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(RNS) — At the University of Rochester’s Palestine solidarity encampment, in the quiet of a spring sunset, a large circle of university staff, faculty and students focused on two professors leading a ritual in English and Hebrew. As prayers were said and small cups of grape juice were passed around, one of the celebrants jokingly assured the Christians in the circle, “This is grape juice, just grape juice, it’s not transforming into anything. There’s no magic happening.” 

As a braided candle was lit, the other professor walked around the circle with spices, holding them out to each person to smell, part of an ancient ceremony marking the end of Shabbat called the Havdalah.

Hannah Witkin, a recent Rochester graduate, recalled the ceremony, which occurred in early May: “It felt very powerful. I never had any kind of communal Jewish life (at the school) that aligned with my values until these spaces arose in the last half a year. I was suddenly able to reconnect with this part of myself that I hadn’t tended to for the last three years.”

Over the past nine months, student-led protests at universities across the country became unexpected sites for religious connection for students of often drastically different faiths — and even among a healthy share of those of no faith at all. 

Protest organizers anticipated that spirituality would be needed to navigate the physical challenges, as well as criticism that the encampments were religiously divisive. “If we didn’t address spiritual care, we would be missing a crucial part of the reasons why people were there,” said Witkin. The focus on multireligious care, she said, “felt like a rejection of that idea.” 

In interviews with students and school leaders in the aftermath of the encampments, many said that in living, working and protesting together for weeks, if not months, on end, mutual spiritual care, multifaith ritual and political organizing became intertwined.

“When you put up tents and you’re a group of students living together 24/7, the depth of friendships grows, along with the beginning of shared knowing across tradition,” said the Rev. Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary of New York, whose students held a Eucharist service, a Passover Seder and other rituals for protesters at nearby Columbia University. 

RELATED: Universities close encampments in the name of ‘safety.’ Whose safety?

Jewish students lead a Shabbat at sundown, surrounded by Jewish and non-Jewish students, staff, faculty and community members at Harvard University’s Palestine solidarity encampment in Cambridge, Mass. (Photo courtesy of Shir Lovett-Graff)

Shir Lovett-Graff, a graduate theology student at Harvard Divinity School, helped lead a multifaith service at the Harvard University encampment in April, where Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Indigenous and Jewish students offered blessings and rituals side by side. “It was a really incredible opportunity to redefine what multifaith gathering could look like,” Lovett-Graff said in a recent interview, “to share ritual traditions with people not from those traditions, and to re-create those traditions within a Palestine justice framework.” 

At Harvard, the administration’s efforts to dismantle the camp and threats of suspension or expulsion led to students being effectively cut-off from institutional spiritual resources. Facing a lack of support from university chaplains, students took on chaplaincy roles themselves. For weeks at the entrance to Harvard’s camp, students from the university’s Divinity School took shifts sitting at a table behind a hand painted sign reading “Community Care: we are here to meet mental, physical, and spiritual needs,” offering spiritual counseling for peers. 

The encampment rapidly became an alternative spiritual hub, with Friday Jum’ah prayers, Shabbats and Eucharist services interspersed with spontaneous rituals, including recitals of the Jewish mourner’s kaddish and Muslim students offering to apply henna for the North African Jewish ritual of Mimouna. Buddhist monks were on hand to lead guided meditation sessions. A sign held aloft at one protest read, “This protest is a ritual.”

“In Palestine justice work, so often people’s religious identities are being weaponized, targeted, utilized by Zionist forces. Because of that, there is an even deeper need for spiritual support,” Lovett-Graff explained. 

Jewish students lead a hand washing ritual during a multifaith service at Harvard University’s Palestine solidarity encampment on April 28, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. Participants were covered with a prayer shawl and took turns washing one another’s hands, pressing oil into their palms and reciting prayers in Hebrew and English. (Photo courtesy of Shir Lovett-Graff)

Lovett-Graff said that connections were made between faiths, but also within them. Over the three weeks of the Harvard protests, which disbanded May 17, Lovett-Graff said three different types of Shabbat services were held — “One was traditional egalitarian, one more Reconstructionist renewal, a Kabbalat Shabbat.”

“I think what surprised me was that there was this deep hunger for creative and spiritually grounded Jewish practice within the encampment space. That hunger spanned tradition, it spanned denomination, it spanned practice,” Lovett-Graff added. “It felt really like we were creating a new Judaism.”

Terms such as “interfaith” and “multifaith” are frequently used interchangeably, but Taya Shere, assistant professor of organic multireligious ritual at Starr King School for the Ministry, a Universalist Unitarian seminary in Oakland, California, differentiates between them.

“Interfaith can often have an ‘encounter’ style approach” — for example, a Jewish community visiting a Muslim community to better understand their practice. On the other hand, Shere said, “in the multifaith ritual community, in my experience, there’s a real priority given to relationship building and deep honoring … more of one shared community.”

