Latest / In These Times with Rabbi Ammi Hirsch / Columbia University

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Columbia University · In These Times with Rabbi Ammi Hirsch

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I'm Rabbi Ami Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York, and
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you're listening to In These Times.
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Columbia University, one of our country's most elite institutions
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of higher learning, where some of history's best and brightest minds
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have been taught to think critically and creatively, has been in a crisis.
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Since October 7th, Jewish students have felt unwelcome
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and unsafe on their own campus.
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For And the school's administration has done little to alleviate
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their very serious concerns.
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Two of the loudest voices, standing up for their fellow Jews, belong to
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Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidei, a social psychologist
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and a proud Israeli, and newly minted Barnard graduate Noa Fay, one of the
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brilliant, amazing student leaders that have emerged during the crisis.
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After Columbia decided to cancel its main commencement following weeks
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of protest and turmoil, I wanted to catch up with these two on the
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eve of Noa's graduation before the student body dispersed for the summer.
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Professor Shai Davidai and Noa Fey, it's an honor to have you with us.
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Welcome to in These Times.
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Thank you so much for having us.
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I really appreciate it.
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Thank you.
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And, and thank you for the opportunity to meet Noa . I've never, you know,
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I've, I've, thank you.
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I echo Oh, our, our impression was you two are.
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Kind of rock stars in the not only in the country, but especially
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in the American Jewish community.
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I would have you're on the same campus.
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I would have thought you would have met each other.
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Yeah, well, there's a lot going on.
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Exactly.
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And I would say when I first saw Noa speak up back on campus, I
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think it was like probably November.
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I saw a video and I was great.
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I can stop doing what I'm doing because the students are taking over.
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Um, you know, I couldn't stop, unfortunately, but I was so impressed.
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I remember reaching out to you and saying,
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yeah, thank you.
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Yes.
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I remember that too.
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It was very, very kind.
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I appreciate it.
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No, I want to, I want to second that.
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I am not on campus, but you know, we're on the receiving end
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of general media coverage and we've watched you on television.
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I was just watching a recording of the CNN, uh, Appearance you made.
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You are incredible.
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It really is just awesome, amazing student leader.
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Just a phenomenal thing to see.
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Thank
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you.
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So let me ask both of you, um, we're recording this, uh, on graduation week.
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Um, my niece has, uh, graduated today from, uh, from the medical school.
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Oh, wow.
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Mazel Tov.
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So what's going on in Columbia?
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Columbia.
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Now, what do we need to know?
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Okay, so, to give a, um, you know, an on the ground, current student perspective,
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right now, as you were saying, you know, it's graduation week, I'm graduating
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tomorrow, you know, things are still very much going on right now, but
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everybody is quite focused on graduation, um, there're way fewer people here.
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Not a lot of demonstrations.
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I will say that while campus has become quieter in that sense, for me
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it has been still, um, if not more, a little bit more, um, depressing.
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Honestly, you know, things have also literally been quite gray outside
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with the weather in New York.
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And the whole sentiment has been, um, you know, kind of like a deflated balloon.
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The, the dust is starting to settle.
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The same is true of my, um, my Jewish friends.
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Now, now that the dust has settled, uh, we all, uh, I don't have the time now
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to really think about what, not only what's going on and the emotions that
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we're feeling right now, but just what has been going on this entire semester.
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Things have been going at such a pace that we haven't been able,
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really, to sit with things.
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At least that's been my experience.
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I haven't had the chance to really feel everything that's been going on.
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But now that things have slowed down a little bit, you know, our
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academic obligations have, have ended.
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There's a lot more time to actually think about how things have ended and you know,
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what's been going on this entire semester.
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And you know, for me, it's, it's not great.
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I don't really like to sit with what has gone on because it's, it's very upsetting.
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Yeah, I think, I think that's a perfect description.
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I think from my perspective, you know, Noa's graduating, congratulations.
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And I'm, I'm thinking more, What is expecting us, you know, us, the community,
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me personally, as a professor in August, when next academic year is going to start
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in less than, uh, three and a half months.
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And I kind of think of this as, uh, these past seven months
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we've been spending in the ER.
