Letter from the Outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Bella Brannon:
Dear Reader,
Koheleth reminds us:
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh”
As you hold the final print edition of my tenure, I hope you’ll allow me a brief backward glance: less a farewell than a reckoning with all this paper has meant to me.
I joined Ha’Am in my very first quarter at UCLA: just a starry-eyed freshman looking for an excuse to write about her favorite Jewish music and for people to call her friends. What began as a creative outlet soon became the most meaningful part of my college career. Today, I deliver to you my final letter as Editor-in-Chief, closing a two-year term. Since my arrival in 2021, Ha’Am has wept and laughed together, spoken boldly and refrained with care. We’ve printed thousands of copies, grown from 200 monthly views to over 300,000, and broken stories that shaped national headlines.
Then came October 7. Beyond the devastation of the attacks and subsequent war, everything I thought that a university was meant to uphold came crumbling down. In a time of campus crisis, zero-sum litmus tests, and a virulence that turned political slogans into personal threats, Ha’Am stood firm. We tried, as best we could, to be a sanctuary for thoughtfulness and civil discourse. We are the only campus publication to publish both pro- and anti-Trump perspectives, as well as differing perspectives on issues like deportation. We were the only campus newsmagazine not to call for the destruction of Israel last year–and yet, among our authors are some of UCLA’s most committed advocates for Palestinian statehood. What I am most proud of is not a viral headline, it’s that in these pages, we carved out room for reasoned disagreement, for hard texts and harder questions. That, I believe, is the soul of the academy, and it is worth fighting for.
I, too, have changed. (My mom jokes I’m the only student who came home from college more religious and more conservative.) I arrived at UCLA as someone who had interned for Democratic congressional, city council, school board, and district attorney campaigns, and who was a leader within March for Our Lives and Diversify Our Narrative. I leave as a published author in The Daily Wire and Education Director for Bruins for Israel. As a freshman, I couldn’t define what a melacha was. Now, I am shomer Shabbos. My convictions are firmer than ever. But if I’ve gained anything over these four years, it’s the desire to keep changing. My greatest hope is that I never stop encountering ideas that unsettle me and people who force me to reconsider what I thought I knew.
If I’ve earned the right to offer armchair advice, I would start with the imperative to read more. I have been shocked by how few of my university classes required full books—let alone deep engagement with the great texts of our civilization. In response, I mandate myself to read two books a week. (To the Tikvah Fund, I am forever indebted for my love for great texts and ideas.) The books that I have read that shaped me most throughout college are: Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Kol Dodi Dofek, Charles Krauthammer’s Things That Matter, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden and Sweet Thursday, C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters and Till We Have Faces, G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic, and Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue.
The most important conclusion that I have come to, while being a student, is to embrace being a student. One comes to a university to learn, not to already have all the answers and shout them at a protest. I’ve enjoyed the feeling of being right as much as anyone, and certainly arrived at UCLA ready to conquer the world with a strong head and starry eyes. But Socrates was the wisest man in Athens because he knew that he knew nothing. It is very easy to feel humbled by great teachers like the ones I have met during these past four years.
Our sages teach: “Find yourself a teacher; acquire for yourself a friend.”
I would not be who I am without the mentors I met through JLIC, Tikvah, Digital Humanities, and the Study of Religion. My friends, especially those in Ha’Am, have been the salt of my earth and stars in my sky. I can never give enough thanks.
Let me close where I began, with the wisdom of Koheleth :
“O youth, enjoy yourself while you are young!
Let your heart lead you to enjoyment in the days of your youth.
Follow the desires of your heart and the glances of your eyes—
but know well that God will call you to account for all such things.
Banish care from your mind, and pluck sorrow from your flesh—
for youth and black hair are fleeting.”
May we never waste our youth on bitterness, and never sacrifice wisdom for ease. Thank you to my wonderful team for the most enjoyable days of my college experience.
With love,
Bella Brannon
Letter from the Incoming Editor-in-Chief, Hudson Roddy:
Dear Reader,
As I look back on this academic year, I see the many ways in which the milieu of Jewish life on campus has changed for the better and the worse compared to the challenging times of yesteryear.
We’ve seen a complete upheaval of our political climate in the wake of the 2024 presidential election which has had very real impacts on the already tumultuous campus climate at UCLA. Jewish students, faculty, and community members have continued the fight against antisemitism while strengthening their unity in the face of adversity. We’ve shown that we are strong and that, while we can’t keep hate from our front door, we can choose not to let it in.
The Jewish student community at UCLA is nothing if not resilient, and, among the noise, there are many thoughtful and insightful stories to be found. We have found common ground in our differences within Jewish spaces on campus through interfaith seders and cultural exchange experiences. Activism for Jewish students has taken new meaning as the complexities of politics and what it means to engage in social justice change by the day. Our next generation of thinkers has had to reflect on a difficult past to build a brighter future.
My journey at UCLA and with Ha’Am has been marked by change. Since October 7, 2023, the life of every Jewish person in the world changed. I felt that I had to do something to help my community, so I started to write. While it began as an outlet, I found that my words had meaning to people. I expressed what I felt were the realities of the issues we continue to face at home since that horrible day. I had brilliant mentors such as outgoing Editor-in-Chief Bella Brannon to help me mold my words to have an impact. I hope that as I continue to put pen to paper, I can contribute more to Ha’Am’s mission. Bradbury wrote, “I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense”.
Ha’Am has been a cornerstone of my experience at UCLA. As I begin my tenure as Editor-in-Chief, I want to acknowledge and express my gratitude to all of the people who molded Ha’Am into this moment, especially the outgoing Editor-in-Chief. In a hyper-polarized social and political climate, the team at Ha’Am has stood with integrity and maintained balance. With each story, our writers reveal shocking truths and inspiring perspectives into what it means to be a Jewish student in today’s world. This isn’t an easy task by any means.
Each voice at Ha’Am is important and unique–something that our world lacks right now. I hope that I can help our writers share their words with our ever-growing audience in a meaningful and impactful manner. I am so proud of the Ha’Am team for what they contribute to the community. We need more people like them to show the world that we can disagree in the same space and still come together for Shabbat dinner on Friday night. I look forward to the upcoming year as we continue our mission and grow as a team in a divided world.
Sincerely,
Hudson Roddy
