Main Campus Jewish Group Splits From DAFKA

A rift has erupted in the UC Berkeley Jewish community between a small, staunchly pro-Israel group on campus and the Jewish Student Union.

JSU, the umbrella organization for Jewish groups on campus, voted last month to dissociate with DAFKA, saying that UC Berkeley's chapter of the national organization is primarily run by nonstudents these days.

The spat began earlier this year when DAFKA went through the yearly affiliation process required to associate with Hillel, the community center for the thousands of Jewish students on campus.

Although DAFKA's official campus chapter president is a student, JSU President David Singer said, the chapter is primarily being run by nonstudents from the national organization, based in the East Bay.

"DAFKA was not meeting renewal criteria of being a student-led and initiated group" Singer said.

But Lee Kaplan, DAFKA's national director, defended DAFKA, saying it was thrown out of the union for political reasons.

"It's an attempt to stifle the opinion of conservative Jewish students on campus," Kaplan said. "The fact is that when DAFKA was created over a year ago it was student-run, and it is student-run."

Kaplan is also the coordinator of the group Students for Academic Freedom, which works to counter what it perceives as bias in teaching on campus.

Current DAFKA President Moshe Malkin could not be reached for comment. The group lists 25 student members and 10 others on the Office of Student Life's Web site.

DAFKA sprang up on campus last year in reaction to the way Hillel was supporting Israel on campus.

DAFKA members frequently tabled on Sproul Plaza, often erupting into arguments with pro-Palestinian groups. At a pro-Palestinian rally last spring, a DAFKA member spat on a protester, which she claimed was self-defense.

Singer said many of these DAFKA activities, such as tabling, were often run by nonstudents. Another student involved with Hillel said friends who had been involved in DAFKA have left.

JSU tried for a month to suggest ways in which DAFKA could meet the criteria, including working with Hillel leaders to develop and present a student-group mission and being run mainly by UC Berkeley students, Singer said.

"The bottom line is the JSU is committed to fostering and creating vibrant Jewish programming on campus as long as all our member groups are able to meet our affiliation criteria," Singer said.

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