 A ritual at Rochester, said Witkin, spurred a conversation about the role of religion in political advocacy. In leftist organizing circles, she said, the tone is often “not just secular, but specifically anti-religion,” and organized religion is frequently seen as “bad or corrupt.” Some protesters opposed any form of religious identity, belief or ritual expressed in protest spaces. “But in the encampment, that was definitely not the case,” she said.

The Rev. Serene Jones. (Photo courtesy of Union Theological Seminary)

Jones agreed, saying, “In this movement, the place of religious conviction was there from the beginning.” 

Shere pointed to a history of faith leaders and secular progressives joining together in their activism, such as in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter protests. In the current moment, she noted, “there has been a brilliance in the way that the varied movements for cease-fire and (Palestinian) liberation have been incorporating multireligious ritual tools into their actions. It’s a new flavor to the scene, but in no way is it totally new.”

Among the campers, Jones found that “The vast majority of them have well articulated, deeply held convictions that are leading them to the stance that they are taking.”

Jones emphasized that interreligious ritual is one space where that dimension of their actions was acknowledged. “In moments like this, what brings you all together is not that you have the same view of God or not, but actually a shared commitment to a vision of justice, or to ending harm. That’s a really productive way to engage interreligious community.”

RELATED: What we have to learn from students leading the charge for justice

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Politics

Wes Streeting denies Labour has made ‘mistakes’ with ‘unpopular’ policies despite poor local election results

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May 4, 2025

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Wes Streeting denies Labour has made 'mistakes' with 'unpopular' policies despite poor local election results

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has defended “unpopular” policies such as the cut to the winter fuel allowance despite Labour’s poor performance at the local elections.

Mr Streeting denied the government had made any mistakes when asked whether the policy was partly to blame for the party losing 189 council seats less than a year since the General Election.

Since coming into government last July, Labour has enacted a number of policies that were not in its manifesto.

These include means-testing winter fuel payments for pensioners, increasing employers’ national insurance contributions and slashing £5bn from the welfare bill.

Asked what mistakes his government had made so far that had led to its drubbing at the ballot box, Mr Streeting told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “Well, we will make plenty of mistakes.”

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Pressed again on whether he believed “mistakes” had been made, the health secretary replied: “No. When we made those choices, we knew they would be unpopular. And we knew that they would be opposed.

“The reason we made those choices is because we genuinely believe they’re the right choices to get the country out of the massive hole it was left in. And right across the board. Whether it’s the NHS, whether it’s schools, whether it’s prisons, whether it’s our defence and security, whether it’s crime and policing, there were enormous challenges facing this country when we came in.

“And we’ve had to make big and sometimes unpopular decisions so that we can face those challenges and deal with them. People might thank us if we just kind of go for the easy but we want to make the right choices.”

Some Labour MPs have urged the government to change direction, with one telling Sky News the cut to winter fuel was a “catastrophic error” that must be “remedied” if the party is to see any improvement in public opinion.

Others have warned that in courting Reform voters, the party risks fracturing its coalition of voters on the left who may be tempted by the Liberal Democrats and Green Party.

However, in the aftermath of the local elections, Sir Keir Starmer suggested the poor results meant he needed to go “further and faster” in delivering his existing agenda.

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Inside Reform’s election success

The real victor to emerge from Thursday’s local elections was Reform UK, which won control of 10 councils and picked up 677 council seats largely at the expense of the Conservatives in the south.

However, Reform also won the Runcorn by-election from Labour by just six votes, as well as control of Doncaster Council from Labour – the only local authority it had control of in this set of elections – in a significant win for Nigel Farage and his party.

The Reform UK leader declared that two-party politics was now “finished” and that his party was now the official “opposition” to Labour.

Asked whether the results meant that Labour would now treat Reform as “your most serious opposition”, Mr Streeting said: ” I certainly do treat them as a serious opposition force.”

“As I say, I don’t know whether it will be Reform or the Conservatives that emerge as the main threat,” he added.

“I don’t have a horse in that race, but like alien versus predator, I don’t really want either one to win.”

Read more:
Reform’s mission to ‘remoralise’ young people
Reform has put the two traditional parties on notice

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Reform UK are ‘fighting force’

Tory Party chairman Nigel Huddleston said Reform UK was not just a protest party and that Mr Farage was “a force in British politics”.

He told Trevor Phillips: “But the one thing about Nigel Farage is, and we’re seeing this again and again and again, he is a populist.

“He is increasingly saying everything that anybody wants to hear. He’s trying to be all things to all men.”

“We are establishing ourselves as a credible alternative government based on sound conservative principles and values and our values and our principles, and therefore our policies, will define the future of our party,” he added.

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Environment

It’s back: Hyundai IONIQ 5 qualifies for $7,500 tax credit – again!

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May 4, 2025

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It's back: Hyundai IONIQ 5 qualifies for ,500 tax credit – again!

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 Is Eligible For The $7,500 Federal Tax Credit Again

The Hyundai IONIQ 5 got a raft of upgrades and sporty, rally-focused XRT trim level for 2025 – but the biggest upgrade for the Made in America Hyundai might be this: the 5 has regained eligibility for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit!

