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Dear Fellow Members of Harvard's Jewish Community,
I hope my message finds you, and those you love, well.
Two weeks ago today, I wrote to break the news of the civil rights settlement between Harvard and Students Against Antisemitism, which strengthened protections for Jewish and Zionist affiliates. In that message, I was anxious to emphasize that it was much too soon to prognosticate on the meaning of this development - and that we would have to wait, and to continue to work.
Two weeks later, the early returns are in - and augur a type and pace of change that would have been difficult to anticipate a mere fortnight ago. In the ten days following the settlement, three of the most vocal anti-Zionists have departed, or announced their impending departure, from Harvard’s faculty: Jay Ulfelder of the Kennedy School; and Professors Diane Moore and Hussein Rashid of Harvard Divinity School's Program on Religion and Public Life. This follows a similar pattern at other institutions, including Professor Katherine Franke's retirement from Columbia University following an investigation into discriminatory behavior against Israeli students.
The significance of the settlement, and the direction Harvard is committing too, was put well by former Harvard President Lawrence Bacow in Harvard Magazine: the new policies "should stimulate more teaching, scholarship, and public awareness of the roots and consequences of antisemitism" while ensuring that legitimate debate doesn't "spill over into bullying and discrimination." Those choosing to leave - by their own admission in their letters, linked above - are signaling clearly and (somehow) proudly that a university that focuses on its mission of preserving, transmitting, and expanding knowledge - and that defends its Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination as forcefully as it would any other group - is not one they can associate with.
It would be a moral failing to end the story here: because this moment marks not only something like an end of a past chapter, but the possibility of renewal in the years to come. Over the past year, our community has been subject to such harassment - and widespread defense of that harassment - that we have often turned inward, and our hope and openness have at times lapsed into bitterness and mistrust. While some measure of this is an inevitable byproduct of stress, a fight or flight response - it is something we accept as normal at our peril. If Jewish life becomes defensive, self-referential, and suspicious of difference, we will fail to nurture and to inspire our students - and will ultimately be diminished in both quality and quantity. The possibilities of interreligious life at Harvard are not exhausted by non-interference from other groups; our aspirations should reach much higher than mutual tolerance. In the context of RPL, the most important question is not who was the last director, but who is the next director.
So last Thursday, I reached out to Prof. Terrence L. Johnson, RPL’s incoming director, and we shared a thirty-five minute conversation that both of us wished we could have continued for another hour; I am sharing the fact and substance of that conversation with his knowledge and blessing. Prof. Johnson shared a number of his aspirations for RPL: that it will focus on religion and public life broadly, without any peculiar preoccupation with Israel; that it will sympathetically showcase a variety of Jewish religious and political stances, not only those on the left; and, most importantly, that it will be always grounded in a deep and empathic listening to others. After months of playing defense, this conversation reignited in me a dormant sense of possibility - one based not on the prospect of agreeing with everything Prof. Johnson says or does, but on our shared commitments to taking one another, and our different communities, seriously and sympathetically.
In drafting this message I encountered a series of hesitations: a year and a half of shock, disappointment, and upheaval at the actions and statements of so many at Harvard have taught me a cynical, self-preserving lesson: it’s risky and unwise to vouch for anyone, because they may disappoint you, or say something you’ll be forced to defend. But this type of pervasive suspicion, even paranoia, is no way to (re)build the bonds of neighborliness, trust, and friendship - within the Jewish community and beyond. While we need to be cautious, we also have to risk reaching out, and trusting, and hoping. And so I’ve chosen to share this hopeful message, and a measure of trust, for Prof. Johnson's leadership at RPL - not because of my certainty for what the future will hold, but because if we allow our capacities for hope and trust to wither, we and our community will be diminished along with them.
Over eight months leading this community, I am constantly moved by the deep care of you, our alumni, for Jewish life at Harvard. Much of that finds expression in a widely shared thirst for knowledge and perspective - informed and principled - about what is happening here in Cambridge, and what it all means. Throughout this semester, I aim to write brief (by my standards) messages like this one - with the aim of building an informed, cohesive, effective, and purposive Harvard Jewish community. As always, I look forward to hearing from you - with your questions, concerns, encouragement, and of course, disagreements. It is an honor to do this work for, and with, each of you, and all of you.
Brachot,
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