Tragically, of course, there’s nothing hypothetical about the scenario. Brandeis University recently decided to award honorary degrees to Michael Oren, Dennis Ross and Paul Simon, among others, at its May 23 commencement, and Ambassador Oren, an extraordinary orator among his many other qualities, was invited to deliver the commencement address.
But the days in which Jewish students on an American campus would have been thrilled to have the Israeli ambassador honored by their school are apparently long since gone. Brandeis’ student newspaper,The Justice (how’s that for irony?), deplored the choice, writing that Mr. Oren is a divisive and inappropriate choice for keynote speaker at commencement, and we disapprove of the university’s decision to grant someone of his polarity on this campus that honor.
The ambassador is a polarizing figure? Why is that? Because, the editorial continues, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a hotly contested political issue, one that inspires students with serious positions on the topic to fervently defend and promote their views.
This is where we are today. For many young American Jews, the only association they have with Israel is the conflict with the Palestinians. Israel is the country that oppresses Palestinians, and nothing more.
No longer is Israel the country that managed to forge a future for the Jewish people when it was left in tatters after the Holocaust. Israel is not, in their minds, the country that gave refuge to hundreds of thousands of Jews expelled from North Africa when they had nowhere else to go, granting them all citizenship, in a policy dramatically different from the cynical decisions of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan to turn their Palestinian refugees into pawns in what they (correctly) assumed would be a lengthy battle with Israel.
Israel is not proof that one can create an impressively functioning democracy even when an enormous portion of its citizens hail from countries in which they had no experience with democratic institutions. Israel is not the country in which, despite all its imperfections, Beduin women train to become physicians, and Arab citizens are routinely awarded PhDs from the country’s top universities. Israel is not the country in which the classic and long-neglected language of the Jews has been revived, and which produces world class literature and authors routinely nominated for Nobel Prizes.
Nor is Israel the place where Jewish cultural creativity is exploding with newfound energy, as the search for new conceptions of what Jewishness might mean in the 21st century are explored with unparalleled intensity, particularly among some of the country’s most thoughtful young people. No longer is Israel understood to be the very country that created the sense of security and belonging that American Jews and these very students now take completely for granted.
No, Israel is none of those things. For many young American Jews, it is only the country of roadblocks and genocide, of a relentless war waged against the Palestinians for no apparent reason. For everyone knows that Palestinians are anxious to recognize Israel and to live side-by-side with a Jewish democracy. That, of course, is why Hamas still openly declares its commitment to Israel’s annihilation, and that is why Hizbullah has, according to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, accumulated more missiles than most governments in the world.
None of this is to suggest that Israel is blameless in the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, or that the present government has a plan for ending it. Those are entirely different matters. The point is that even if these students hold Israel partially (or even largely) accountable for the intractable conflict with the Palestinians, even if one believes that it should have conducted Operation Cast Lead differently, or even if one disapproves of its policies in the West Bank, for example, it is a devastatingly sad day for world Jewry when those issues are the only ones that one associates with Israel, when mere mention of the Jewish state evokes not the least bit of pride from students graduating from a prestigious institution long associated with the very best of American Jewish life.
WHAT WOULD have happened had Brandeis invited President Barack Obama to deliver the commencement address? Obama is, after all, not exactly a non-divisive figure. He is president of a country at war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, places in which (a small number of) American troops have committed their share of atrocities, a country in which civil rights issues are still far from resolved, in which the bounty of America is still far beyond the reach of millions of its citizens.
One suspects that the students would have been thrilled to hear Obama, despite the fact that many do not agree with his policies. They would have been honored to host him despite the fact that some must be disappointed that he has not lived up to his campaign promise to call the Turkish treatment of the Armenians a genocide, despite the fact that he is intent on pursuing the war in Afghanistan, to which many of the students must certainly be opposed. They would have been delighted by Obama’s presence because even if they disagree with some of his views or some of America’s actions, they understand that the US is more than Obama, and more than this war or that policy. And they are, quite rightly, enormously proud of what America stands for and what it has accomplished.
But that kind of instinctive pride in the Jewish state is, sadly, a vestige of days gone by, even for many American Jews.
Reading some of the reactions to Oren’s invitation, one is struck by an astounding simplicity, and frankly, an utter lack of courage to stand firm against the tidal wave of unbridled hostility toward Israel.
Jeremy Sherer, president of the Brandeis J Street U Chapter, wrote to The Justice, I am… bothered [by the invitation to Oren] because I disagree with his politics. That’s what education is now producing people who want to hear only those with whom they agree? I’m not exactly thrilled, Sherer wrote, “that a representative of the current right-wing Israeli government will be delivering the keynote address at my commencement.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, of course, is now busy fending off members of his coalition who are far to the right of him, like Moshe Feiglin and Avigdor Lieberman, and whether or not one takes him at his word, he is the first head of the Likud to endorse a two-state solution, no small matter for those who know the history of the Likud. But Sherer makes no mention of that complicating data, for it doesn’t fit his overarching conception of the intrinsic evil of Israel’s right-wing government (of which the Labor Party is also inconveniently for Sherer a member).
The president of the Brandeis J Street U Chapter, who writes that he’s of “Israeli heritage” (whatever that means), did not see fit to say a single positive word about Israel. Not one. One wonders what the pro-Israel part of J-Street’s pro-Israel, pro-Peace tag line means to Sherer.
Ironically, though, some of the attempts to defend the invitation to Oren were no less distressing. A student representative to the Board of Trustees writes in a disappointingly anemic piece to the The Justice that Oren is being invited for his academic achievements, not his political ones, and then launches into a recitation of Oren’s many academic accomplishments.