Despite being assembled at Hyundai’s Georgia meta plant for the last four month, the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 was nowhere to be found on the EPA’s list of rebate-eligible vehicles. But that was then – with a fresh updated to the list coming online May 1st, Hyundai’s new-age electric hot hatch is back in the rebate game.

It’s worth noting that lease customers had been able to access the incentive under some circumstances, but this latest update to the EPA list makes it possible for cash and payment buyers to take advantage of the full Federal incentive, too – as long as they earn less than $300,000 as a married couple filing jointly, less than $225,000 as a head of household, or less than $150,000 as an individual.

With the $7,500 federal tax credit in the equation, you can get a new 2025 IONIQ 5 for somewhere in between $36,575 and $49,475, well under the $80,000 Federal MSRP cap.

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Victory lap

As if to celebrate, Hyundai announced that it was taking on the celebrate One Lap of America road rayy and race event in a factory collaboration with the track-focused enthusiasts at Grassroots Motorsports this week with One Lap veterans Andy Hollis and Tom Suddard campaigning a stock, 601 hp 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N in the Alternative Fuels class.

“After winning our class in a gutted, caged race car last year, we wanted to compete in the best-of-all worlds this year: A vehicle that’s incredibly fast, incredibly comfortable on a road trip, and incredibly capable on a racetrack,” explains Suddard. “Electrification means it’s finally possible to have huge power without huge compromises in a street car, and the IONIQ 5 N promises to pair that huge power with the durability and capability to survive a week of racing.”

One Lap is widely regarded as one of the toughest street-legal motorsports events in the world, pitting amateur and professional drivers alike compete in stock and heavily modified vehicles of every description, battling it out in a series of scored challenges, including timed events at road courses, drag strips, skid pads, and autocross courses.

In between tracks, competitors safely travel thousands of miles around the country, proving the mettle and durability of the vehicles and the teams that drive them. This year, 86 teams from all over the country will compete in 17 scored events over the course of eight days at tracks like Virginia International Raceway and NCM Motorsports Park.

The Tire Rack One Lap of America is currently underway – you can track the Hyundai’s progress here, then let us know what you think of this new tax development in the comments.

SOURCES | IMAGES: Hyundai, One Lap of America; FuelEconomy.gov.

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Politics

It is ‘feasible’ Nigel Farage could be the next prime minister, says Kemi Badenoch

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May 4, 2025

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It is 'feasible' Nigel Farage could be the next prime minister, says Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has admitted it is “feasible” that Nigel Farage could become the next prime minister.

The Tory leader told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme Mr Farage’s party was “expressing the feeling of frustration that a lot of people around the country are feeling” – but added it was her job to “come up with answers and solutions”.

Asked if it was feasible that Mr Farage could be the next prime minister, she cited how Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had won re-election this weekend.

“As I said, anything is feasible,” she said. “Anthony Albanese: people were writing him off. He has just won a landslide, but my job is to make sure that he [Farage] does not become prime minister because he does not have the answers to the problems the country is facing.”

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Could Nigel Farage be prime minister?

Asked what Mr Farage was doing right, Ms Badenoch said: “He is expressing the feeling of frustration that a lot of people around the country are feeling.

“But he also doesn’t have a record in government like the two main parties do. Now he’s going to be running some councils. We’ll see how that goes.”

Mr Farage was the undoubted winner of Thursday’s local elections, in which 23 councils were up for grabs.

His party picked up 677 council seats and took control of 10 councils.

By contrast, the Conservatives lost 677 council seats as well as control of 18 councils in what was their worst local elections performance on record.

Mr Farage said the outcome spelt the end of two-party politics and that his party was now the official “opposition” to Labour – with the Tories having been rendered a “waste of space”.

Read more:
Reform has put the two traditional parties on notice
‘I get it’: Starmer responds after losing Runcorn by-election

Ms Badenoch said she believed the vote for Mr Farage on Thursday was partly down to “protest” but added: “That doesn’t mean we sit back. We are going to come out fighting.

“We are going to come out with the policies that people want to see, but what we are not going to do is rush out and tell the public things that are not true just so we can win votes.

“This is not about winning elections; this is about fixing our country. Yes, of course, you need to win elections to do that, but you also need a credible plan.”

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‘Farage is a force in British politics’

Conservative co-chairman Nigel Huddleston sought to play down the threat from Reform UK, telling Sky News: “When they’re in a position of delivering things, that’s when the shine comes off.”

He told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “The one thing about Nigel Farage is, and we’re seeing this again and again and again, he is a populist.

“He is increasingly saying everything that anybody wants to hear. He’s trying to be all things to all men.”

“We are establishing ourselves as a credible alternative government based on sound conservative principles and values and our values and our principles, and therefore our policies, will define the future of our party,” he added.

Asked whether the results meant that Labour would now treat Reform as “your most serious opposition”, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Trevor Phillips: ” I certainly do treat them as a serious opposition force.”

“As I say, I don’t know whether it will be Reform or the Conservatives that emerge as the main threat,” he added.

“I don’t have a horse in that race, but like alien versus predator, I don’t really want either one to win.”

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