In the solemn halls of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an annual ritual meant to honor the victims of the Holocaust was conspicuously absent this year. The school's traditional Holocaust Day ceremony, typically held at the iconic Powell Library plaza, was abruptly canceled amid escalating tensions and fears of unrest on campus.
Rather than a somber remembrance, UCLA was blanketed by fences and a heavy police presence – measures intended to prevent potential antisemitic protests and uphold campus safety. The jarring decision cast a pall over the university, leaving many in the school's Jewish community disheartened.
"It's disheartening," one student told Bentzi Sasson, who visited UCLA with a delegation of wounded Israeli soldiers from the "Belev Echad" organization, according to a statement issued by the organizers. "We felt compelled to stand in solidarity with our brethren enduring severe antisemitism due to their support for Israel."
For Jewish students across the US, antisemitism on college campuses has become an unsettling reality. At UCLA, the atmosphere is particularly fraught, with pro-Palestinian protests morphing from political speech into breeding grounds for anti-Jewish sentiment that has left many feeling vulnerable.
Yet even as the campus wrestled with tensions around its canceled commemoration, a powerful reminder of resilience arrived in the form of Sasson's visiting troops. The soldiers, their bodies bearing the scars of battle, had journeyed from Israel to Los Angeles on a 10-day restorative trip.
One of those troops, Shlomo Klein, recounted his traumatic experience fighting terrorists in Gaza. "I was injured on Oct. 7 in the Sufa military post," Klein said in the press release. "The terrorists came all around my base. We found a little wall, and my friend got a bullet to the neck. I put out my hand to help him, and my hand was gone."
For Klein, the visit to UCLA proved unexpectedly uplifting amidst his recovery. "The visit to the university more than strengthened the students; it strengthened us soldiers," he reflected. "Although physically we cannot fight on the battlefield, we can fight in other ways, such as strengthening the students on campus."
Rabbi Uriel Vigler, founder of Belev Echad, expressed awe at the wounded troops' determination to buoy others. "To witness the mental fortitude of these soldiers, who chose to spend their time uplifting others amidst their own trials, is truly inspiring," he said. "It speaks to the indomitable spirit of resilience that unites us all."
In the aftermath of UCLA's canceled Holocaust event, the wounded soldiers' powerful presence served as a poignant reminder that solidarity and perseverance can transcend even the deepest divides. Though the campus ritual was silenced this year, the troop offered a lesson in courage that resonated through the halls.