Here, too, however, not a single positive word about Israel, or of the honor that having not only a world-class historian, but also its representative to the US, might be for the university. That sort of pride appears nowhere in The Justice’s editorial, the J-Street representative’s piece or the op-ed defending the invitation. For too many American Jewish undergraduates, it’s simply no longer part of their vocabulary.
Imagine that Sherer had written something like this: I disagree passionately with Israel’s policies regarding the Palestinians, and welcome President Obama’s new pressure on Israel to bring the conflict to a close. But as a Jew who understands that despite my disagreement with Israel’s policies, the Jewish state is key to the Jewish revival of which my entire generation is a beneficiary, I honor Ambassador Oren for his service to a country of which I am deeply proud in many ways, and I look forward to welcoming him to campus.
Or if the pro-Oren op-ed had said, There is a radical disconnect between our generation and today’s Israeli government. Many members of my generation believe that Mr. Netanyahu and his government either do not know how to speak to us, or are uninterested in doing so. Ambassador Oren’s appearance on campus is a perfect opportunity for the Israeli government to address us and our concerns; I urge our campus to listen carefully to what may well be a watershed address at this critical period in Israel’s history and in the relationship between Israel and the future leadership of American Jewry.
Imagine. But nothing of that sort got said.
Indeed, the seeming refusal of any of the student articles to say even one positive thing about the Jewish state was all the more galling given other events that took place across the globe on the very same week that the Oren controversy was unfolding. At the University of Manchester, pro-Palestinian protesters tried to attack Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, some holding Palestinian flags up to the windows of her car and others climbing on the hood and trying to smash the windshield. In Berlin, a Danish street art duo known as “Surrend” blanketed several neighborhoods with maps of the Middle East in which the State of Israel had been removed, with the term “Final Solution” at the top. The Scottish Labor Federation reaffirmed its support for a boycott of Israel, and the student government at the University of California, Berkeley fell just one single vote short in a bid to override a veto against a divestment bill; a similar bill was also debated at UC San Diego.
None of the writers to The Justice felt that they had to distance themselves from those views, even as they critiqued or supported the invitation to Ambassador Oren.
The student-thugs at UC Irvine, who disrupted Oren’s speech on campus in February, have won. They have set the standard for how one treats any mention of Israel on any campus. Israel is nothing but a legitimate whipping post even at institutions of higher learning, and sane discussion of its rights and wrongs need not be defended, even in communities ostensibly committed to civil and intelligent discourse.
Tragically, even these students at Brandeis, one of the great institutions of American Jewish life, had nothing terribly different to say to the world. Theirs are only more tepid versions of the delegitimization now spreading across the international community like wildfire.
One shudders to imagine a future in which they might be our leaders.
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Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, where he is also a senior fellow. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and currents in Israel...
The Jewish State must end, say its enemies, from intellectuals like Tony Judt to hate-filled demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even average Israelis are wondering if they wouldn't be better off somewhere else. 
All roads lead to Rome . . . this on-campus activity is a direct result of the tone and the substance coming from our country’s leadership. The Obama Administration’s approach to Israel, its callous treatment of the Israeli Prime Minister, and its positioning of Israel as the recalcitrant party in the dispute with the Palestinians is resulting in erosion of support for Israel, even among Jewish Americans. Tragic, but true.
I am filled with horror just thinking about the fact that this generation now graduating university is the next generation of leaders. Never has there been a generation with so narrow a view and so intellectually dishonest.
To believe that Israeli policy is the root cause of the Palestinians’ plight, given Arab animus toward Israel, is no different than believing that people were entering a work camp as they passed under the sign “Arbeit Macht Frei.”
In following and writing letters against the divestment votes at UC Berkeley, and UC San Diego, I have been struck by the PC arguments of the anti-divestment students Instead od arguing against the lies of the pro-divestment crowd, and and advocating Israel’s wonderful qualities, especially in comparison to its antagonists, these students argue that the divestment resolutions singles out their religion and/ or ethnic group which is against the tenets of Political Correctness to which all the students should subscribe.
Dr. Gordis’ touching account of the students’ reaction at Brandeis to conferring an honorary degree upon Ambassador Oren and asking him to be the commencement speaker misses the point altogether.
Dr. Gordis ends by shuddering to imagine a future in which these students might be our leaders. Rather than hold the students accountable, we must look at the root cause of the situation (and I do not refer to the “Occupation”). Are we not responsible at all?
One must first look at home: Recently, MK Danon visited Los Angeles on a fundraising trip for the primaries in his party. His only public talk was to a group of some 200, a day before Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting with President Obama.
I expected the Chair of World Likud, the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Parliament, to say something along the lines: “I and Israel stand by our Prime Minister. At this crucial time for Israel, I ask that each and every one of you do the same: Pray for his success. Write to the PM. Write to the President. Tell them you support Israel and her PM. Let us stand united as tomorrow the PM is due to meet with your President, a meeting we know will be very difficult.”
Instead we were treated – just prior to the pitch for $2,500 each – to a diatribe of everything the PM does wrong, from the aftermath to the Disengagement five years ago to the weekly meetings of the top cabinet members. Apparently, Danon is the only member who has the guts to stand up to the PM.
How regretful that an elected official, the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, does not even understand the ramification of – inter alia – disloyalty. He should have left the fundraising at home (yes, in Israel) and made most of the timing – STAND WITH ISRAEL. SUPPORT THE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER.