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We've been treating the critical conditions to, to, to keep the body alive.
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Uh, but now that we have a little bit of time to breathe,
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we can do the bigger things.
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examinations and see what are the deep rooted issues.
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And unfortunately, you know, the, the encampment, the violent overtaking of
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Hamilton Hall, those are just symptoms.
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Yet the underlying issues are the things that really bother me because
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they are not going away They're not going to disappear on their own.
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And unfortunately, I don't see any interest or will to address them.
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Um, so I'm pessimistic because I'm looking forward rather than backward.
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Let me ask you a professor, Shai, you're, you're a professor of, uh, psychology,
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uh, so you observe human behavior.
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I try.
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I know that you were out front from the beginning, you saw this growing.
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I don't know if before October 7th, but certainly soon after October 7th, and
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you were calling this out very early on.
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Why Columbia and what is the diagnosis?
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What is going on?
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I think Columbia has an interesting mixture of one, a very socially active
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student body that has been selected.
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on the fact that it's socially active, which could be a very good thing for
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people that are socially active on important things like climate change, anti
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racism, anti homophobia, and anti sexism.
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And it can be problematic in the things we've seen, which is, you know, when
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it expresses itself as anti Semitism.
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I think the other thing is Columbia has, uh, many, many Problematic
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tenured professors with a legacy of antisemitism and support for terrorism.
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And I think the third thing that not a lot of people are talking about
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is that the 1968 student protests around campuses, the original, uh,
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encampments, they started at Columbia.
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It it started at Columbia.
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And they said, we first, we take Columbia, then we take the country.
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And I think what we saw now is the student organizations trying to replicate
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that and in a way they were successful.
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Were they looking for a cause or the cause was ready made for them?
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I think there's a bigger discussion here about what
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motivates students to, to rise up.
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I think there is a search for meaning, a search for a cause, any cause.
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I think there is a sort of indoctrination that's been happening on campus
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in relation to a specific cause.
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And I say indoctrination, because it really just shows one side rather
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than education, where it requires at least two sides and some critical
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thinking and synthesis of ideas.
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And that search for a cause, Mixing that with some sort of indoctrination
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leads to what we've been seeing.
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Did it take you by surprise, Noa?
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You've been there for four years now?
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Honestly, when I'm thinking about whether or not surprise, I mean,
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this is something that a lot of us have been, you know, grappling with.
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I think it's a difficult thing to answer because On the one hand, the
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overall sentiment that has been conveyed by these students is not new at all.
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I, I've spoken about this before, but before I got onto Columbia's
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campus, I was advised not to come anywhere near the university because
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people told me it was the most anti Semitic school in the country.
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Precisely because I didn't realize we had this problem within the faculty,
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but I at least knew that this was a problem within the student body, that
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there was a fringe at the time, it was fringe, but still strong and clearly
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present, uh, portion of the student body that was, uh, It's violently
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anti Israel, violently anti Israel.
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They had at least once a year, if not twice, you know, once each semester,
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they had a week of what they called apartheid week, which is just a week
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dedicated to talking about, you know, all the things that we're hearing
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about constantly now, which is that, you know, Israel is a genocidal,
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colonialist, imperialist, uh, country.
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Apartheid state, you know, and then the student body has had a history
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of conducting BDS referendums.
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We also, we had a similar vote recently, but the student body would vote on whether
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or not to endorse BDS, even though the administration at least in prior years
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had come out well in advance of this to say, listen, not only will this
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actually not have an effect on how we.
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You know, as a university, engage with our own policy, but this is
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actually an anti Semitic movement.
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So we will not be joining for that reason.
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And still the student body conducted this referendum knowing very well that this
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was going to have no effect on anything.
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I knew this existed within the student body.
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The surprise comes in when we see it on this mass level
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and in such an extreme form.
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That is something that I had not imagined.
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And more than that, I didn't actually think about it.
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We didn't pay attention to this.
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small faction until it was too late, of course, but, but that's because I didn't
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realize that there were enough students on the campus to fall prey to this
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specific strain of illogic, hypocrisy, um, contradictions, you know, irrationality,
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like it just doesn't make sense.
