Press Release: Gainesville JVP Holds Tu B’Shvat at UF
Press Release by Gainesville Jewish Voices for Peace:
On Thursday, at 4:00 p.m. at the Plaza of the Americas, the University of Florida Jewish Voice for Peace gathered alongside twenty other campus Jewish-Palestinian solidarity organizations across the country to observe the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat. Tu B’Shvat, also known as the birthday of the trees, celebrates the connection between people and the natural world. Jewish organizers across the country marked the holiday by engaging in conversation about the destruction of land and life in Palestine. In recognition of the sacred connection between people and land, organizers emphasized the importance of rebuilding Palestine following the ceasefire.
Through cross-campus organizing for Tu B’Shvat, students hoped to show that the Jewish student movement for Palestinian freedom and self-determination remains active and committed following the ceasefire. The participating campuses are as follows: American University, Chapman University, Columbia University/Barnard College, Cornell University, George Mason University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, New York University, Occidental College, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University, University of Florida, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Oregon, University of Pennsylvania, University of Washington, and Yale University.
Participants echoed demands aimed at their universities to divest from weapons manufacturers arming Israel and at the national government to support Palestinian regrowth. Jewish Voice for Peace organizer Meir Schochet at the University of Florida stated that their university “masquerades as a bastion of educational excellence dedicated to free speech and Western civic values. However, the University, their investment portfolio, and the manner in which they treat students and faculty expressing their free speech in support of a just and liberated Palestine stand in direct opposition to these ideals.”
In Zionist narratives, Tu B’Shvat has been adapted as a justification for settler-colonialism. For example, the Jewish National Fund raises money to plant trees in honor of Tu B’Shvat. These trees have been a tool in the displacement of Palestinians from their land. Organizers hoped to counter these narratives. "This Tu B’Shvat, our celebration is grounded in a recognition of the many ways in which Zionism has co-opted Jewish tradition, ritual, and practice for its expansionist and eliminationist ends,” said Violet Barron, a Jewish organizer at Harvard University. “At Harvard, we will gather in discussion of Israel’s ongoing ecocide in Gaza, its systematic destruction of native Palestinian olive trees, and the Jewish National Fund’s colonial land grabs."
Students emphasized the connection between Jewish and Palestinian futures. Maddy Kessler, an organizer at the UPenn School of Education, said, “We understand none of us are free until Palestine is free. We ground our ritual around this beautiful holiday in Tzedek— our community organizing around environmental justice everywhere for everyone. We won’t let Zionism uproot Palestinians.”
Contact: Meir Schochet (floridajvp@gmail.com)
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