So how can we now come with claims against students who have seen no other example? Who usually stands up to speak? Have Israeli officials taken to campuses?
One of the Israeli professors who spends part of his time at Brandeis heading a department or an institute (being funded by a philanthropist from Beverly Hills) and part traveling back and forth between Israel and the UK was a guest for dinner at the Beverly Hills Montage. The professor supports Ha’aretz many claims against the Jewish State, covering his pronunciations with an academic pretense, and has gone on the attack against anyone who thinks differently.
Our dinner, incidentally, did not fare well, as he did not like to hear my account (previously published in print) of one of the senior members of this respectable paper presenting to a delegation of California State Legislatures on their very first night ever in Israel that Israelis have become the new Nazis, burning Palestinians in their homes in “Occupied” (very occupied) territories (of Judea and Samaria). The presentation was about the House of Contention, and the reporter was conveniently seated at the home of this Palestinian family when the “Settlers” attempted to burn the house and its inhabitants (and Israeli journalist guest) alive.
It is money of Jewish donors which enables professors the liberty to undermine the very existence of the Jewish Homeland. Then again, these “Post-Zionist” Israeli professors also call to divest and boycott Israel from the pages of the LA Times (Prof. Niv Gordon of BGU) following which letter the President of BGU rushed to Beverly Hills to meet with her top donors. Funny how money has a far-reaching influence.
Dr. Gordis, before attacking those students, approach the Jewish donors. Possibly they will dictate a different course of action. It is their funding, before all, that enables such liberal approach and open criticism of the Jewish State.
These Jewish students at Brandeis, tomorrow’s leaders, should actually learn not so much from the open criticism of the Jewish State by their professors but from the very successful action of “student-thugs at UC Irvine, who disrupted Oren’s speech on campus in February, have won.”
For those who think that Ambassador Oren’s appearance at UCI was unique, allow me to point otherwise.
I was there when Ambassador Oren was interrupted by the Muslim Students. I was there just hours earlier when he spoke at a Church (an event organized by the Israel Christian Nexus) across the street and enjoyed his speech very much. When I arrived to UCI, I knew exactly what to expect.
The Muslim Students are organized, coherent and well prepared. They speak in unison. Incidentally, the protest was orchestrated by women (an interesting phenomenon which would have been quite unacceptable under Muslim rule). The majority of the audience was not part of the UCI student body.
I was there, in the very same room, with Dr. Daniel Pipes some years earlier when the very same modus operandi was used. Why was nothing done during these years to counter the poison at UCI?
What did the Israeli Consul General and his staff do during the weeks since Ambassador Oren’s appearance? Did they meet with the Regents of the UC system? Did they meet with the Governor (the UC system is subsidized by the State)? Did they convene a panel of experts, predominantly lawyers, to see what can be done?
Ah, I forgot to mention, they spent last Sunday naming a tiny portion of a street in Beverly Hills “Hertzel.” It is ironic on many counts, not the least that this very portion of a street in nestled between the buildings of a reform temple that, under its Israel Program, prefers the likes of Jeremy Sherer which Dr. Gordis describes above.
Is it not the Consulate’s job to act, not only to come along with the Ambassador to an event that should not have taken place at UCI in the first place? Coming without studying the ground, without any preparation and without being ready to do all it takes until the follow up is exhausted amounts to a dereliction of duty. This is NOT another gala event with the Ambassador as the guest of honor. This is a battlefield, and the Consulate clearly knew better.
Dr. Gordis is amazed that the students at Brandeis do not stand up to defend Israel, highlight her accomplishments and call for a “fair treatment” of her top representative to the United States. J Street’s “Pro Israel – Pro Peace” voice is heard in no unequivocal terms. Where is the true Pro Israel voice? Look at UCI and learn from our mistakes. Then learn from J Street’s top representative who can articulate a position well enough that the very best find difficult to counter.
Dr. Gordis, you are one of the most remarkable romantics I have had the fortune to hear. I am thirsty to read your writings. Yet, you sat along with a friend from yesteryears, Rabbi Wolpe, in front an audience of several hundred, and there, not many years later, sat your friend celebrating Israel’s 62nd birthday with a Muslim Cleric who had “courageously” appeared there and blessed the audience with ALLA-U-AKBAR. Your friend, to this very day, does not understand why community leaders Susanne and Dr. Robert Reyto are enraged by this act.
Let us blame not the students. Let us look at ourselves first. The love of Israel, her very essence, her every breath, is in your and my DNA. I would stand and sacrifice all I have for the Jewish Homeland. Yet, those at the helm, our leaders, do not serve as the necessary examples – neither in Israel nor here in the Jewish community in the Diaspora.
There are rare exceptions of course. I wrote about one Colonel [(res.) Benzi Gruber] and a Sergeant [(res.) Benjamin] who come to the USA to speak on campuses. They do not ask for money. They are not sent by the Israeli Government. They are individuals who realize those whose job it is to fight do not. They are true leaders, commanders who act and say “FOLLOW ME.” They do not wait to be called. The act. They are my heroes.
It is time for Israel to fathom and internalize she is at war. This war is raging on not in Israel proper but in a different front: here in Los Angeles, in London and Paris, Stockholm and Melbourne, Auckland and Beijing. Israel fails miserably at the Public Diplomacy Front, and what does she do other than admit her failure? Nothing.
