Exploring the Jewish Diaspora: Reflections after October 7

This article contains mentions of antisemitism and may be disturbing for readers. The Canadian Mental Health Association Crisis Line can be reached at 1-800-875-6213.

Nati Pressmann, ArtSci ’25, understands that Hamas’ goal, like other people who are antisemitic, is to stop Jews from living—to kill Jews as a people and stop them from practicing their religion.

When it comes to the Jewish Diaspora, Pressmann believes there’s an idea many students at Queen’s have that being an Ashkenazi Jew equals white privilege, she said in an interview with The Journal.

As Vice-President of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), Nati Pressmann does Jewish advocacy at Queen’s and beyond, focusing on building community and combating antisemitism while including different perspectives from Jewish people across the globe.

For Eli Ovadya, a Jewish person living in Kingston, Hamas aims to destroy the Jewish people at all costs.  He believes radical ers are spreading false information, particularly when referring to these terrorists as “freedom fighters,” next to a plethora of evidence proving otherwise, including body camera footage, hostage recordings, and public killings.

“It’s important to that in pre-WWII , Ashkenazi Jews lived side by side in the general population as friends until [Adolf] Hitler took power and the majority completely turned on and persecuted them. I believe what is happening today to be a small-scale reoccurrence of this phenomenon,” Ovadya said in an interview with The Journal.

“Many people in the Diaspora that aren’t involved in the conflict have taken to discriminate against Jewish people in their communities over false information and the negative view being pushed on them as bystanders,” he added.

Ovadya highlighted the importance that people uninvolved in the conflict are educated.
“It isn’t Jewish people, nor Palestinians, who are the problem. The Palestinian people are not recognized as terrorists by Diasporic Jews, rather Hamas is,” Ovadya said.

Statistics Canada data reveals the Jewish community is the most targeted group in Canada for hate crimes. In Hamas’ call to “kill every Jew in the world,” these crimes have increased across the world.

On Nov. 17, the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (CHAT) received an email alluding to bombs on and around school property with the words “many Jews are going to die today.”

This past week, antisemitic graffiti was found on Queen’s campus in Mackintosh-Corry Hall, with phrases ing Hitler’s regime. Mezuzahs were torn down in residence buildings.

Understanding the Diaspora

Diaspora is a Greek word referencing the Jews who dispersed from Israel to different places around the world. While the global population consists of eight billion people, Jewish individuals constitute a mere 0.2 per cent.

Leora Tarshish, director of advocacy and education at Queen’s Hillel, explained the Jewish Diaspora originated from successive mass expulsion events by the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Roman Empires. The dispersion occurred after significant historical events, including the destruction of the Holy Temple in 70 CE and the Hadrianic Genocide in 132 CE.

“The Diaspora truly took on the significance it has today when the majority of the Jewish people began living outside of our homeland,” Tarshish said.

If a Jewish person lives outside of Israel, that means they’re in the Diaspora and many have different diasporic experiences, Pressmann said in an interview with The Journal.

Half of Jewish people today identify as Ashkenazi, meaning they descend from Jews who lived in central or eastern Europe.

The other half identify as either Mizrahi—with Middle Eastern roots in Iraq, Iran, and
Yemen—or Sephardic, being of Spanish descent and having faced expulsion from Spain after 1492 or forced conversion to Catholicism.

“A lot of the way I view Jewish life is through a mixed perspective of understanding Israeli culture as a part of my identity, since growing up, and also understanding the perspective of Jews who don’t live in bigger Diasporic communities,” Pressmann said.

Both of Pressmann’s parents were born in the Soviet Union, with one being raised in West and one in Israel—both encountered discrimination for their Jewish identity. Her grandfather, a refusenik activist, was denied a visa to immigrate to Israel. Pressmann identifies as an Israeli citizen and embraces the cultural richness of the nation.

“Those who spoke out about [persecution] were called ‘refuseniks’ who would try to leave the Soviet Union, but they would be denied multiple times,” Pressmann said.

“My family were Ashkenazi Jews who lived in Europe during the Diaspora and had a different experience than other Jews who lived in the Middle Eastern Diaspora,” she said.

In Ashkenazi Judaism, there are diverse branches. For instance, an Ashkenazi Jew from Moldova follows traditions distinct from those of an Ashkenazi Jew from Poland. This diversity extends to other Diaspora communities in places like Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, or India.

Many people fail to grasp the unique characteristics of these communities and often overlook the fact that most Jews worldwide reside in Israel, Pressmann said. Israel encomes a population of 6.3 million Jews while the United States follows 5.7 million, with 448,000, and Canada with 393,000.

“Canadian Jews are, on the whole, a fairly recent diaspora community in  that Jewish students on campus at Queen’s today will more often than not be the first or second generation of their family to be born in Canada,” Tarshish said.

The fallout from October 7 at Queen’s

The attack by Hamas—who is recognized as a terrorist group by both Israel and the Government of Canada—on Oct. 7 has been described as “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” resulting in over 1,400 dead civilians in Israel as well as 240 hostages taken captive in Gaza.

