“What I learned from my interviews and my primary research is that antisemitism is ignorance; it’s hatred and it affects many members of the Jewish community, directly and indirectly.”
When Benjamin Roth of Birmingham was asked to write about a discourse community — a group of people who share common goals, interests and specialized language — for a freshman writing class at Oakland University this past school year, he picked the Jewish community.
“I wanted to, since I have noticed so much antisemitism, including at my high school. My mom’s friend from England said it’s very high in England, too,” he says. “What I learned from my interviews and my primary research is that antisemitism is ignorance; it’s hatred and it affects many members of the Jewish community, directly and indirectly.”
Roth says he thought writing on the topic would be a good chance to share his draft with his peers, as they were set to give feedback in groups. He worked on the paper at the writing center at Oakland University as well, where he says even the people helping edit it said it presented them with a new perspective.
At the end of his course, he gave a presentation about the topic to his class of about 20 people and sent it to family and friends. Some people took pictures of his slides, he says, and there were some smiles.
“I was a little bit nervous since I was speaking on it,” he says. “I wanted to speak about this because I felt this was a very underlying pressure.”
This was the second time he’d selected this topic during the school year, Roth says, made even more important because he grew up attending Temple Israel and was writing the paper in March, when the community was attacked. He was set to interview two Temple Israel members who’d been there the night before for a “Baked By Melissa” event. “I think I was more shocked, but it wasn’t harder to write it,” he says. “The more information I have, the better I can make a paper.”
Roth says he feels like he’s experienced antisemitism indirectly, through jokes going on around him. He adds that he learned antisemitism can be reduced through education, including the existence of the Zekelman Holocaust Center, ADL, Jewish publications and programs.
“I don’t see as many people my age speaking out in my community, and I wanted to do my share, to feel like I’m doing something to contribute in my own little way to reducing antisemitism.”
Roth says he hopes his paper inspires people to have conversations, look at resources and stand up to antisemitism. “I’d like to get my paper out there, since it has many resources for different people,” he says. “If they’re confused by antisemitism, they can read my paper, even my abstract, and understand more in-depth, as well as find documents about it.”
To get a copy of the paper, email Ben at Benroth4567@gmail.com
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