In war one must act (or at the very least react), lest one finds oneself defeated. Israel’s public diplomacy suffers since Israelis have not yet articulated a coherent message that goes along the lines: ISRAEL HAS THE RIGHT TO EXIST AS THE JEWISH HOMELAND. Without the most basic understanding that we, too, have some basic rights, we are weak and crumbling from within.
Until Israel does her part, we – her last defenders, soldiers in the front lines – are fighting a losing battle.
We have not given up, nor will we, but we cannot win unless Israel herself participates.
The Brandeis students have joined the ranks of other anti-Israel/Jewish forces at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Columbia. Hamas and Hezbollah must be thrilled that now even Jews publicly delegitimize Israel.
And for several generations we have collective guilt for making Judaism and Israel optional to life.
I offer a modest proposal. Instead of having once-a-year Jews go to synagoges for Rosh HaShannah / Yom Kippur, we have them go on Purim and Simchat Torah, in addition to community-wide Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations. To see the greatness of Israel in the modern world, they should read http://www.Israel21c.com and Rabbi Daniel Gordis. And of course, visit Israel.
On a personal level though, I am proud that that my daughter chose to make aliya and serve in the IDF.
My heart breaks when I read this. What are we to do. I feel totally hopeless about the whole situation and I am frightened about the future. I do not feel safe as a Jew anywhere anymore,and I am angry. Israel is gem, it gives more to the world than any other country. I don’t understand the world I live in and I don’t like it very much.
This article does however make clear something I have not understood for a long time. This is Rahm Emmanuel, his brother and David Axelrod. I have not been able to understand how they can stand at the right hand of this anti-Israel President and not speak out. Now I get it.
How sad! It hurts a lot coming from the future generation of our people. What to do: the propaganda, PR,lies and misinformation of “the other side” are much “better”. Can´t we do anything about that? I try to hope it is not too late.
Hello Daniel
What a sad moment for Jews, specially in the USA.
Education starts at home, not in the universities.
One might assume that after all the genocides, exiles, pogroms and Holocaust that the Jewish nation suffered during the last 2,000 years would make, at least Jews, study their sad history and think before they react or attack Israel and it’s leaders.
Prof’ David S. Wyman wrote about The Abandonment of the Jews. This happened only 65 years ago. The book reviews and summarizes the US and British archives during WWII.
I highly recommend the Jews in the US, specially students to read this book. They may learn something yet.a
It can happen again. It may even begin in the US. One only has to open his eyes and mind to the way the tide is turning against the state of Israel and the Jews these last 10 years to understand what is going on.
Obama is leading the way to a terrible disaster in the ME.
This is a wake up call to the Jews in the USA. Don’t feel too smug!!!
If Israel goes down, so would the Jews all over the world.
A Jew is a Jew no matter even if he became a Catholic by force 600 years ago during the inquisition in Spain and Portugal, or fought for the German Wiemar during WWI. His fate is predetermined by the gentiles.
150,000 quarter and half Jews fought for Germany in the Wehrmacht (Bryan Mark Rigg) during WWII. All were exterminated by Hitler.
These students are graduating from Brandeis?! Their professors (and, sadly, perhaps their parents) have earned an F for obviously failing to provide these students with any knowledge of history – and for their failure to instill any appreciation for the meaning of living in a democratic country.
Did the faculty at Brandeis spend four years removing their students’ spines?
It seems to me that having a polarizing figure who will force students to give deep and serious thought to a relevant contemporary problem would be exactly the sort of person a university should invite to give its commencement address.
Wake up, kiddies. It’s a tough world out there with difficult choices to make. It’s even tougher when you realize that you have to live with the consequences of your decisions.
I tried to post Gordis’ article on the website of Brandeis’ newpaper without any luck. Perhaps someone more computer savvy than I could do so. The paper’s site is http://www.brandeishoot.com and an article you may want to read in it is http://thebrandeishoot.com/articles/8036
Whenever Israel’s situation is diluted down to dogma and lowest-common-denominator platitudes, we Jews lose. Our enemy is naivete. If these students had not thought simplistically, and had instead looked at the situation with nuance and discernment, they could not have helped but reach different conclusions. DG’s examples of what those on both sides could have written illustrate this. Shallow is easy, deep is hard. But deep is important.
An absolutely excellently written article. I will send it wide & far so that American Jews and Jewish educators can start waking up in order to do some exercises in values-clarification.
Sad. Disturbing. Scary.
Unfortunately, students are not to blame. As many other Americans and Canadians, they are victims to the daily brainwashing by media and education system. And that’s the real issue – total misinformation, on the background of hundreds years of open and “closet” antisemitism.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a good solution. More talented and honest writers/orators who is given an opportunity to speak? Apparently, it doesn’t work. Also, people have to visit Israel to start critically think and filter the tons of misinformation that’s coming to us in so called “free press”.
Personally, I continue sending “Dispatches” to other people who don’t have enough information and is interested in learning more. That’s less than a drop in the ocean, though.
The question is….why? Why is the attitude on campuses here what it is? I have college age kids. My sense is the problem is articulating an adequate explanation to them of why be Jewish…..why it matters. Why Israel…..why does she matter? A myth based on fragile existence, victimization, fear of annihilation…..simply does not resonate with the reality of their life experience. We must articulate a credible, personal purpose and destiny to our children….and ourselves…..regarding being Jewish and having a Jewish homeland. Surviving the holocaust, and the past decades of antisemetism and antizionism was the meaning, purpose and destiny of our and recent past generations…..Now what? Dayenu? Is that it? That isn’t enough for many American college kids anymore. There is a higher destiny and purpose we all share. We have the luxury of freedom, influence, affluence, and choice to reconnect to that destiny, as Jews, as Zionists, As Yerushalmists……Let’s contemplate, articulate in a better way the covenant of destiny we share as Jews, in galut or in Haaretz, religious and secular, young and old.
