‘The key word over the last year at our university has been resilience,” says Jonathan Davis, head of the Reichman University’s Raphael Recanati International School, describing how the university has dealt with the Swords of Iron War and the effect that it had on its students, particularly those in the International School.
When the war broke out on October 7, 4,500 of Reichman’s 8,000 students – more than half of the student body – were called to reserve duty, and the opening of the school year was delayed by several months. Many of the international students had already arrived on campus, but there were no classes to attend.
Despite the unusual and unprecedented circumstances, almost 80% of the students in the International School elected to remain in Israel during this period. Reichman University provided them with social and cultural activities, volunteering opportunities, and elective courses that were taught on Zoom.
Interestingly, he adds, a number of non-Jewish students in the International School also decided to remain in Israel, to help and volunteer. “Many students picked fruits and vegetables on the nearby moshavim,” says Davis, “while others established a logistics center at the university where they sent equipment and goods, which the soldiers atthe front needed.” Third-year and MA students in the School of Psychology assisted in treating students who returned from reserve duty suffering from PTSD.
By giving of themselves to Israeli society during the first months of the war when school was not in session, Davis says that the overseas students gained a tremendous amount. “I think that the semester they stayed here during the beginning of the war – the experience that they gained for their independence, responsibility, their discipline and for being able to prove themselves under pressure – is worth an entire academic degree,” Davis says admiringly. “The students’ enthusiasm and their resilience was infectious.”
Once the school year resumed in late December, virtually all of the international students who had gone home returned to Israel. Reichman University provided hybrid classes on Zoom for those who remained in their home countries during that first semester, and virtually all of the international students returned in time for the second semester.
When the school first reopened, recalls Davis, many students were still serving in the reserves. The school had decided that they were going to provide assistance to all of those who were still serving at that time to enable them to catch up on their studies.
Students who were able to attend classes at the beginning of the semester gave private lessons to the reservists who had been unable to return from the front in time for the opening of the semester, and professors gave small workshops and lectures to help students catch up on what they had missed.
“We decided not to leave any reservists behind. It was a difficult decision,” he says, speaking of the school’s decision to begin the semester with students still serving at the front, “but we managed it. What affected the school year was the way we related to the students who came back from reserves. We made sure that they were personally taken care of in every way that we could assist them.”
One might expect that after a year in which Israel was attacked – and still remains at war – that registration for the coming school year in the International School would have suffered a downturn. With a broad smile across his face, Davis says with elation that registration has actually increased by 5%.
“When I take a look at the common denominator of the average student who wishes to apply here, there’s a semblance of some natural resource of Jewish identity or Zionism, and in times of crisis, it seems to go up,” he says, adding that in the history of Reichman University, whenever the State of Israel has been in difficult straits, the number of international students who come to study has increased. “I think there’s an inherent amount of patriotism in the mindset of the kind of profile that wants to come and study here.”
The enthusiasm extends to the staff at Reichman University as well. “When there is adversity,” says Davis, “we want to promote even more and fight over each student that wants to come here. We go out of our way to help them because the staff of the International School feels tremendous satisfaction, especially in times of war, that every single person they get to confirm and come and study here; it’s a good feeling for them, too. So it’s a two-way street of some kind of Zionist Jewish belief.”
Davis says that a number of the new students beginning at Reichman this semester had been studying at US and European universities but preferred to come to Israel and transfer to Reichman University in light of the antisemitism that they experienced on campus.
One student who had studied at Rutgers University said that studying there “was disheartening, with such negativity and hostility. It only strengthened my resolve to seek an environment where I can feel more comfortable and supported in my identity.
Studying in Israel at a university that promotes a sense of belonging would be a welcome change and opportunity to focus on my studies without the weight of external prejudice.” A student who transferred from State University at Binghamton said, “I’m done going to school with hate that allows such things as Students for Justice in Palestine and BDS on campus. I want to be home.”
Another transfer student from the University of Barcelona says Davis, had been physically attacked in the dormitories by Islamic radicals on his floor. He was afraid to come to the university and did not receive any backing from school officials.
In that vein, Davis says that Reichman University is unabashedly proud of its roots. “We’re not a woke university or a cancel culture university. We’re a Zionist university that’s proud to sing the national anthem of Israel. At Reichman University, you don’t get punished for being a Zionist. At Reichman, we embrace you and make you feel good to be a Jew or a Zionist on campus. There is a mission statement of Zionism here.”
Many of the third-year students in the International School are changing their status to remain in Israel permanently, he adds. “Dozens of our graduates are joining the IDF. Many of our third-year students who are finishing their degrees have changed their status. After they graduate from the university at the age of 21 or 22, they want to join the IDF. Basically, I am seeing patriotism all around.
I also see some very understanding parents overseas who ‘get it,’ who understand what’s going on, and who have the values to keep their kids in Israel at a time like this, which says a lot for the parents and a lot for the kids. That’s pure resilience.”
The International School at Reichman this year will number approximately 2,400 students, with 640 new students in the undergraduate section and 160 in the university’s graduate schools. Students hail from 90 different countries, with one-third coming from North America, one-third from Europe, 10% from Latin America, and the remainder from South Africa and other countries. Classes at Reichman University’s International School begin the first week of November. “We’re still recruiting,” says Davis. We have a lot to keep us busy.”
This article was written in cooperation with Reichman University.