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And so my surprise comes in.
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Um, with really the, the number of students who have,
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who have participated in this.
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Well, so who are those students?
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Are they, are they mostly, you know, kind of leaders of Palestinian cause?
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And they've been part of that for years.
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Maybe they're funded and supported both from outside and inside.
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Or are they just run of the mill American kids who are looking for a
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cause or they sincerely What they're saying that israel is this evil place
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I am not i'm not so so familiar with the actual leaders of the student
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leaders of everything But I can definitely speak to the, the general
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body, which is, I mean, just random American students, particularly
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from the undergraduate perspective.
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I mean, this has swept our, our undergraduate student body.
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Anybody is fair game to be participating in this.
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It's so unpredictable.
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I mean, a lot of my friends and I have been talking about is, it's just so
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bewildering to see a bunch of just white and Asian students walking around with.
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And symbolism in support of this now 10 times over clear anti Semitic movement
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with apparently no regard for that.
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And so that's again where my surprise comes in because It just, I mean, it
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makes no sense why they would be not only honestly engaged with this topic
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overall, considering the innumerable other world issues that we could be, you
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know, really engaging with, not, not only is, is that really what's confusing to
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me, but just the intensity with which these students are participating in this,
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especially at Barnard, because I will say Barnard students are particularly
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active in and passionate about this, if we gave half of our energy that we give
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to this to restoring our reproductive rights in this country, Roe v.
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Wade would have been restored.
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I mean, that is how But, intensely, these students are
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engaging with something they had.
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That's a beautiful.
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Really, that is a beautiful.
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That's a beautiful sentiment.
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I agree.
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Thank you.
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I mean, it's true.
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I agree with that.
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And by the way, there are a lot of older feminists who say that, I've
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spoken with, who say the same thing.
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You know, the feminists from the 60s and the 70s.
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Uh, they've said exactly that, that where are all of these young women and
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why are they taking this for granted?
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Yes.
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And I, I think, you know, you know, economists like to
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call this opportunity costs.
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What are you not doing when you're doing the thing you're doing?
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And I, and I, I don't think we should be a one, two, Issue, you
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know, in the individuals or, or single issue groups or politic body.
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But you're right.
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I mean, there could be some like we could climate change is like a huge issue.
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We all of a sudden, the students don't seem to care about this reproductive
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rights, LGBTQ rights, they seem to not only not care about it, but actually
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seem to undercut the whole idea.
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When you rally in support of the terrorist regime.
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That is against reproductive rights, against LGBTQ rights, against worker
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unions, uh, you know, against democracy, regardless of anything else, then you are
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undercutting the whole cause of the other causes that are so clear to our heart.
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I would say there's always been a tendency to try to understand
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the anti Semites, right?
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Who are the anti Semites, you know?
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And the truth is, They're not a monolith.
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When Rabbi Sachs talked about anti Semitism as a virus, meaning that
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it's not only shapeshifting, but it's also, it's very contagious
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and anyone could get it, right?
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So in the 1930s, it was in Munich beer halls and in Berlin lecture halls.
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And in 2024, it's in Williamsburg beer halls and at Columbia lecture halls.
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There's no one person.
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Unfortunately, many people find different ways.
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to get to anti Semitism.
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Shai, let me ask you, so October 7th, all of these, these dynamics were there pre
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October 7th, but October 7th precipitated something that maybe lifted the lid off
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of this box that was Somewhat contained.
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So October 7th happens, and how long did it take you to conclude that
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something significant and damaging was occurring on Columbia campus?
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Five days.
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October 12th is when they held their first protest on campus.
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And up until that point, I really did believe and I wanted to believe, right?
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It was a motivated reasoning on my part, but I really wanted to believe that
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this is just ideological differences.
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This is just, you know, we don't see politics in the same way.
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They see it one way.
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I see it the other way.
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And I accept that, you know, we should have political divides and ideological
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divides in society and on campus.
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But then on October 12th, I saw the protests that they
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held in celebration for October
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7th.
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Delineate that a little bit, describe for us.
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What does that mean?
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The problem is it's hard to describe something in retrospect when you, we've
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all been desensitized to everything.