How sad. What has happened to Jewish education? What has happened to truth.What have we done to our children? Israel is so right in protecting itself and owning all the land captured in ’67. That which was given to form a “Palestinian State” has been disgraced by the Palestinian leaders. Jordan keeps quiet. Egypt and Jordan never were made responsible by the rest of the world to take in the refugees to their countries as Israel has taken in refugees not wanted by any other country.
As a parent of three Brandeis students, I can tell you that those who protest Ambassador Oren’s presence at Brandeis are not representative of much of the Jewish student body – in fact I sense they are a distinct minority. My children forwarded a petition to me that has been circulating, one that I happily signed, supporting Ambassador Oren’s presence at Brandeis. Unfortunately, as we have seen here with the Tea Party phenomenon, a small number of vocal protestors can get a disproportionate amount of press.
I am not a right winger – on Israel or otherwise. I believe Israel has made mistakes and continues to make them. Can anyone name any country, or for that matter, any organization or individual, of whom this is not true? But I stand with Israel, as I think many of us quietly do. One can be to the left on the political spectrum and share the view that it is right to support Israel even as we raise questions about particular policies. We don’t support family because they are always right; we support them because they are family and, as Mr. Gordis points out, in this case family in whom we have so many reasons to feel great pride. But one point I do take to heart in Mr. Gordis’ article is that the defense of Israel and Ambassador Oren by those who support them has been too anemic. I do plan to share that concern with my children and their friends.
As for Brandeis, please remember, the university invited Ambassador Oren and stuck to its guns when the noisy few protested. I say Kol HaKavod to Brandeis. My children and I, together with many other students and parents, look forward with pride to seeing him and hearing him speak at the commencement.
We have seen the enemy and it is US. As each succeeding generation of Jews assimilates into the main fabric of American life, we dilute our Jewish heritage through intermarriage and the casual attitude of parents (us) towards the cultural and religious life of our families. Is it any wonder, therefore, that our kids have little relationship with Israel? The future can only devolve toward total apathy regarding the State of Israel and Judaism in general if we continue down this path.
I also wonder what messages their Professors have been giving them over their 4 years of ‘study’.
Does anyone have any insight into this?
When I was about 17 or so, Ambassador Abba Eban came to our shul and spoke to the congregation.
I was thrilled to have an Israeli ambassador visit with us, and even more thrilled to have Abba Eban speak. It was a very “up close and personal” moment for me.
Many many years later I can still remember the day and what he said.
How sad that the Brandeis contingent has such little respect for Israel, for its goals and for those of us who support Israel wholeheartedly. I do not have many good things to say about liberal Jewish thinking of late and this just emphasizes all the bad. have even less good to say about the universities that are “supposed” to be teaching the younger generation. Brandeis should hang its collective heads in shame.
The more history is repeated the more likely we are to suffer the consequences.
Brandeis U.has not been noted for emphasis on recruiting Jewish students.Many years ago when my son visited the campus we were not impressed by the individuals who greated us and provided campus info.They weren’t even Jewish.So we were very disappointed and my son attended M.I.T instead.
What kind of student body does Brandeis now have?Does Hillel exert any influence on student attitudes towards present day Israel?Perhaps
knowledgeable Israel friendly oriented former Brandeis graduates should be encouraged to counteract this anti-Israel sentiment in the Jewish student body at Brandeis.
Arriving in Haifa in 1949 with an American shipment of dairy cattle I witnessed the terrible conditions of the Sephardim who were expelled from North African countries just for being Jews after Israel won their War of Independence.With compassion,these Jewish brethren were placed in marbarot,cared for,and then sent to homes.
No compensation was ever demanded from those Muslim countries that expelled these Jews.
How did the Palestinian Muslims fare from their brethren?They were dumped into camps and the United Nations was forced to feed and care for them even to this very day.The rich oil-rich Arab nations have not provided any humanity aid except weaponry to cause death and destruction for the Jewish nation.Let us concentrate on placing the welfare of Israel foremost on our agenda.Anti-semitism is a world disease and cannot be eradicated and must be fought with vigor wearever it appears.Now it is appearing in Western European nations in the form of Muslim radicalism,well-organized and
on campuses and retail businesses that are being boycotted.
Let us all be aware of what is happening world-wide and expend our energies in fighting anti-semitism whether articulated by non-caring,disloyal Jews to Israel or enemies of the Jewish State.
Here is just another fine example of America’s current generation of spoiled-rotten children!
For years it has been painfully obvious that Israel’s story and successes are absent from our media which is filled with irrelevant rantings about celebrities instead of hard core news. What are the schools teaching about Israel? Where is our lobby to stand STROJNG and get the message across that Israel is a great nation? We still have time to turn this negativity around, unless, of course, there is censorship somewhere. If it is any comfort, I belong to several citizen groups supportive of law enforcement. Amnong most police personnel, Israel is held in high regard. Maybe it is generational. We Jews have a duty to educate our children about the facts and fill them with pride in their religion, their history, and in Israel.
The beginning of wisdom is realism. And it is realism to understand that the American Jews of 2010 are not the American Jews of 1970.
Most American Jews are liberals. They are pro-Israel, but to be honest it is a low priority. If tossing Israel to the wolves is the price for gay marriage, for partial birth abortion, for sticking it to the conservative Christians, for getting into the swanky universities, then to the wolves Israel will go. To understand that, replace George Bush with Barack Obama in the article, and just imagine how the Brandeis students would go ballistic.
