CNN —Last week, I sat in Yale University’s Beinecke Plaza leading around 50 classmates in nigunim — wordless melodies from the Jewish Hasidic tradition — and other Jewish songs and prayers. As a fourth-year Yale student, I find this characterization to be deeply frustrating, as it could not be further from the truth. Indeed, Yale Jews for Ceasefire exists because of — not in spite of — our Jewish values. Our present moment is a precarious one for the Jewish people, fraught with disagreement about what our Jewish values mean to us. At Yale, organizers of all faiths continue to build a community that is dedicated to moving forward in collaboration with, not opposition to, Jewish students.

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Persons: Ian Berlin, nigunim, Ian Berlin Ben Weiss That’s, ’, Joe Biden, —, Peter Salovey’s, Nachshon Organizations: Yale, CNN, Beinecke, Occupy Beinecke coalition, Columbia, Palestine, Jewish, Israel, Columbia University, UN, Central Locations: Beinecke, Israel, Gaza, New Haven, Beinecke Plaza, havdalah, Egypt