As students returned to university and college campuses across the U.S. for the Fall Semester, the ‘Passages’ organization launched its campaign “Brewing Solidarity: Fighting Antisemitism One Cup at a Time”.
Passages staff, alumni, and volunteers handed out cups of coffee to students entering campuses with a picture of one of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas for almost a year with information about them and asked them to wear a pin of a yellow ribbon in solidarity with the hostages.
“There is currently a wave of disinformation and delegitimization against Israel on US campuses, and we are stepping up, as supporters of Israel, to stand on the front lines of this battle,” said Rivka Kidron, Co-Founder of Passages and a former Advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister.
“Unlike the anti-Israel mobs on college campuses, passages is engaging in conversation and trying to effect change through kindness and the truth about the conflict. We are fighting Antisemitism and showing solidarity with Israel one coffee cup at a time.
“We had Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Atheist students stop by and take coffee, and from the feedback we received across the campuses where we were active, managed to change hearts and minds.”
While making the coffee and handing out the pins, the Passages staff, alumni, and volunteers, wearing their “Christians Stand With Israel” tee shirts, gave the students information about the conflict and answered any questions they might have and combatted any disinformation the students had heard about Israel and the war of self-defense it has been waging since the massacre on October 7th.
Many of the Jewish and pro-Israel student organizations on the campuses, like Hillel, ‘Dawgs for Israel’ at the University of Georgia and MIT Israel Alliance partnered with Passages for the initiative.
“We have been giving out coffee and I have just seen people really be open to hearing about what’s happening with the hostages,” said Gracie Goll, MIT Student and Campus Fellow for Passages.
“I had one girl come up and tell me how much it meant to her, and I was able to give her a hug, you can just see it’s making a really big impact.”
The coffee was donated by Passages alum David Peters, Founder of Ten Boom Roasters, which is named after Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian woman who saved many lives during the Holocaust by hiding Jews from the Nazis. She was imprisoned for 11 months and her sister died in captivity.
“Now more than ever, it’s crucial for Christians to recognize the crisis we face with antisemitism reaching unprecedented levels in our lifetime,” said Sebastián Parra, Vice President of Advocacy and Strategy for Passages.
“By remembering the legacy of Corrie Ten Boom and her courageous stand, we’re calling on college students to actively oppose Jew-hatred and show their support for their fellow Jewish students.”
Nicknamed the “Christian Birthright”, Passages was formed in 2017 and has brought many thousands of Christian students from North America to visit Israel for the first time to strengthen their religious identity and to build bridges of friendship with Israel and the Jewish people.
Earlier this year Passages alumni and donors brought a donation of $500,000 to Israeli communities bordering Gaza on a special solidarity trip.
The organization has also become more active in advocacy and solidarity initiatives in the US since October 7th, with several workshops for thousands of Christian students around the U.S., partnering with Jewish organizations for major events, and staging solidarity “walk-ins” with Jewish students.
