By members of “Chaverim: Jewish Student Organization”
After much discussion, we as Grinnell’s Jewish student organization have decided to change our name from “Chalutzim,” a Hebrew translation of the school’s “Pioneers” nickname, to “Chaverim,” (for official purposes, “Chaverim: Jewish Student Organization”) which means “friends” in Hebrew. This new name reflects our desire to create an accessible and welcoming Jewish community and we hope our name will signal to new, prospective and simply curious students the presence of a thriving Jewish community here at Grinnell College.
Much of our decision to change our name came from our deep discomfort with the violent history of settler colonialism that the name “Pioneers” represents. While we appreciated the positive connotations of discovery and innovation that many people associate with “pioneers,” we chose to search for a name that could celebrate the positive characteristics of our organization without perpetuating celebrations of settler colonialism. The process to reject the translation of “Pioneers” as our name and to choose a new one took many months of research and conversation, but all that effort is worth a name that our community can stand behind with pride and joy.