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But imagine for the first time on October 12th, just five days after
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the October 7th massacre, before Israeli soldiers even entered Gaza.
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Before we even knew how many were dead, before we just started hearing about
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the sexual assault, we just started hearing about the numbers of kidnapped.
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And all of a sudden you see 800 students all clad in keffiyehs,
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COVID masks and sunglasses.
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And all chanting the chants that now we have become normal.
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But, you know, from the river to the sea, globalize the intifada.
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There is only one solution, intifada revolution.
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We don't want two states.
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We want all of 48.
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Things that
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I haven't encountered.
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Now, maybe, again, it's on my fault that I didn't want to encounter them, so I didn't
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seek them out, so I was not aware of that.
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The truth is that I wasn't, I just didn't see them until that point.
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And, there was that moment, when I was observing their protest,
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and I realized that this is hate.
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And that was the eye opening moment for me.
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And so
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your focus initially, if I remember correctly, was on the administration.
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You felt that they weren't responding adequately enough on the ideological
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level, but also you felt that a insecure situation was developing on campus.
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My focus has always been, and it still is, on the administration.
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I have nothing against the students.
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You know, I have a problem with the student organizations, that they
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are hijacking the student voices.
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But I have nothing against the students.
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It is about the administration.
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And the first thing that I started with, very early on, was asking
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the university to condemn Hamas.
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That was the first and only thing.
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It was before everything else.
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The lack of moral clarity.
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That was In the university's silence is what I believe started all of
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this and what could have completely prevented all of this on October 7th,
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8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, we had a moral vacuum on campus because a monumental
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event, not just monumental for the Jewish people, for the Israeli people,
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but monumental in world politics, a terrorist organization killing.
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You know, 1, 400 individuals kidnapping 250 from 20 different nationalities.
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And you had on one side professors who were excusing and celebrating
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this, like Joseph Mossad at Columbia, like, uh, Khamid Dabishi, Rashid
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Khalidi, all those people on the other end, you had a very, very silent.
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administration who said nothing.
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And then the students were confused.
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A lot of students were just looking to see what is the right thing to do.
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And that was the vacuum.
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The moral vacuum is what led to this eruption of at first rhetorical violence.
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And then.
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So that kind of begs the question, why the vacuum?
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Why the silence?
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Uh, you know, looking from the outside, it's been a while since I was a university
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student, but uh, you know, looking from the outside, the, the, the culture is that
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university administrations and presidents, they comment a lot about a lot of things,
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uh, that have moral ramifications as well.
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So you mentioned before that, you know, we're kind of still dealing with the
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ER and, uh, when the new year starts, then the underlying symptoms, uh, will
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be clearer and need to be diagnosed.
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I realized that that we could talk about that for hours and hours,
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but do you want to give us a little bit of your thinking now?
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Why the moral vacuum and what are some of the underlying symptoms?
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In terms of the administration, there are two.
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Things that explain everything.
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Explain the whole situation.
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It's a mixture of cowardice and callousness.
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Cowardice The administration is afraid, we're afraid of bad PR, we're afraid of
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donors and foreign money that is coming into the country, we're afraid of the
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Faculty Senate, who has been, for lack of a better word, purged from Zionists,
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and have been taken over by openly or covertly anti Semitic individuals.
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In terms of callousness, there's just lack of concern.
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I do believe that, uh, And it's hard for me to say this, but I do believe that the
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university, at best, does not see Jews.
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We're just invisible to them.
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Or at worst, sees Jews as just less equal to everyone else.
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You know, a really good example is last Saturday.
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Everyone knows Columbia, instead of dealing with the root of the problem,
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they decided to cancel commencement because they basically let the A few
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hundred students will ruin commencement for the vast thousands of students.
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So every school had its own graduation.
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Columbia Business School had its own graduation on Saturday, on Shabbat.
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And because of the situation on campus, it had it in Baker
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Fields, which is on 218th Street.
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That meant that a Orthodox Jewish student who's graduating from
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Columbia Business School could not attend his own graduation.
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I don't think that was made out of callousness.
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It was made, that decision was made because they don't care.
