The Jewish students of Montreal are preparing for the launch of “Masses Of Students Showing Support” (M.O.S.E.S.). The project, an ambitious North America-wide campaign to raise funds to memorialize the victims of the tragic bombing at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, will be officially launched on Sunday, October 6, 2002 at 3:45pm in McGill Law Faculty’s Moot Hall, in a special press conference.

The campaign will be run in collaboration with Hillel International, headquartered in Washington, D.C., and will be conducted on over 90 university and college campuses in the U.S. and Canada. Student leaders in Montreal, busy preparing for the launch, were visibly excited about the project. “This is a meaningful, beautiful way for us to show our support to the families of the victims, to the Hebrew University community, as well as the Israeli public in general who struggle with the daily threat of terrorism,” commented Yoni Petel, Hillel Montreal President. “As Jews, we consider the Torah a ‘tree of life’ and we pray that through this gift, the memory of such special individuals will live on.” Petel further noted his excitement at being able to work with Hillel International on what he called the “strongest, most significant show of unity and support for Israel” ever undertaken by the Jewish students of North America. “We are very proud that the idea originated here,” he explained, “but we are even more proud of the way Hillel International and so many campuses have come on board so quickly and so enthusiastically.”

Asked about the significance of the project to her, project chairperson, Kate Bush, said that while every attack against innocent civilians touches her deeply, the attacks at Hebrew University affected her in “the most profound way.” She said the idea of an attack on a university, which should be a safe haven, a place of tolerance and peace, is “unimaginable.” Bush commented that students here in North America feel very connected to the tragedy. “It was an attack on students just like us, at a campus just like our own campuses,” she said emotionally, “in a way we were attacked that day too.” She said this project is about “fighting back in the best way we know how,” against the enemies of peace. She pointed out that Jewish tradition holds that studying the Torah increases the peace in the world and that it was her hope that the study of this particular Torah will help bring healing and peace to the campus of the Hebrew University, which has suffered such tragedy. “The place they would fill with chaos, hatred and destruction, we will fill with love and peace and in the end we will win out because love is stronger than hate.”

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For further comment:    

Yoni Petel, President Hillel Montreal                     (514) 845-9171

Kate Bush, Project M.O.S.E.S. Chairperson          (514) 867-6542

Hillel Montreal is active on 9 campuses, representing Montreal’s over 7000 Jewish students