Laurentain University’s Emet for Israel supported group, LUJSA: Laurentain University Jewish Student Association held their Annual Hanukkah Donut Give-Away on Monday, December 7th, giving out over 1000 donuts and over 250 cups of coffee to the Laurentian University student body.
This event always serves as a great way for new students to get acquainted with LUJSA and to raise awareness of Judaism, Israel and LUJSA’s events. University professors and executives are also fond of the donut give-away. Additionally, every year students and faculty alike have a unanimously positive response to the event. Students, some of whom have never heard of Hanukkah, ask interesting questions about the holiday, about the history of Judaism and Israel.
The most receptive students this year seemed to be Evangelical Christian students, given the revisionist history now proposed by anti-Israel groups. LUJSA was able to have important conversations with these students about Jewish history and Israel and the relationship with pro-Israel Christians.
LUJSA supports the mandate of CAMERA for accuracy and fairness in news and media, and through events like this, they’ve had great success in meeting with students who might not have learned about Judaism or facts about the Middle East and Israel. The LU student body tends to be hard to reach, and club and campus involvement at LU seem to be deficient when compared to other campuses. However with an event like the Hanukkah Donut Give-Away, LUJSA is able to reach more students than usual.
The attendance of this year’s donut give-away surpassed that of previous years, and was a tremendous success. The Hanukkah Donut Give-Away has given LUJSA a good reputation on campus, fostering good will among the student body. They found that the give-away was one of the best ways of making students aware of the LUJSA, Judaism and Israel. At Laurentian University, LUJSA acts as the lone voice for positive (and accurate) support of Israel. LUJSA says that this amazing reputation would be next to impossible without CAMERA support.
This was contributed by Laurentian University CAMERA Intern and VP of Student Engagement for Laurentian University’s Emet for Israel supported group, LUJSA, Kirk Unger.