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We are invisible to them.
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Now that is just a tiny example of a much bigger issue.
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They do not see us.
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And to be fair, it's not just Jews that they do not see.
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I think that throughout the past few years, we've been seeing how
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administrations, institutions fail to see other minorities or intersectionalities
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of different minorities.
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I think one thing that many of us did not realize is that
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we just do not see the Jews.
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Noa, let me ask you, um, did you feel threatened?
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Did you feel unsafe?
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What did the preponderance of the Jewish students feel like
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every day walking through this?
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So, I will start by saying that, at least with this semester in
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particular, My reaction is definitely not representative of the overall
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Jewish student community at Columbia.
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So for a number of reasons, the first semester was Very difficult and very very
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painful for everybody obviously, but for me personally it was the most raw I mean,
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it was an incredibly difficult time.
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I really barely made it out Academically and mentally it was uh, it was very tough.
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Definitely my toughest semester at Columbia, but because I You know,
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really went through all of that in the beginning and honored those initial
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feelings of grief and loss and, you know, isolation and depression.
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I really primed myself to come back in this second semester with a different
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Uh, a different mentality, which was ultimately to basically ignore everything
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that was going on, disengage, and honestly, I mean, now, in retrospect,
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I can say, more frankly, the strategy I opted for was really delusion, um, which I
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stand by, because I I did have to do that in order to make it, you know, semester,
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particularly academically, because, you know, that's our top currency as students.
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I really had to prioritize that.
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And so I had to delude myself into thinking that I was not actually
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emotionally impacted by this and that this was not the most distressing thing to
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have to deal with really every single day.
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But also because I went through those initial emotions of grief,
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it's actually allowed me to.
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Rather than feel those depressing feelings, I'm now able to think
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more about how angry I am, which I, I mean, I've, I've vocalized.
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That's partially why I really enjoy speaking with people about this now, is
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just to vocalize that I am, of course, you know, I'm very sad and devastated by this
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whole situation, but I have really, I've moved past that feeling and I'm not, I'm
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not just sad, I'm extremely, Extremely.
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I have lost my patience.
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I was ready to wrap this up.
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I mean, the moment we got back on campus in the second semester and
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things were entirely the same, if not worse, as we have now seen.
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So in the first semester, I, I mean, I felt incredibly unsafe and it is true
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Jewish students at Columbia have not been safe this entire year, not once.
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And so I have basically decided to ignore that out of frustration and anger.
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Correct.
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The thing is, the students who are running this, these are, for all intents and
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purposes, you know, my friends, my peers.
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I know these people, and they're just ridiculous.
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I mean, it's, it's embarrassing what they're doing.
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We all go to the same school, we take the same classes, we're supposedly
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learning the same things at this school, and so I know That I can look at them
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and say, guys, what are you doing?
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You've, you've diverged from the path here.
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Like, this is not what we've come to learn and it's inconsistent with everything.
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So I, I really, they've lost all credibility for me.
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And for that reason, you know, I mean, I'm done feeling intimidated by these people.
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I mean, they're just ridiculous.
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You ask them a single question and you learn immediately that
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there is no logic to this.
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There's no rationality.
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There's no knowledge, period.
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And I mean, it's just, it's an embarrassment.
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Can I add something about the, the, the, the mere question, right?
26:39
Do you, do you feel unsafe?
26:41
Are you unsafe on campus, right?
26:43
I find that question objectionable and I, and I think we, Jews
26:49
have internalized that question.
26:50
Mm.
26:51
Right, because the, the, the premise of that question, and I've gotten it
26:54
so many times from journalists, from all over the world, the premise of
26:58
that question is, is antisemitism, could it only be in your head?
27:03
Right?
27:04
Right.
27:04
Yes.
27:04
I agree.
27:05
I agree.
27:06
Thank you for pointing that out.
27:07
The premise of the question is there might be anti Semitism in an objective
27:11
world, but maybe it's only in your head.
27:14
And by the way, I think people of color experiences, uh, LGBTQ individuals
27:18
experiences, and the problem is that we Jews have internalized that question.
