Note: The word “Anna” in the following message is a composite, and is based on conversations I’ve had with several students and their parents, as well as some media reports.
Dear I:
I am as angry as you are about Liz Magill’s behavior during her testimony before Congress. The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and MIT have stuttered and stumbled when asked how to classify calls for “Jewish genocide.” (They cited the importance of freedom of expression, an argument that knowing how quickly anything politically incorrect could be canceled on these campuses was patently hypocritical.) But it was the complete lack of emotion that made me so angry. These three presidents know how vulnerable Jewish students like you feel; However, when asked about calls to kill Jews, none of them could show the slightest emotion. Instead, we got pablum and legal, topped off with a smug smile from Magill.
Anna, your generation was supposed to reap the benefits of 75 years of achievement. After the Holocaust, Jews created a comfortable home for themselves in the United States, and built a thriving homeland in Israel. Your parents and grandparents worked overtime so you could have a better life than any previous generation of Jews. On October 6, everything was going according to plan. Then Hamas attacked.
Anna, you told me with tears in your eyes how shocked you were by the corruption of Hamas; Burning people alive, beheading children, and brutal sexual violence against women. For a few days, it even seemed as if Israel’s very existence was at stake. The sheer evil was baffling not only to you, but to everyone. After watching the gruesome videos of this attack, one had to wonder: Where is God? Even the rabbis were wrestling with their own beliefs. Israeli television reported on the Shura military base, where 1,200 people killed by Hamas were being prepared for burial. The rabbis and soldiers there had the arduous task of identifying the mutilated bodies. In a Shura TV report, a soldier stated that in the days following October 7, one of the Shura’s senior rabbis stopped participating in daily services. When asked why, he explained: “I’m not ready to talk to God yet.”
The Hamas attack has inspired fans around the world to attack Jews as well. There has been an explosion in anti-Semitism in the United States. And Anna, students like you bore the brunt of this attack. Anti-Semitism has exploded on campus. 73% of Jewish students report having been involved in or witnessed incidents, and 37% feel forced to hide their Jewish identity. Hillel has been invaded, students have been assaulted, spat on and cursed at; Death threats were posted publicly on campus discussion boards.
But even those who do not attack Jews are at best indifferent. It has now become fashionable to ignore Jewish concerns; This is exactly what I saw when university presidents testified before Congress. One student mentioned to me that she didn’t know who to invite to her birthday party; Friends who supported the same progressive causes as her were steadfastly supportive of Hamas. How do you communicate with someone who says the victims at Nova Festival deserved to be killed? The signs of kidnapped Israelis are torn up by their fellow students, or worse, defaced with the word “occupier.” Hamas propaganda is everywhere, with many students accepting conspiracy theories that Israel carried out the massacre. The chant “From the river to the sea” has become mainstream, even though it clearly indicates that the historic Jewish homeland must now be “Judenrein”, one way or another.
On campus, the word “Zionist” is used as a pejorative, and Israelis are vilified and called Nazis. I know that your heart hurts because of the killing of civilians in Gaza. This is the Jewish way, going back to the Book of Genesis. When Jacob expected war with Esau, he prayed that he would not kill any innocents in battle. We continue to pray fervently for that day. But at the same time, Anna, you know exactly who is responsible for the killing of Palestinians: Hamas. Michael Walzer, the foremost contemporary expert on just war theory, wrote last week:
“Hamas benefits from the killing of civilians; She is not indifferent to the fate of the people she governs, and has a positive interest in their suffering.
Hamas uses human shields and calculates the strategic value of civilian deaths. It sees the death of Palestinians as a great benefit to the “Hundred Years War.” Hamas traffics in human suffering, films and publishes its massacre to cause maximum pain, takes hostages and then hangs them in front of their families. They are an army of sadists, driven by hatred. They killed, tortured and raped your Jewish brothers, just because they were Jews. Anna, I’ve tried to talk to your friends about this, but they’ve walked away. You feel betrayed.
This betrayal extends to your professors, who used regular classes in other subjects to “explain” the conflict in Gaza. During these lectures, Jewish students are intimidated into silence. When students like you go into administration, what can they expect? And on Tuesday, all of America saw that these universities, from the president down, were complicit in making Jewish students feel unwanted.
Anna, I know you feel lonely. But sometimes, being Jewish is going to be lonely. Generation after generation of Jews have learned how to go against the flow and stand proud despite the ridicule of haters and bullies. In many ways, this is the lesson of Chanukah.
Hanukkah is about the power of the few. A handful of Maccabees attacked the Seleucid Empire, in a war of the few against the many. The menorah ritual reinforces this theme. After the war, only one jar of oil was found, but that one jar is more than enough. A small candle is lit on the darkest and coldest night of the year, yet it brings light to every Jew. Anna, you don’t have to be part of the biggest, noisiest group. You just have to bring the light.
Anna, this Chanukah lesson is important for students like you. On campus, they hound you and gaslight you. They demand that you give up your natural right and surrender to the majority. These tactics are not new at all. Medieval Christian polemicists made the same arguments. First, gaslighting: Jews were condemned for killing Jesus in the past, even though the Crusaders were killing Jews then and now. These polemicists argued that the Jews were a dying and disappearing people who had been rejected by God; It is time for the Jews to join Christianity, the winning team. Today, the new polemicists demand that Jewish students bow down to the majority and accept the wisdom of the noisy mob.
Anna, Chanukah reminds us of the power of a small, loyal group of people. That was true 2,200 years ago, and it’s true now. You and your friends have proven that you can take on the challenge. You have come together as a community, and you have stood as activists. There are overflow crowds at Hillel events. As Molly Goldstein (who will be speaking at KJ next Friday night) said in an interview: “We’ve had Shabbat dinners that fill the capacity of the kosher dining hall.” In the face of all the threats and hatred, the Jewish students rededicated themselves to the Jewish people. This dedication is what Hanukkah is all about.
While Hanukkah began in Israel, it has become far more important in exile. Wherever they were, a handful of candles reminded the Jews that they did not need to give up. Even the few can prevail, if they maintain their resolve.
Anna, you and your friends were assertive. Bella Ingber, the NYU student who spoke to congressional leaders this week, concluded her speech by saying: “I am a proud Jew, and I am a proud Zionist. I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. We’re not going anywhere.”
Anna, students like you and Bella have added another page to the Chanukah story; I told the world that Jews are here to stay, and they are not going anywhere. I am very proud of what I have accomplished. I know that if you are future leaders, the Jewish future is very bright.
Chag Samich!
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz He is the chief rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York.