Hamas infiltrated Israel and slaughtered, raped, murdered, and killed babies, women, kids, [and] elderly people according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Israel said they are countering this attack with strikes on Hamas targets and has expressed its commitment to dismantling the terror group by aiming to remove it from power in Gaza, where it has reigned as their government since 2007.

The global impact of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel manifested in the Queen’s community, giving rise to blatant instances of antisemitism—an outright hatred directed at Jewish people simply for being Jewish, Pressmann said.

At the November AMS Assembly, Pressmann noted  a student asserted Israel was promised specifically to Ashkenazi Jews, which overlooks the diversity within the broader Jewish community, including Jewish Mizrahi and Sephardic people. Another individual implied Zionism is a sign of white supremacy.

“A lot of rhetoric we see right now regarding Israel is this very weird way that people are saying that there was peace in the region before 1948—this fails to recognize that there are Jews from Middle Eastern lands,” Pressmann said. She explained  Jews in Mandatory Palestine faced violence while  Jews in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)  region faced ethnic cleansing and discrimination.

“The way people view Ashkenazi Jews as exactly white people is one view that I find very flawed,” Pressmann said. “Ashkenazi Jews were never viewed as white enough. Within the Middle Ages, they were discriminated against because they weren’t Christians or Muslims. Moving to the Enlightenment era, they didn’t fit into the racial idea of what white meant. This continues today with contemporary white supremacists who very much dislike Jews.”

Though Pressmann acknowledges Queen’s efforts in meeting with Jewish students, she believes there’s a need for a more comprehensive condemnation of antisemitism on a broader scale. She emphasized the importance of addressing incidents such as the removal of multiple Mezuzahs and other religion-based hate crimes.

“Even though I appear white, if a white supremacist sees me on the street wearing a Magen David, it’s a distinguishable Jewish feature which is subject to face automatic discrimination,” Pressmann said.

She highlighted how, at Queen’s, there’s a prevalent misinterpretation of the Jewish Diaspora, especially in discussions about the ongoing conflict. She emphasized that this misunderstanding becomes more pronounced due to current events on campus.

“When we’re talking about Diaspora, we have to understand that Israeli identity is also affected by Diaspora experiences,” Pressmann said. “To understand the Jewish people, you need to understand the Diaspora. There’s not just one Diasporic Jew. There’s just a failure to understand the uniqueness of the Diaspora.”

Maintaining morale in the face of Hamas’ attacks

The massacre of Oct. 7 is a watershed moment for contemporary Jewry, not just in Israel, but the world over, Tarshish said.

“On a personal level, Queen’s has many Jewish students and even faculty who have relatives and friends that were killed, taken hostage, or are still reported as missing. For these students especially, every day since the massacre still feels like it is Oct. 7. With no knowledge of their loved one’s whereabouts, or facing the grief of a tragic loss, these Jews are constantly reliving the nightmare of that day,” Tarshish said.

Tarshish explained that for the vast majority of Jews at Queen’s, the impact of the massacre has reverberated through the Jewish community and triggered the collective memory trauma inherited from our ancestors.

“This trauma is not just inherited, it’s also acutely felt by Jewish students who are experiencing an unprecedented amount of antisemitic hate from their peers at Queen’s which reaffirms their fear of being targeted for being Jewish,” she said.

Queen’s Hillel is ensuring the safety of the Jewish community at Queen’s University by collaborating with students, parents, faculty, campus security, and staff. Tarshish explained Hillel is prioritizing communication with Campus Security, Kingston Police, and university istration in order to keep people informed about incidents and ongoing investigations on matters involving antisemitism and hate.

Additionally, Hillel provides multifaceted to students, including assistance with academic accommodations, guidance through reporting systems for antisemitic incidents, and creating a safe space for students to gather, grieve, and find .

“A big part of Hillel’s ongoing work is providing meaningful and relevant Jewish education for students at Queen’s alongside their formal academic studies. All educational programs within Hillel are structured around the principles of informal and experiential learning and utilize a diverse range of Jewish practices and texts, showcasing a pluralistic and broad tent understanding of the Jewish people,” Tarshish said, noting weekly learning fellowships as one of their core programs.

Hillel leaders actively engage with other clubs and organizations to foster mutual learning, dispelling judgmental behavior through partnerships in interfaith and intercultural initiatives for enhanced social cohesion on campus.

“Like many other minority communities, Jews find themselves having to be their own advocates and educators,” Tarshish said. “Many students arrive at Queen’s having never met a Jew. This means they can easily hear about Jews without hearing from Jews. Which in turn can, and often does, lead to them holding inaccurate and hateful views based on stereotypes and ignorance.”

“A fundamental principle for all minorities should be their right to articulate their own identity, and how they choose to define it,” she added.

With the war still ongoing, some families are only now able to bury their dead and there are still many lives uned for, Tarshish said.

“The wounds of this massacre are too fresh, and the pain is still too raw—they haven’t yet had time to heal. Instead, I find morale in age-old Jewish texts, in the wisdom of our Sages who themselves lived through unimaginable horrors.”