27:23
So it also comes out in, in internal conversations, you
27:27
know, are you really safe?
27:28
Are you really worried?
27:29
Right?
27:30
And I'm of the view that if someone tells you there's a problem, you look
27:36
at the problem and not at the someone.
27:38
And it doesn't matter if, you know, if it's, if it's racial, if it's
27:41
gender, if it's sexual orientation, whatever, if it's ideological, right?
27:45
For a lot of conservatives, say like, I don't feel comfortable being on campus.
27:48
A lot of, there's not a lot of conservative faculty on campus, right?
27:51
There's been, again, a purge of thought.
27:54
So when a conservative faculty tells you, I don't feel comfortable, So
27:57
you can either look at the problem and say, okay, is there a problem?
28:01
Let's look at the problem.
28:02
Let's analyze it.
28:03
Or we can say, are you really feeling it?
28:05
Why don't you tell me more about your way of seeing it?
28:09
And I think that we need to update our conversations.
28:13
Noa, uh, there are some, uh, Jewish students who are part
28:18
of the protesters as well.
28:20
Yeah, I love this question.
28:21
I love this question.
28:22
Well, you know what, I won't even ask a question.
28:25
What's on your mind?
28:26
Okay, thank you.
28:27
Thank you.
28:28
Because, I mean, uh, Oh, this is just, it's a curious thing to analyze.
28:33
That's why, you know, I'm happy to have the space to, you know, work it out.
28:37
So in regards to the anti Zionist Jewish students, I have said before, obviously,
28:44
you know, on CNN, part of what captured people's attention was I did compare them
28:48
to blacks for Trump or gays for Trump.
28:50
I stand by that a hundred percent.
28:52
I just want to point, you're a woman of color as well.
28:56
Yes, I
28:56
am.
28:57
Yes, I am.
28:58
So, so there's extra credibility in what you're saying.
29:01
Which is precisely why I said it, because, I mean, if I'm saying
29:05
it, you know, people have to think about it at least a little bit.
29:08
And I do stand by it.
29:10
What I am trying to call to people's attention is, in terms of how we
29:14
should understand them, and how the general public should interpret them.
29:19
My point is take them as seriously as we take blacks and gays for Trump,
29:22
which is to say it is divergent from the vast majority of the group.
29:28
The majority of the group does not know what's going on.
29:31
We don't identify with them.
29:32
They are fringe.
29:34
So they don't get a lot of attention because, you know, that's the consensus.
29:37
And so that's how I'm urging people to understand.
29:39
These anti Zionist Jews.
29:42
The other thing I will say is that, and honestly, um, Professor W.
29:46
Day, you were the, you were the first, um, call me shy.
29:52
You're, you're, you're graduated now anyway.
29:55
I know it's true.
29:56
It's true.
29:57
Thank you.
29:57
Thank you.
29:58
Um, but, but no, but really, I mean, I heard you speak about this in a
30:03
way that I hadn't been able to put it into these exact words, but.
30:07
I had always been thinking these students, these anti Zionist Jewish students,
30:11
are lucky that the rest of us on this campus are not going to allow things to
30:17
get to a point where they are forced to learn the hard way that they are also
30:23
on this train to Auschwitz with us.
30:25
They are just, as you said, um, Shai, there's no prize for being
30:30
on the last train to Auschwitz.
30:31
We are, how I've been thinking about it is, and this is what I said
30:35
in one of the press conferences.
30:36
That I'm trying to urge the administration to understand, we are all on that
30:40
same train to a very, very dark place.
30:44
These anti Zionist Jews, they may be the caboose, but they are
30:47
very much on this route with us.
30:49
If this evolves any further, it will get to a point where now
30:54
it's no longer, you know, it's okay if you're repudiate Zionism.
30:59
It will devolve to a point where.
31:01
Even if you're a Jew repudiating Zionism, you are still a Jew
31:05
and therefore you are the enemy.
31:07
I mean, they don't know that, especially these students.
31:10
And this is not in any way to excuse what's going on.
31:13
It's just a way to understand.
31:14
I think for me, part of what has become clear is there is a serious case of
31:20
arrested development in my generation.
