Rabbi's Blog

Dear Haverim,

In an Op Ed in Sunday’s New York Times, the question was asked if Jews and Israel have become “enemies of convenience.”  With so many injustices in the world, why are we singled out, especially on campuses, with protests around the country?

While these protests range from appropriate free speech (unpleasant, but legal) to violent acts with vitriolic hate speech, why do they so galvanize students in a way that Russian aggression against Ukraine, Chinese persecution of Uyghur Muslims, Muslim suppression of the LGBTQ community, and so many other international injustices do not?

These questions should not be seen as “total agreement” with the way that Israel is waging war in Gaza with which many Israeli and American Jews have differing opinions.  We all want the world to remember Hamas’ unimaginable brutality and inhumane murders of Israelis and others on October 7 and its continued treacherous holding of up to 130 hostages, but it’s also understandable that people can question the disproportionality of deaths in Gaza as a war strategy.

But that is not the issue on so many college campuses and beyond.  There, the demonization of Israel and Jews by many students and faculty is expressed without context.  Too often there is an ignorance of history and a paucity of perspective and empathy. 

According to many surveys, many Israeli and American Jews don’t support the Netanyahu government and want the Palestinians to have an independent state.  Instead of polarization, if college students had called for a hostage release, followed by a ceasefire, perhaps campuses could have been united.  Much of the Israeli public is slowly moving in that direction and questioning Netanyahu’s true motives for prolonging the war.  Still, most Israeli and American Jews do not support a permanent ceasefire until all of the hostages are returned.

This Friday evening, at Shabbat services, UCI Prof. Jeffrey Kopstein will speak about  “Anti-Semitism At The University of California: A New Survey.” He will address how the outbreak of anti-Semitism on university campuses has shocked the nation and how prevalent it is and what it means for our future. Are campuses breeding grounds for anti-Semitism? How closely is campus activism associated with the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza?  Prof. Kopstein has explored these questions by conducting a survey at four University of California campuses before and after October 7.  He will tell us what our university students are actually thinking and from where they get their ideas.  There is both good news and bad news.

Jeffrey Kopstein is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California, Irvine. In his research, Prof. Kopstein focuses on interethnic violence, voting patterns of minority groups, antisemitism, and anti-liberal tendencies in civil society, paying special attention to cases within European and Russian Jewish history. These interests are central topics in his latest books, Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust and Politics, Memory, Violence: The New Social Science of the Holocaust.

Prof. Kopstein joined the faculty of UCI following professorial posts at the University of Toronto and University of Colorado at Boulder. His work has been featured widely in academic journals and in the popular press, including pieces in The Washington Post and The Atlantic, and he was awarded the Ina Levine Invitational Fellowship to continue his research on social scientific approaches to the Holocaust. Prof. Kopstein’s expertise in Jewish studies and political science serves as the foundation for the School of Social Sciences’ interest in developing an Israel Studies program that creates and sustains cross-regional and interdisciplinary research discussions.

Our services will reflect the somber mood of remembering the Holocaust.  Please be with us.

We are all survivors.  Whether we had close relatives murdered, as did I, with dozens dead, including a grandparent and cousins, or if we mistakenly think that no one in our family was murdered, the “Final Solution” was intended for all of us by the Nazis, in Europe and beyond.

Please join us this Friday evening to learn about the latest manifestations of anti-Semitism, how people are, time and again, so easily manipulated by propaganda and conspiracy theories, and, through Yizkor and Kaddish, join us to mourn and honor the memories of those who were the victims of “the oldest hatred.”  (RSVP here to join us for our in-person services.)

Zichronam livracha/May their memories be for a blessing,

Rabbi Arnie Rachlis