According to Tarshish, such texts remind us to keep doing mitzvot—the Hebrew term for a good deeds. Mitzvot can involve always striving to bring light into the world, and prioritizing comion, not hate, and  speaking up against injustice, even when scared.

Tarshish pointed to Rabbi Tarphon—a Sage who lived during the time between the two Roman exiles. He wrote: “It isn’t your duty to complete the work, nor are you free to desist from it.”

These texts note each human being is created in the image of God, which makes every life holy and worth preserving.

Preserving Stories of Jewish People

After growing up in Ottawa, Henry Green received a good Jewish education. Green is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami and has taught there since 1984 after completing postgraduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

For the first time this year, Green is doing an event with the University of Miami Hillel where he will be telling the story of the Sephardi and their displacement. For the lecture, University of Miami Hillel will be partnering with Haitians and Black Lives Matter advocates to progress this human rights story through a Sephardi lens.

Green’s mother was born in Ukraine and fled in the1920s as a child when the Communists came.

Between 1918 and 1921, , leading to the massacre of over 100,000 Ukrainian Jews.

“Now, things are going on in Ukraine [again]. When I go back to Ukraine in the midst of a war, if you take a look at what’s going on in the Arab world, Jews are not going to go back because they don’t feel safe, especially with antisemitism growing everywhere,” he said in an interview with The Journal. “The question becomes, how do you preserve that legacy for the children and grandchildren.”

Green shed light on the rich heritage of Jewish families, emphasizing the tangible connections through photographs of homes, businesses, and significant events like weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

“[Sephardi and Mizrahi] Jews who lived in these countries were connected to the people who lived in their cities. They talk warmly about their Arab neighbors, they eat couscous and tahini, and they sing the same songs,” he said.

Conversely, the relationship between Jews and Christians was strained. In 1400, 90 per cent of Jews resided in the Islamic world, not in Europe.

Green mentioned how Jews were quickly expelled from England in the 12th century, while emphasizing the substantial Jewish presence in 20th-century cities such as Cairo and Baghdad. This challenges post-1948 views on the Arab world, emphasizing a narrative that goes beyond the establishment of Israel.

Green advocates for improved education on the Jewish Diaspora, highlighting the necessity of integrating a Sephardic-Mizrahi perspective. He emphasizes starting this educational initiative within the Jewish school system and extending it outward.

As Chair and Founder of Sephardi Voices, Green introduced a Sephardic studies program at the University. Upon its conclusion, he traveled to California to explore Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation collection—the world’s largest audiovisual compilation, featuring 54,399 testimonies from WWII-era survivors.

“What I found was that in of Holocaust interviews, Sephardi Jews […] only had 100 interviews collected. I said to myself, let’s do the interviews of the million Jews that were ethnically cleansed from the Atlantic, because the targets are within one generation and no one knows their stories, and so I began to collect the interviews,” Green said.

Gathering narratives from around 500 interviews conducted across six countries, the collection captures what life was like in these diverse nations. Each interview weaves individual stories together, chronicling the experiences of departure and the compelling journey of resettlement. The interviews are recorded in the language the interviewee speaks and include a portrait of them.

“The idea isn’t to show a collection like Spielberg’s where it costs money to use this. My idea was that it should be free and accessible,” Green said.

In each country where interviews are conducted, Sephardi Voices donates the findings to that country’s national library to provide further educational opportunities about Jewish heritage.

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Sephardi Voices announced a new exhibition in Ottawa and the donation of the Victor and Edna Mashaal Canadian Collection.

The exhibition commenced in June of 2022, featuring an archive of Canadian interviews, portraits, and photographs of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews who immigrated to Canada.

Green said the main mission is twofold: the first is to provide children and grandchildren a way of getting closer to their heritage, as they aren’t going back to their ancestors’ homeland.

In 1948, Libya was home to 38,000 Jews, while none remain today. While Iraq was once inhabited by 150,000 Jews, the country now has only three.

Despite dwindling populations, Green’s project seeks to foster  both appreciation and pride for Jewish legacy and heritage in children and grandchildren by helping them understand historical context. According to Green, whether recounted by a parent or a grandparent, the narrative becomes personal—a tale embedded in family, DNA, and history.

The second goal is placing these issues within a human rights context.

“Millions of Arab Jews were displaced—it’s a human rights story and it needs to be told. It needs to go to the United Nations and be a part of their human rights agenda,” Green said.

An optimist, Green’s view is that Israel will conquer Hamas.

“In 1973, there was the Yom Kippur War, a surprise attack, and it seemed like Israel was going to be defeated, Israel won the war,” Green said. “In 1977, [Menachem] Begin came to power in Israel as the Prime Minister he is the person who invited [Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat to come [visit Israel] and for the last 40 years, there has been peace with Egypt.”

“Maybe we’ll have new leadership, and that new leadership on both sides will lead to an understanding and some light, which we don’t see now.”

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