We need to be proud of who we are

Orli West is just going into her second year at Birmingham University where she is studying Education. She is one of the finalists in our search for a new student blogger for the JC:

At 11, a Jewish friend called me a “Jewy Jew” because I didn’t have a Christmas tree, and wouldn’t eat a pork sausage. At 16, I was ridiculed for not going to parties on a Friday night. But when I was 18 and went to university, I was suddenly forced to defend my religion and my country to those who had never encountered a Jew nor spoken to a Zionist.

Admittedly, it was odd trading in my Essex Jewish bubble for a Midlands university where I had countless interactions that began with “oh, I’ve never met a Jew”. Though I grew up being taught that one day I may have the responsibility of shaping someone’s entire view of my religion, I never truly thought I would. But here I was, answering questions that ranged from Shomer Negiah and Brit Milah to settlements and Palestinian human rights.

I then realised that now more than ever, in a time of increasing antisemitism and anti-Zionism, I had to be proud of who I was. So when I refused a place on my university’s exclusive semester exchange programme, I knew this was my moment to advocate. My reason for refusing? I had been placed in a country with shocking levels of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. My tutor’s response? “It’s okay; you might just have to hide your religion and not show your support of Israel”.