Many readers may be aware that this is currently Hanukkah. And you may know that during this holiday, the Jewish people light the menorahs (candlesticks) with eight candles to remind us of a miracle: In ancient times, there was only enough oil to light a lamp for one day, but the oil lasted for eight days. But why is there so little oil left? Why was the Holy Temple destroyed? The Syrians forced the Jewish people to accept their Hellenistic beliefs and worship pagan idols. A small group of Jewish rebels, known as Maccabees (Hammers), he fled from the Syrians and hid in the hills. Against all odds, the Jews defeated the Syrian army and rededicated or sanctified their temple. Chanukah translates to sincerity.
The story of Chanukah is not strange. Throughout recorded history, there have been countless attempts to eliminate the Jewish people. It is said that King Louis XIV asked Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher, to provide evidence of miracles. His response was simple: Jews. Just as all other civilizations come and go, the Jews persist in one way or another. Yet we persisted, as the saying goes. This story may be apocryphal, but it carries an important lesson: in every generation, there are attempts to exterminate the Jews, and yet this rebellious minority survived. In fact, many Jewish holidays can be summed up with some humor: They tried to kill us, but they failed, so let’s eat.
In each generation, different justifications are put forward for not accepting Jews: they practice heretical beliefs (monotheism), they reject true religion (polytheism), they follow laws without reason (suffocation), they committed deity (Jesus), they spread disease (the Black Death). They were infidels (Islam), they engaged in harmful practices (usury), they refuse to convert (Inquisition), the Holy Land belongs to us (multiple Crusades), they don’t belong (multiple expulsions), they don’t belong (pogroms), they cause conflicts (Nazis), etc. The history of civilization can be written based on what the elite in society today believe about the Jewish people. As Justice Scalia reminded us, the Holocaust “took place in one of the most educated, advanced, and cultured nations in the world.”
In the wake of the Holocaust, there was perhaps a brief moment of clarity when the nations of the world realized that the Jewish people needed a homeland of their own to ensure that such atrocities would never happen again. In words that even Terian Steinbach could understand, Israel would be a “safe space” or “close residence” for the world’s most persecuted minority. (Don’t ask her if it is Jewish Worth the squeeze.)
It is unfortunate that once Israel was established, the millennia-old train of anti-Semitism turned into its newest manifestation: anti-Zionism. They don’t hate everyone The Jews, they oppose all the Jews who seek to protect the only spot on planet Earth designated to protect them. This doctrine wore all the academic garb of Marxism, anti-colonialism, and critical racial studies. Elite academics at universities have defended anti-Zionism. DEI members, ostensibly appointed to promote equality, embodied the anti-Zionist trope. The students, who have no knowledge of world history at all, view the children of the Holocaust as just another persecuted person. As they have learned, any act of resistance against oppressors is not only justified, but necessary. The right kind of violence requires silence.
The “gotcha” questions about whether calling for genocide is anti-Semitic largely miss the mark. The deeper question is why elites in every civilization are attracted to anti-Jewish theories. Whether it is Hamas, Hitler, Hadrian, Hellenists, or Harvard, the root cause is always the same: Jews are different. Today’s wise men can always invent some logical reason to reach this conclusion. Really nothing ever changes. Recently, during oral argument in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard UniversityJustice Gorsuch noted that “Harvard’s move to an inclusive application approach occurred in the 1920s because it wanted to impose a quota on Jewish applicants, but it didn’t want to do it through the front door, so it used diversity as a means of racial quotas.” There are always tricks to treating Jews poorly. Different.
This background brings me to recent events on campus. Let me make two points at the outset. First, I think Eugene has accurately described the First Amendment principle, as well as similar principles that private universities claim to follow. Second, campus speech policies will likely be modified to censor Jewish students who advocate for Israel’s policies in the future.
The issue here is not the First Amendment or any campus speech protocol. The root of the problem is the corrupt core of the campus. From a young age, students are instilled with a flawed philosophy: the world should be divided between the oppressed and the oppressed. The answer to any question does not depend on any kind of objective moral fact, but rather on an ideological preference for the plight of the oppressed. As long as this ideology prevails, no committees or task forces will be able to make any difference. Simply adding Jews to the list of “persecuted” people hides the corruption behind it. Indeed, the past two months have demonstrated the complete failure of DEI as an institution. If DEI can’t deal with the blatant outbreak of anti-Semitism since the Holocaust, what good will it be? These devices must be abolished and the intersectional pyramid dropped.
I continue to support strong protections for free speech on college campuses, and oppose government interference in academia. I also worry about what happens when donors can influence what happens in academic progress. I’ll admit, these opinions are less strong than they were a few months ago. Let’s see what the future holds, as presidents lose jobs, donors withdraw donations, and a future Education Department under a Republican administration might bring down the government. Maccabees.
Corruption has long been a pervasive issue within the walls of educational institutions, from scandals involving fraudulent admissions practices to the misuse of funds for personal gain. The corrupt core of the campus is a troubling and increasingly prevalent problem that compromises the integrity and mission of these institutions. As investigations and exposés continue to uncover unethical behavior and abuse of power, it is important to shine a light on these issues and work towards creating a more transparent and accountable environment within our universities and colleges.