Shabbat shalom. And happy Chanukah everyone!
This week saw the cloud over “woke” academia lifted, providing a full on view of perhaps one reason why students in our elite institutions seem morally and politically confused enough to support rape and pillage as a means to an end. I am of course referring to the testimony by presidents of Penn, MIT, and Harvard who in their bumbling and sorrowful efforts to balance respect for free expression on campus with opposition to hate speech, relied on legalese (all rehearsed as it turns out with lawyers from WilmerHale) instead of simply answering “yes” to loathsome MAGA nut Elise Stefanik’s question whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated the schools’ codes of conduct or constituted “bullying or harassment.”
While I am somewhat sympathetic to the Presidents’ responses, given the tricky nature of the balancing act between free speech and hate speech, they are mostly being vilified, and rightfully so, for the incredible hypocrisy imbedded in their responses. While it is true that each of them has only been on the job for a few years, (and maybe as the result of a shallow DEI-driven pool of candidates?), the institutions they represent have for decades before these new Presidents took over, been mired in censorious behavior when it comes to fee speech, but have just now discovered its virtues, when the speech in question is hurtful to Jews. That sounds like antisemitism to me.
Andrew Sullivan, in his Weekly Dish this week, laid out more of the hypocrisy quite clearly, and thusly:
In the hearings, (Harvard) President Gay actually said, with a straight face, that “we embrace a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.” This is the president whose university mandates all students attend a Title IX training session where they are told that “fatphobia” and “cisheterosexism” are forms of “violence,” and that “using the wrong pronouns” constitutes “abuse.” This is the same president who watched a brilliant and popular professor, Carole Hooven, be effectively hounded out of her position after a public shaming campaign by one of her department’s DEI enforcers, and a mob of teaching fellows, because Hooven dared to state on television that biological sex is binary. This is the president of a university where a grand total of 1.46 percent of faculty call themselves “conservative” and 82 percent call themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” This is the president of a university which ranked 248th out of 248 colleges this year on free speech (and Penn was the 247th), according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Harvard is a place where free expression goes to die.
I am still left with the nagging question around how could so many college kids be so wrong about something so evil and morally bankrupt. How could Hamas get so much support even before Israel began its bombing in Gaza from students on campuses around the world?
Sullivan goes on to make a rather convincing argument that its not about a double standard at all, but about a single standard: It is fine to malign, abuse and denigrate “oppressors” and forbidden to do so against the “oppressed.”
Freedom of speech in the Ivy League extends exclusively to the voices of the oppressed; they are also permitted to disrupt classes, deplatform or shout down controversial speakers, hurl obscenities, force members of oppressor groups — i.e. Jewish students and teachers in the latest case — into locked libraries and officesduring protests, and blocked from classrooms. Jewish students have even been assaulted — at Harvard, at Columbia, at UMass Amherst, at Tulane.
If a member of an oppressor class says something edgy, it is a form of violence. If a member of an oppressed class commits actual violence, it’s speech. That’s why many Harvard students instantly supported a fundamentalist terror cult that killed, tortured, systematically raped and kidnapped Jews just for being Jews in their own country. Because they have been taught it’s the only moral position to take.
Well, maybe. As usual, Andrew gives me something to think about, and at least one reason that perhaps explains college kids these days. The question remains, how do we turn this kind of thinking around, or at lease put it in its proper context? Has progressive thinking brought us down this repugnant rabbit hole? And how do we get out of it? Sullivan calls for the elimination of DEI programs:
End DEI in its entirety. Fire all the administrators whose only job is to enforce its toxic orthodoxy. Admit students on academic merit alone. Save standardized testing — which in fact helps minorities, and it’s “the best way to distinguish smart poor kids from stupid rich kids,” as Steven Pinker said this week. Restore grading so that it actually means something again. Expel students who shut or shout down speech or deplatform speakers. Pay no attention to the race or sex or orientation or gender identity of your students, and see them as free human beings with open minds. Treat them equally as individuals seeking to learn, if you can remember such a concept.
Nuf said.