Many American Jews are leftists. To them, Israel is at best an embarrassment and at worst demonic.
Israel has a strong base of support in the United States; it just doesn’t include most Jews. Until people understand that reality, then discussing where to go from here is pointless.
How ironic. As a Brandeis student, ’72-’76, it was often difficult to engage students in social justice issues OTHER than those involving Israel, to my great disappointment. Unless it involved Israel, many turned a blind eye.
I have always believed that Brandeis should require first-year students to take a class in the history of the Jewish people, including Israel and the founding of the university itself. I doubt that many students are aware that Jews left everything behind when forced to flee (name your North African or Middle Eastern country here). Or how Hadassah built the health care system in the Middle East. Unless a student of history or Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis, it’s quite possible to graduate knowing none of this.
So, Brandeis, take a stand. Require the class. Teach this diligently to our children.
How sad that so many young people are ignorant of the fates of their own fellow Jews in our long past and recent present.
As an alumnus, a parent of an alumna, and a lifelong supporter of Brandeis, I am shocked, saddened and disgusted by the incredible ignorance and intolerance of the Brandeis Justice in its words about Ambassador Oren. If the Brandeis “liberal” tradition (we were freedom riders in my generation) means swallowing the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda and judging Israel by a double standard, then the proud university which I attended has sunk to a terrible low.
I made a phone call to “The Justice” and have sent an email to the editor-in-chief requesting that he publish your article with the link (I don’t care about getting sued!)..It is tragic that the propaganda arm of the Palestinian extremists is so successful..At any rate- I hope he will publish it- at the very least- I had a very intense and long conversation with the student who answered the phone, and she was excited about the fact that “someone cared enough to bring the other point-of-view to the paper. My own take is yes- it is our fault that the PR out of Israel has been so weak and is only now beginning to “wake up” ( the Ministry of Tourism’s commercials are excellent)–But..the campus issue is really important and it should be up to the Hillel groups to face it and become more pro-active on campus and become more of an “or lagoyim”…
Amen to Ari, above. The situation makes two problems stand out.
The one easier, but more costly, to reduce is to continue and enlarge programs in Israel for young people. Even Birthright’s brief trips appear to be a good value in increasing young people’s awareness of and interest in Israel. My sons, in their 20s are, like me, are political liberals and strong supporters of Israel. One reason is that my wife and I skipped a lot of self-indulgences to send the boys to Alexander Muss’s seven-week summer high school in Israel, where they learned the 3,000-year history of Jews in the Eretz while traveling and hiking through it. I wish there was a way to correlate young Jews’ appalling opposition to Israel with their having visited it. I think that nothing makes young people supportive of Israel more than going there — especially meeting young Israelis.
The cheaper but more-difficult problem is the Israeli idea implanted by Ben Gurion that “it doesn’t matter what the goyim think, only what Jews do.” Sadly, the opposite is proving true; no matter what good Israelis do (and in the medical field alone it’s enormous), the notion of Israel as a source of evil continues to grow.
Some of the smartest people in advertising and public relations are Jews, and I am confident that many could be recruited to develop superb plans to help Israel better sell itself to the world (as Israel 21c is working to do). But my impression is that Israelis aren’t much interested. As a nation, Israel doesn’t seem to grasp the need to get its story out — and in crisis, out in the same news cycle as the event causing the crisis. I agree that only Israelis have the right to determine Israel’s policies, but they should less-often shrug off ideas that weren’t thought up there.
One area in which Israel could improve its image greatly at no cost is by shunning news media, academic and politicans who abuse freedom of speech to the point of sedition. Yes, each of us has a right to an opinion — no matter how stupid — but the rest of us have the right to ignore them. We also can shun arrogant, chutzpadik North Americans who think they have a right to tell Israelis what risks to take with their lives and the lives of their children. That’s why I consider the behavior of organizations such as J Street not only wrong-headed but even immoral.
Shachor ani – Israel may be
V’ – nevertheless, Israel is so
Na’ah.
Enjoy a Shabbat Shalom U’Mevorach and a relaxing and pleasant Mother’s Day weekend.
Moishe
This most disturbing situation, among Jewish students, and indeed amnong many young Jews may well be due to the fact that they accept Israel as a fait accompli.They base their views on the strength of the Israeli military and the Israeli economy.Their main philosophy is why doesn’t Israel take a chance,they can always win the next war.The problem with this position, is that Israel’s existence remains at play.God forbid that Iran should get it’s hands on nuclear weapons.We need to make young people more aware of what the world was like before 1948,all Jews were in a more perilous situation, then, and would be more so,would Israel ever be defeated,God forbid.
how little education there is in a “college educations.” how many history credits are required to graduate? worse, who are the teachers of history? what do these young people know about the 20th century? perhaps they believe there is something egalitarian about denigrating one’s own; perhaps it masks their insecurity. i wonder. when one looks at the achievements of the jewish people over the centuries, despite all odds, one can only conclude that they are the eighth wonder of the world; .2% of the world’s population have received 20% of all the nobel prizes ever awarded (reminder: they are given by the swedes for significant contributions to humankind). how many nobel prizes went up the chimneys of europe.
one can only conclude that at brandeis, as is so often the case elsewhere in our wonderful country, a degree is awarded for “showing up” and not much more.
perhaps the israeli way is better; first serve your country for a few years. i’m sure that very few, if any, of these people have ever served anyone other than their friends a beer.
given this level of discourse, would anyone hire a brandeis graduate?
