Write On students attend seven seminars during their junior year of high school and three seminars in their senior year. Our venue is Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Manhattan. Over the years, several cohorts have traveled to Washington to gain a deeper understanding of the US-Israel relationship, and to Philadelphia, where they’ve met with college students at the University of Pennsylvania Hillel to learn more about the challenges facing Jewish students on campus. 

The American Jewish experience, and our relationship to Israel, is always changing. The challenges and opportunities for Jewish college students have evolved as well in the two decades since Write On was established. Our program has adapted to reflect those changing dynamics while staying true to its mission, namely to prepare students for the complicated debates they will have about Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; to help them identify and confront anti-Semitism; and to position them to become leaders, writers and influencers on college campuses.

These are some of the issues we’ve explored in Write On’s classroom:

The Challenges Facing Jewish and Pro-Israel Students on Campus

• The State of the American College Campus

• When Criticism of Israel Crosses the Line and Becomes Anti-Semitism

• What is BDS (and how to combat it)?

• The Progressive Case for Israel

• Israel and BDS: Best Practices for Defeating Divestment Campaigns in the Student Council

Understanding Yesterday: Jewish/Israeli History

• Our Historical Connection to the Land of Israel

• Zionist Role Models from Herzl to Ben-Gurion

• The Shaping of Modern Israel

• History of the British Mandate 1917-1948

• The Wars for Israel’s Survival

• From Promise to Paralysis in Mideast Peacemaking

Understanding Today: Israel in the 21st Century

• What’s the Debate About Israel Really About?

• The Future of a Jewish and Democratic Israel from a Jewish and Arab-Israeli Perspective

• Media and the Middle East: Biased or Balanced?

• Talking Peace with Palestinians

• Modern Dilemmas

Israel-US Relationship

• Israel’s Relationship to North American Jewry

• From College Campus to Capitol Hill: Why Relationships Matter

• An American Zionist: The Story of IDF Lone Soldier Michael Levin z”l

• How Black Lives Matter activists try to create linkage between racial injustice in the US and Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians

• How Jews can apply our historic values of justice to navigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Jewish Identity and Peoplehood

• Are We Really One? Peoplehood at a time of political polarization

• Jewish Values and Civic Leadership

• Jewish Perspectives on US Democracy

Journalism and Public Speaking

• The Art of the Op-Ed: Writing strong opinion pieces

• Writing effective letters to the editor

• The Art of Civil Discourse: Tips and Tricks for Navigating Charged Conversations

• How to be an Effective Public Speaker