It is now day 64 in the Israel – Hamas war, and the IDF is now focusing on South Gaza. Headlines this morning include:
Israeli Hostage Killed in Hamas Captivity ■ U.S. vetoes UN Security Council demand for cease-fire ■ IDF destroys Hamas targets in northern Gaza; finds weapons in UNWRA school and mosque ■ Rocket barrages target southern Israel ■ At least 1,200 civilians and soldiers killed in Israel since Oct. 7; over 138 hostages still held in Gaza ■ Hamas-run health ministry: 17,177 killed, 46,000 wounded ■ Air Force strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon ■ Anti-tank missiles were launched from Lebanon to northern Israel; Hezbollah accepts responsibility
But let’s move on to some lighter news of the Jews across the Jew S of A and around the world. With special thanks to the Jewy journals I have shamelessly cut and paste from, including The Times of Israel, JTA, The Forward, Kveller, I am dedicating this week’s news focus to Jews in Sports. Now, you are probably all thinking, how could he possibly come up with more than a few stories about Jews in professional sports, but alas, you would be wrong! Here you go:
- The NHL: National Hughes League – Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes made Jewish hockey history this week when they became the first trio of Jewish brothers to play in the same NHL game. Jack and Luke’s New Jersey Devils came out on top against Quinn’s Vancouver Canucks in what many dubbed the “Hughes Bowl.” But all three brothers showed why they’re among the NHL’s brightest stars: Jack scored a goal with two assists, Luke scored a power play goal (assisted by Jack) and Quinn had two assists.
- Cleats for a Cause – The Minnesota Vikings will be sporting Israel-themed cleats on Sunday. The shoes feature Stars of David, Israeli and American flags and the phrases “I Stand With Israel,” “Am Yisrael Chai” and “Bring Them Home.” The team is owned by Mark Wilf, a Jewish philanthropist who’s currently serving as chairman of the board of the Jewish Agency for Israel.
- Dallas Mavericks make a trade: One Jewish Billionaire for another – Jewish billionaire and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban is likely the best-known owner in the NBA. He’s not afraid to speak out about politics or controversy in the league, and he has an active role in running his Dallas Mavericks. So when the news broke this week that Cuban would be selling his majority stake in the franchise, basketball fans were taken a bit off-guard. And his partner in the acquisition, fellow Jewish billionaire and casino magnate Miriam Adelson, was also unexpected. Adelson, the widow of influential Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, purchased Cuban’s ownership stake for a reported $3.5 billion.The deal also represents something of a partnership for Cuban and Adelson, whose daughter is on the Israeli version of “Shark Tank.” Cuban will retain control over the team’s basketball operations — an unusual arrangement in pro sports — while Adelson is expected to bring her casino know-how to Dallas, where some lawmakers are seeking to legalize recreational gambling.Adelson is also taking over the current team of Kyrie Irving, the All-Star at the center of an antisemitism scandal last year.
- An unauthorized display of solidarity with Israel – During a European qualifying match a few weeks after the October 7 attack, the Israeli and Polish under-21 national teams held a moment of silence to honor the victims of the attack in Israel. The gesture would have been powerful on its own. But it was even more notable because European soccer’s governing body had reportedly denied the teams’ request to hold a moment of silence. The teams did it anyway — remaining in their starting formations for the first minute of the game, standing still as the clock began to run. The war has impacted all Israeli sports, but perhaps soccer most of all. Numerous national teams are in the midst of qualifying matches for upcoming international tournaments, including the under-21 and senior teams, both of which have had to move games that were originally set to be played in Israel.
- An Argentine Jewish soccer announcer’s aunt one of the freed hostages – BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — For weeks, TV soccer announcer Hernan Feler has been making headlines by talking about the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas during broadcasted games. In doing so, he has mentioned one Israeli by name: his aunt, Ofelia Roitman, who was captured in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.“Omitting and staying silent is synonymous with complicity. Bring Ofelia back, bring all the kidnapped back. We are waiting for them,” Feler said during the Nov. 12 match between the Boca Juniors and Newell’s Old Boys, two teams in Argentina’s top soccer league.
- 💯 Canadian-Israeli businessman Sylvan Adams donated $100 million to Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva as southern Israel works to rebuild after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Adams, who won a cycling world championship for Israel earlier this year, has been a significant supporter of the sport’s growth in the country.
- Matchmaker, Matchmaker – Speaking of $100 million donations, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is giving another $100 million to his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism as a matching donation after the Norman R. Rales and Ruth Rales Foundation pledged the same amount.
That’s a wrap. I hope everyone is lighting their Chanukkiah and displaying it proudly and enjoying the holiday. And as always, please be careful out there.
Brad out.
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