It is most likely that in 100 years, all Jews will live in Israel; there will be no Jewish leadership in the Galut, no real diaspora (prophecy was of course given only to the deranged after the destruction of the Temple).
What is wrong with an Israel with 7-8M Jews and few charedim communities here and there?
NILI. -BG2
I am not Jewish nor am I that knowledgeable of Judaism for my friends of that faith are few. However, I could shed tears in learning of this idiocy. Have these children done no research? Have they not read any history? Are they ignorant of the holocaust?
Sadly, it seems to say a lot about the modern campus environment. Meek administrators more concerned with PC than knowledge and students easily led, revealing a shallowness that bodes poorly for Judaism and democracy in general.
Hi, I just wanted to comment on this as a current Brandeis student. I do not have a personal stance on this issue, and I definitely do not speak for everyone on campus. But I did want to point out many mistakes in this piece and comments. Many on campus are very pro-Israel, in fact, we just had a celebration for Israel Independence Day. Hillel is very active on campus and we have a kosher dining hall. Many of my friends are firm supporters of Israel and others are Israelis themselves.
People are not against having Michael Oren on campus in general. The very nature of Brandeis means that events involving Israel or the Middle East seem to create even more tensions than in other places. There was a campus event involving the Goldstone Report earlier in the year attended by both sides of the issue. Students welcome debate even in this divisive subject. I think people would really support having him speak at his own event. The main concern at Brandeis is that having a high-profile figure representing a controversial issue will change the nature of graduation. It upsets seniors that their graduation may be upstaged by a debate on Israel or Oren’s policies. It also upsets them that the administration probably knew that people would have issues with this, but did not seem to care. To the best of my knowledge, it is the issue that creates the most tensions at Brandeis, and addressing those at graduation may not be the best bet.
I hope this clears up some concerns.
I’m sorry I also wanted to add another comment.
There is a difference between having an event for Michael Oren and having him as a graduation speaker. Students who do not agree with him can choose not to attend an event. They can’t choose not to attend their graduation. This puts people in a very difficult position in one of the most contentious issues at Brandeis on one of the most important days at Brandeis.
While I support Michael Oren’s right to free speech, and at this point agree that protesting against it is not useful or helpful, I also think that the administration needs to think harder about their choices in the future.
There is a problem with lack of identification with israel among jewish youth it begins at age 8 in the home not at age 18 due to radical influences on campus. and a pr campaign by smart jews in advertising wont change things…we need to look in the mirror. More jewish involvement in the pre college years = more identification with Israel. Dont blame the radical profs or the muslim student org on campus they dont have much impact on kids with strong jewish backgrounds coming into university.
And no the muslims at UCI have not won at US universities. Amb Oren spoke on the same so cal trip to UC San Diego and LMU with respectful audiences and UCLA was disappointed he didnt visit. Pre Ambship Oren was a visiting scholar at harvard yale and gwu Anti Ahmanejidad jewish students far outnumbered any supporters when he came to columbia. UCLA just appointed an israeli prof to an endowed chair in israel studies. UC Berkeley jewish students mobilized and defeated the anti divestment proposal. There are problems but the muslim students of UCI have not won,
The pain, feeling of isolation, worries about the future of Israel are all sad, very sad indeed. They are all part of the Jewish psyche that refuses to remove the shackles of the past. I am glad to see that people hold Israel to higher moral standards than some Palestinian organizations.
No mention (except in passing) is made of the atrocities (yes, atrocities) that some of the settlers subject poor (yes, poor, 60 year old beaten unconscious on his way to his olive grove) Palestinians. Just as one says (true) that Israeli society is not monolithic, so is Palestinian society.
Instead of lashing out at this or that (Israeli at some American Jews and the converse): Stop wining; look inward; strength does not come from rhetoric, self pity and righteousness. It comes from inside, self examination, self criticism and inner morals.
Forget about Jewish students in the US, about Hamas not recognizing Israel, and on and on and on.
Look inward, hold yourself to high standards and do right. Regardless of the rewards. That is strength!
I have not yet heard who Brandeis has chosen as a substitute for Ambassador Oren; however, I think Capt. Kangaroo or Ronald McDonald might be apt choices. Perhaps they could explain the concept of Cognitive Dissonance to the Brandeis student body. It is something every college graduate should understand but apparently it is missing from the Brandeis curriculum.
I’m not surprised. When my daughter was looking at colleges in 2002 we visited Brandeis. Looking at the postings on the bulletin boards for left causes and just hearing the talk of the girl who led the college tour was a big turn-off. Neither my daughter or son, who are only a year apart, felt compelled to even apply to Brandeis.
They are losing their base of support.
I am a senior senior who remembers the pre-Israel Hitler era well. I cried after reading your article, knowing full well the Jewish blood cost of achieving the Jewish Homeland and the on-going cost of keeping it viable.
What is happening on college campuses among Jewish students shows the ignorance of their own history. Their traitorous behavior can be explained as stupidity. But, where are their parents? Sending children off to college does not abrogate parental guidance. We must all emphasize the many good qualities of Israel to counter the enduring hatred taught Pale-stinean children.
My lifetime of Jewish history will never be repeated as long as Israel exists, and its existence is dependent on all Jews.
The motto of my alma mater, UCLA, is
“Let there be light” but it appears
this is simply an empty slogan for
Brandeis, UCI,UCB and UCD. The students seem to prefer darkness to enlightenment.
