{"id":312118,"date":"2026-02-27T00:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/312118\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:31:08","slug":"pitt-and-cmu-students-create-space-for-nuanced-israel-discussions-at-hillel-juc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/312118\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitt and CMU students create space for nuanced Israel discussions at Hillel JUC"},"content":{"rendered":"

A five-week learning opportunity at Hillel JUC is fostering an exploration of domestic policies and geopolitical affairs affecting the Jewish state. Led by University of Pittsburgh students Eden Brunner and Tamar Franbuch, Inside Israel welcomes students from Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University for lectures, meaningful discussion and dinner.\n<\/p>\n

The student-led offering, which occurs on Tuesday evenings, enables participants to \u201cdebate the social, political and cultural issues facing Israel,\u201d according to Dan Marcus, Hillel JUC\u2019s executive director and CEO.\n <\/p>\n

Each week, Brunner and Franbuch prepare materials to help spur conversation and new understanding<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFree Sign Up
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to teach it from the perspective of two students that are both Israeli, or our parents are from Israel,\u201d Brunner said.<\/p>\n

Materials include those derived from research and personal experience, and address topics including regional affairs, U.S.-Israel relations and the Axis of Resistance.<\/p>\n

Though the student-leaders integrate anecdotes and experiences within each meetup, statistics and other findings are culled from established publications, Brunner said. \u201cEverything is being cited.\u201d<\/p>\n

What differentiates Inside Israel from other campus-based learning opportunities is the program is designed to not only bring people \u201cup to speed on what is going on in the current landscape,\u201d but focus on \u201cwhat is the potential future of Israel in the region, and other countries in the region as well,\u201d Franbuch said.<\/p>\n

Apart from serving as co-leader of Inside Israel, Franbuch is studying psychology with a minor in law. Brunner is studying mechanical engineering and computer science. Having students with different professional interests \u2014 and coming from different campuses \u2014 has added a richness to the learning experience, the student leaders explained.<\/p>\n

Marcus credited Brunner and Franbuch, Hillel JUC staff and the more than 20 participants for creating a framework to \u201cengage with Israel<\/a> in a highly sophisticated and challenging way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franbuch returned the praise and said, \u201cWithout Hillel JUC, we wouldn\u2019t have the opportunity to be able to lead this course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunner said she\u2019s pleased to see so many people interested in the topic.<\/p>\n

Despite their workload, classes and other commitments, students are \u201cmaking time to attend these sessions and be a part of this community<\/a>,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

With the program culminating in the coming days, organizers have takeaways in mind.<\/p>\n

Having seen the growth that\u2019s transpired over recent weeks, the hope is that students refrain from seeing \u201ceverything at face value\u201d and begin understanding that \u201cnot everything is black and white,\u201d Franbuch said. \u201cEspecially now with the current climate on campuses, it\u2019s really important to have these discussions and understand that at the end of the day, we can have different opinions of these discussions \u2014 we can disagree respectfully, of course \u2014 but when we leave the room, we\u2019re still all students and we\u2019re all peers.\u201d PJC<\/p>\n

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A five-week learning opportunity at Hillel JUC is fostering an exploration of domestic policies and geopolitical affairs affecting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-312118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}