American actress Patricia Heaton is calling on college students to show their support for Jewish students by hanging mezuzahs on their door frames. Heaton, who is a vocal supporter of the Jewish community around the globe, said she was inspired to start the campaign after witnessing the rise in antisemitism on college campuses.
Amid the growing concerns about antisemitism on college campuses, American actress Patricia Heaton is urging students to show their support for Jewish students by hanging mezuzahs on their door frames. Heaton, who is a vocal supporter of the Jewish community around the globe, said she was inspired to start the campaign after witnessing the rise in antisemitism on college campuses.
"We've had such a response, and this isn't going away anytime soon," Heaton said of the Israel-Hamas war. A well-received response from Jews around the world who said they feel safe and unified with Christians encouraged Heaton to continue her efforts to promote the movement.
Patricia Heaton Urges College Students to Support Jewish Students with Mezuzahs
"We need to spread that feeling," she said.
The "Everybody Loves Raymond" actress expressed scorn for federally funded college administrations that allow Jewish students in America to feel their religious rights are under attack by allowing antisemitic acts on campuses.
Patricia Heaton Urges College Students to Support Jewish Students with Mezuzahs
"What we've seen on college campuses from the administration has been horrendous, that they are not willing to support Jewish students," she told Fox News Digital. "I believe that if a campus allows this to continue that they should lose their federal funding because they're breaking the law."
"It's the law that you should be able to express yourself in this way. People with all different agendas and political belief systems are expressing themselves fully and loudly all the time, including students for ‘Justice in Palestine,' and they're doing it in a very violent way. And there doesn't seem to be any pushback for them."
Patricia Heaton Urges College Students to Support Jewish Students with Mezuzahs
Today, Heaton is encouraging all university students, especially Christians, to purchase and hang a Solidarity Mezuzah on a door frame. The encasement reveals a yellow ribbon that calls for the safe return of Israeli hostages who were captured Oct. 7, 2023, and are still held captive in Gaza over 365 days later.
Christians can show their support by filming a video of themselves hanging the mezuzah, tagging Heaton in the social media post and using #MyZuzahYourZuzah and #SpartacusMoment.
Patricia Heaton Urges College Students to Support Jewish Students with Mezuzahs
"When everybody has them on their door, I think it sends the message that we’re not going to stand for it," she said to Fox News Digital.
Amid the terror attacks inflicted on innocent Israeli civilians Oct. 7, 2023, Heaton said she watched social media in horror as Hamas terrorists "gleefully" captured, abused and violated Israeli men, women and children and shared their war crimes with the world.
Patricia Heaton Urges College Students to Support Jewish Students with Mezuzahs
"It was so shocking," she said. "I remember thinking to myself, 'Well, there's going to be outrage. There's going to be almost a George Floyd uprising over this because this is incredibly, insanely horrifying,' and I didn't see any response."
Heaton said she was stunned by the lack of outrage among Hollywood elites and churches, which inspired her to initiate a response herself. Since then, she has connected Jews and Christians in Nashville, south of Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas.
Patricia Heaton Urges College Students to Support Jewish Students with Mezuzahs
Heaton said she received calls from Jewish federations around the world hoping to work with her to bring people together.
"I don't know why it affected me so much and not other people," Heaton said. "I think people were horrified, but they think of it as something happening way over there in that foreign country that has nothing to do with us."
Hollywood, in particular, jolted Heaton because she expected an uprising of Jewish support from celebrities.
"Every other single movement or event that happened that caused a national response, Hollywood was first in line," Heaton said. "Given that so many of our fellow coworkers in Hollywood are Jewish, you would think that we’d all be circling the wagons for our Jewish friends in Hollywood."
Heaton took aim at the commotion at the 2024 Academy Awards, where well-known members of the entertainment industry adorned their embellished attire with anti-Israel red hand pins.
"I was stunned," Heaton said to Fox News Digital. "I thought, ‘Are they that stupid?’ I hope it's that they’re really stupid, because then you can forgive them for, ‘Oh you don't understand what that means.’ If they know what it means, and they wear that pin, then they’re evil. They're evil. So, I hope they’re just stupid."
Heaton's call for college students to show their support for Jewish students with mezuzahs has been met with mixed reactions. Some students have expressed support for the campaign, while others have criticized it as being divisive.
However, Heaton said she believes that the campaign is an important way to show solidarity with Jewish students and to send a message that antisemitism will not be tolerated on college campuses.
"I think it's a great way to show support for Jewish students," said one student. "It's a small gesture, but it shows that we care about them and that we're not going to stand for antisemitism."
"I think it's divisive," said another student. "It's creating an us-versus-them mentality. We should be working together to fight all forms of bigotry, not just antisemitism."
Heaton said she understands that some people may criticize the campaign, but she believes that it is an important step in addressing the problem of antisemitism on college campuses.
"I know that some people will say that this is divisive, but I don't think it is," Heaton said. "I think it's a way to bring people together and to show that we're all in this fight together."
