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Introducing ‘Voices From Europe’

We’ll be hearing from young European Jews on our partner site, Jewcy

by
Stephanie Butnick
March 05, 2015
(Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

Europe is on the minds of most Jews these days. In the wake of the Hyper Cacher massacre and deadly siege on a kosher supermarket in Paris, as well as a gunman attack on a synagogue in Copenhagen in which a volunteer security guard was killed, the safety and existential health of Europe’s Jewish communities has been much discussed. The loudest voices, though, seem to be Jews outside Europe.

We’re trying to change that. Over at Jewcy, our partner site, we’re devoting the month to hearing from young Jewish voices across Europe. After all, who is better equipped to address those questions of Jewish continuity?

Our guide is Jane Braden-Golay, president of the European Union of Jewish Students, who will be guest editing Jewcy. You may remember her from a podcast featuring young European Jewish leaders last year, or from her Scroll post following the Paris attacks in which she assessed the new reality for the Jews of Europe. (You can listen to her address the Council of Europe in Strasburg, France, for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz several weeks later here.)

Braden-Golay, a Swiss-American dual citizen, is from Schaffhausen, Switzerland and is a senior at the University of Zurich. In 2014, she was awarded the World Union of Jewish Students’ Hersch Lauterpacht Award for Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Student Life.

“I hope you will gain a sense of the texture of Jewish life, the individuals shaping their Jewish communities and the hopes, fears and frustrations of young Jews,” she writes in her opening post on Jewcy. “To be clear: I will not shield you from the tough stuff, the very real difficulties and dilemmas so many of us are facing.”

We’ll post a link to each of the Voices From Europe pieces here on the Scroll. We hope you enjoy following along.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.