sukkot, the Jewish harvest holiday, I joined my fellow members of Northwestern Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in constructing a sukkah on our campus. Just hours later, Northwestern staff tore down our religious structure — allegedly, they claimed, in the name of fighting antisemitism — but really because it dared express solidarity with Palestinians.
Sukkot honors the displacement of our ancestors and the temporary structures they inhabited while fleeing slavery, and erecting a sukkah, a temporary shelter in which we dwell for eight days, is an essential part of celebrating this holiday. This year, I found it impossible to separate this tradition from the mass murder and displacement of Palestinians today, many of whom live in tents because the Israeli military has destroyed their homes.
As we built our sukkah under the setting sun, we imagined the time we were about to spend in it: a week full of community, meals, singing, and learning with our fellow classmates who are committed to collective liberation, per Jewish tradition. We decorated our sukkah with fruits and plants from local farms in honor of the harvest. We hung a banner saying “Stop Arming Israel,” calling on our government to halt the never-ending bombs that are murdering Palestinians and forcing the survivors to live in tents. We hoped to spend Sukkot in prayer and community, but four hours after we finished building our sukkah, Northwestern denied us this right.
I am the descendant of Jews who endured genocide and ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe, and my history and faith demand that I stand up for justice. I refuse to allow Northwestern to destroy that faith, no matter how hard they try. It is sacrilegious to take down a sukkah before the eight day holiday ends, but Northwestern ordered us to do so anyway, and they tore it down themselves when we refused to do so. Northwestern is now threatening to discipline us for failing to commit this sacrilege. They told us they tore down our sukkah because the new code of conduct bans tents on campus, so two days later we built a second sukkah at the Rock, the one place where this new policy does permit a tent. But a few hours later, Northwestern officials changed their minds again, deciding that our sukkah actually was not a tent and therefore not allowed at the Rock either, and they destroyed our second attempt at honoring our holiday.
This fall universities across the country, including Northwestern, passed a series of anti-protest laws that they claim protect Jewish students, yet it is abundantly clear that in reality they don’t care about Jewish students. Northwestern destroyed a sacred Jewish dwelling and robbed me of my right to observe a religious holiday. And this was not a unique case. Students on 22 campuses built Gaza Solidarity Sukkot and administrators on nine different campuses, a combination of public and private schools across the country, ordered the destruction of these sacred structures. The truth is Northwestern, and so many other schools, have a zero tolerance policy for Palestinian solidarity, and the university tries to use Jewish identity as cover for its repression. Most Jewish institutions and leaders have said nothing as Universities waged a campaign against our Sukkot observance, sending police and maintenance workers to tear down the walls of our sukkah, oftentimes in the middle of the night. It was our fellow campus activists, the same ones who Northwestern has labeled “antisemitic,” who stood by us as Northwestern desecrated our sukkah.
Northwestern administration says my Jewish practice is not allowed. But Northwestern has no right to decide what types of Jewish practice are legitimate. Anti-Zionist Judaism is legitimate, widespread, and has always existed, regardless of Northwestern’s attempts to erase it. We will not allow our thousands-year-old tradition to be exploited by those who seek to repress and silence those who speak out for justice.
In honor of my ancestors who fled pogroms in Eastern Europe, and out of commitment to those who are fleeing American-made Israeli bombs in Gaza today, I will continue to honor my religious and political commitment to building a world in which all people, from Evanston to Gaza, can live safely and freely. I alongside students across the country demand that universities divest from genocide and revoke their repressive new codes of conduct that inhibit freedom of religion and freedom of speech.