What do Jews in the Netherlands want?

Speaker: Jelle Zijlstra, Oy Vey Amsterdam
September 26, Noon CET
This talk introduces the Jewish Manifesto project which aims to give voice to the lived experiences of Jews in the Netherlands. Although the Dutch Jewish community is very diverse, it often remains quite invisible and is frequently reduced to these three issues: the Holocaust, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and antisemitism in football.
At its core, the project conducts group discussions with Dutch Jews to speak about their experience and discuss questions: how to combat antisemitism? How to feel safe and free? How to foster Jewish life? In addition, fragility, trauma and dreams of joy are some of the topics uncovered in over two years of discussions. By using Chevrutah method, the outcomes of the discussions serve as a source for the Manifesto.
Jelle Zijlstra is a queer, Jewish activist and community organizer working for Greenpeace. Trained as a theatre director, Jelle has worked on numerous theatre projects around a variety of societal issues in the Netherlands. Alongside this Jelle has also been involved in projects around Holocaust education and antisemitism: Including facilitating dialogue sessions with young adults about antisemitism. He is one of the folks behind Oy Vey Amsterdam; an organization that builds pluralistic, inclusive and open Jewish community in The Netherlands.