I think the saddest comment above is from the Brandeis student who has no strong feelings about the issue, but thought that the debate would somehow detract from the graduation! Perhaps s/he is not Jewish and accordingly does not see the importance of Israel as an issue. That, itself speaks volumes about how little s/he understands the world in which we live. This individual is in for a rude awaking when s/he has to deal with real world situations after graduation.
Think Gaza, assasinations, displacement, evictions. appropriations, creating facts while ostensibly negotiating and you will understand why Israel is in such dire straits in the international community. It might be of little importance if Israel is an island. But it is not and that why what is happening is of such importance.
In the year 2010, most Jews both in Israel and outside, realize that Israel’s purpose for world Jewry was to provide a sense of national pride and security as well a reduction of anti-semitism. Well it certainly heightened Jewish self esteem but in the area of security it has failed in spades. In the past Jews suffered immensely from mainly European antisemitism and now that poison has metastisised to Asia, Africa and just about everywhere else on the globe. The existence of Israel didn’t make life safer for Jews in the world. If anything, it made life riskier. It didn’t decrease anti-Semitism; it probably increased it. Israel as the lifeboat, a safe haven, has turned out to be mirage.
In 1947 when Israel was created there were 30 milion Arabs and some 600,000 Jews in the Midlle East. Now there are barely 6 million Jews and some 360 Milion Arabs. And supporting the Arabs are 1.6 billion Muslims. The demographic time bomb is ticking. If in the improbable likelihood that every Jew in the world immigrated to Israel, it would hardly make a dent in the imbalance. Israel needs peace through reconciliation like an infant needs its mother’s milk. Israel has been successful in wars against Nation states. It has lost both encounters with a non conventional foe, namely Hizbollah.
Israel has not decades to spare, that is not a luxury that is available to it. Israel must restart the peace making engagement as soon as possible. That is a vital imperative.
There are few people indeed that believe that the Palestinians are the devils incarnate and Israel is wholly on the side of Angels. Least of all anyone well informed in current history. The last time pressure was applied on Israel in a concerted manner, the efforts led to the Egyptian-Israel treaty. Obama now must emulate this model to save both Israel and the Palestinians from an endless cycle of war and violence . Most Jews instinctively realize that Obama is no enemy of Israel. He remains Israel’s last real hope for peace. The demonizing of Obama as anti-Israel and antisemitic is wholly fallacious. Every American President since Eisenhower had in its mid-east policy the hope for a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israel conflict . Obama has been acting in line with this policy.
I have been reading Dr. Gordis’ dispatches for several years. His words have always been inspirational, thought-provoking, and informative. This essay, however, made me sick to my stomach. Reading the words above from the Bradeis student only made the nausea worse.
We have failed to transmit our history and our values to our children but we are not totally to blame. Like the tiny country of Israel, we struggle to speak the truth while the huge leftist media machine drowns out our voices. We send our impressionable young people to college campuses where they are exposed to constant leftist propaganda. We are fighting a losing battle. Our children’s Jewish identity has been the first casualty. The survival of the State of Israel may be next.
Kol HaKavod to Dr. Gordis for speaking the truth. Jewish parents wake up. “Liberalism” may be a Jewish tradition but today’s leftism is our enemy.
Gary Grad – wrote
The question is….why? Why is the attitude on campuses here what it is? I have college age kids. My sense is the problem is articulating an adequate explanation to them of why be Jewish…..why it matters. Why Israel…..why does she matter? A myth based on fragile existence, victimization, fear of annihilation…..simply does not resonate with the reality of their life experience.
I do not have all the answers but I’l try my best to relay my thoughts:
Circa 3,800 BCE our Forefathers made a covenant with God:
Genesis Chapter 15: 18 In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates;
Circa 3,300 BCE God gave us the 10 Commandments.
According to dating of the text by Orthodox rabbis, though some place it earlier, that the revelation of the Torah to Moses occurred in 1312 BCE at Mount Sinai. Contemporary secular biblical scholars date the completion of the Torah, as well as the prophets and the historical books, no earlier than the Persian period (539 to 334 BCE)
The Tanach is the most significant, important and might I add magnificent book ever composed and written by human beings, yes our forefathers – Jews.
They brought monotheism to the world, law & order, science, medicine, poetry & wisdom. From Judaism 2 other monotheistic religions derived – Christianity and Islam. All 3 faiths believe in God and our forefathers.
To really appreciate the beauty and greatness of the Bible, one needs to read and study it in it’s original Hebrew text.
I’m not going to repeat here how many Jews received the Nobel Prize and their achievements. You can look it up.
I will also not bring here all the scientific and medical inventions Israel brought to this world since its inception. Imagine what the results would have been with another 6 million Jews. (Just calculate the amount of terrabites lost 65 years ago.)
To understand better the phenomena in the US, suggest you read the following article:
http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=4&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=623&PID=0&IID=3798&TTL=American_Jewry's_Comfort_Level:_Present_and_Future
EDUCATION STARTS AT HOME!!!!!
Wonderful article.
Wonderful replies.
So many words.
Wonder who reads them all.
Perhaps Israel needs Hasbara like in a the pasdt Myth and Fact thing on the web some many years ago.
As in What Israel Wants versus the other side’s wants
What Israel does versus what the other side does.
It’ll be long list.
It should be easy to read any place anywhere.
Just some plain facts.
And thats enough.
We’ll survive anyway.
Just to mention–those on the facebook group in support of Oren, at this point (May 9th, 2010) outnumber those on the page against:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117200854971664&v=info