Colleges across the United States have witnessed an unfortunate rise in antisemitism since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7. In light of this present danger to Jewish college students, the Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC) has announced that it will no longer welcome college recruiters from schools which have not committed to the safety of its Jewish students.

TABC sent out the following statement:

“Dear TABC community,

As we continue to mourn the atrocities that our brothers and sisters in Israel; experienced, we are simultaneously following the frightening rise in antisemitism in the United States.

While antisemitic hate crimes have been steadily increasing in recent years, they have become alarmingly brazen in recent weeks.

The conditions for Jewish students on many college campuses is intolerable. We are carefully monitoring the statements that universities have (or have not) issued, scrutinizing actions that college administrators have taken and hearing directly from our alumni about the discrimination they are currently experiencing. We applaud the leaders who have written to university presidents to express their shock and disappointment for their dereliction of duty to ensure the safety of their Jewish students.

We feel strongly that we cannot continue to invite college representatives to speak to our students as they have in the past. Your son’s physical and emotional welfare is too important to us. As we proceed through the admissions season, we will require the following expectation of all universities who wish to recruit our students with visits to our school.

Before college representatives can enter our building, they must bring a statement from their university leadership detailing their plans to protect and maintain the safety and security of our graduates on their campuses as Jews.

We will continue to communicate to each college our serious concerns about the hostile environment permitted on their campuses based on the trends and incidents we are so closely tracking.

It is our hope that our collective stance in prioritizing the safety of our students will compel universities to address the severity of the current situation. Those who cannot or will not accede to our valid and just request will not be welcome here at TABC,” the statement concludes.”

The letter was signed by Head of School Rabbi Shlomo Stochel, Associate Principal Rabbi Steven Finkelstein, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Joshua Kahn and Director of College Guidance Mrs. Keren Weinberger.