What We’re Facing and How We’re Facing It
Dear fellow members of Harvard’s Jewish community,
I hope my message finds you, and those you love, well.
Last Monday evening, Harvard Hillel was the proud host of former IDF spokesperson Ronen Manelis, who spoke at an event organized by our undergraduate Israel leaders. Over fifty students and community members attended, listened, and asked questions: exactly the kind of educational evening that ought to happen at Hillel, and throughout the university, at this time when campus conversations about Israel and its current wars are so often uninformed and warped by blatant disinformation.
As you may have heard, a small group of protesters gathered outside of our building during the event. Their presence did not deter participants’ commitment – just the opposite.
In fact, our students responded with characteristic creativity and strength, taking the initiative to display an Israeli flag in our window (after checking with staff, who approved their request). Harvard University Police were professional, proactive, and principled throughout.
The protesters chanted, “Zionists are not welcome here.” On the contrary. Harvard Hillel is committed to ensuring that all Jews, including Zionists and Israelis, are welcome in every corner of this university, and can enjoy the fullness of a Harvard education undiminished by prejudice. My comments to the Crimson on the incident began, “Harvard Hillel is and will always be the home of Zionism, and every form of Jewish life, at Harvard.” Our central claim was, and is, “Zionism, the pursuit of Jewish self-determination in the land of Israel, is a central element of the religious identity of thousands of Jewish Harvard affiliates. A call to exclude much of our community from campus due to our sincerely held beliefs is nothing more than bigotry.” You can read the entire story and my full message, here.
One voice is not enough to drown out this kind of eliminationist bigotry. Yesterday, Nathan Gershengorn ’26, president of Harvard Hillel’s student board, wrote in the Crimson on behalf of the undergraduate Jewish community as a whole: “Hillel will proudly stand with those who seek to strengthen and broaden our community, rather than those who want only to exclude and ignore.”
In our fight against the intolerant anti-Zionism that is entrenched in some corners of this university, we are stronger when allies from outside the Jewish community stand with us. Harvard Hillel’s rabbis proposed that the University Chaplains repudiate the protesters’ call to eliminate Zionists from Harvard – and the Chaplains did exactly this in a statement published on their website, standing with the Jewish community and condemning anti-Zionism as an attack not only on Jews, but as “disturbing and anathema to the dialogue and connection across lines of difference that must be a central value and practice of a pluralistic institution of higher learning.”
Harvard Hillel is the face of Israel and of Zionism at Harvard, and proudly so. We are honored to hold this ground – and forever committed to building partnerships across lines of identity throughout the university, based on the shared values that underlie our beliefs.
Thank you for your support of this place, its students, and its values. Every day, every Shabbat, and every event speaks to the integrity, diversity, and vitality of our tradition and our community – and we are poised to turn the tide against intolerance, as we unmask it while never succumbing to intolerance ourselves. None of this would be possible without you.
Brachot,
Rabbi Jason Rubenstein
Executive Director