31:22
Really, I mean, because people in my generation are missing.
31:25
Significant, what appears to be cognitive abilities that
31:30
the, I mean, the rest of us,
31:31
well, clearly you show that you're not missing.
31:34
Clearly you're showing that people that choose to, you know, no,
31:38
no, it's true.
31:39
It's true.
31:39
Yes.
31:40
And so my point though, is that there's some sort of discrepancy going on here.
31:44
I don't know if it's a maturity thing or something, but these anti Zionist
31:48
Jewish students, I don't know, they're missing something and I can't even
31:52
begin to psychoanalyze their whole understanding of the situation.
31:55
All I can say is that they simply do not realize.
32:00
and the severity and the truth of the situation.
32:03
I mean, they're, they're not actually accepted is my point.
32:05
They have been tokenized because they've repudiated what society
32:09
today has identified as most Jewish.
32:12
I mean, there have always been, uh, Judenrat in, in any group.
32:16
There have been people who don't believe the group is going about
32:19
things in the proper way and they break off and try and Save themselves
32:23
or save their families in different ways, or, you know, deal with the
32:25
situation with an alternative solution.
32:28
And in this case, that might involve colluding with the enemy more broadly.
32:32
We've seen this consistently in not just Jewish history, but just any
32:36
history of a minority group dealing with some sort of existential situation.
32:40
These students are, they're saying, Oh, I'm Jewish, but no, don't worry.
32:44
I mean, I'm not a Zionist, but that will change.
32:47
And we will get to a point where even that does not save these Jewish students.
32:51
Fortunately, I don't believe we will see that, but that is,
32:54
that's the situation with them.
32:56
I think another thing we need to recognize is, you know, and I've been getting emails
33:00
from These kind of students, parents, cousins, grandparents, what do we do?
33:07
How do we deal with a kid in our family?
33:11
Who's anti Zionist and my, and my answer has always been family, you
33:16
know, is part of our Jewish values, even if it's painful and in the same
33:20
way that I've been saying, like, I'm fighting for Israel and I'm fighting
33:23
for Israel to remain that homeland of the Jewish people, including the Jewish
33:28
people that are fighting against it.
33:31
What this shows us is that for every one of these Uh, anti Zionist Jews, there
33:37
is an entire family who is a Zionist and they, you know, that are fighting.
33:41
So they show us how small of a minority they are, but also they
33:45
are a small and tiny minority of these pro Hamas organizations.
33:52
And that is an important thing to remember.
33:54
Because by putting the Jews, like the Jewish students, like
33:59
on a press conference, by, by, by broadcasting, we have Jews here, these
34:05
organizations are being anti Semitic.
34:07
They are treating the student's Jewishness as the most important
34:12
thing is to signal something.
34:14
That is the same as if 99 white racists would take the one non white individual.
34:22
To stand and say racism doesn't exist and we'll put them up front.
34:25
That is a racist thing.
34:27
Now, of course, no one in their right mind would say, Oh, this African American
34:32
individual said there's no racism in the world, therefore racism doesn't exist.
34:36
We'd say, maybe this person's experience has been different than the majority.
34:41
Why would someone take seriously the anti Zionist Jews?
34:45
Well, because it fits their foregone conclusion that they want to believe
34:51
that there's no anti Semitism.
34:53
They want to separate Zionism from Judaism.
34:56
So they take this very tiny minority and, and put them up on a pedestal.
35:02
Shai, can you tell us more about the faculty?
35:04
How did they respond immediately after October 7th?
35:07
How did they respond after the president's testimony?
35:10
on Congress.
35:11
That kind of precipitated a whole new level of anger on campus.
35:17
And also, if you could, could you tell us about the Jewish faculty?
35:22
Are they active?
35:23
Do they care?
35:24
Are they fearful?
35:27
So that's where it goes from, I go from sadness to anger, like Noa said before.
35:33
When we think about the faculty, there's three different groups.
35:37
There's the group that is openly supportive of these organizations
35:44
and these protests, these uprisings.
35:48
Some of them, because they believe in Hamas's cause, even if maybe
35:54
they don't necessarily like it, they believe in the cause, right?
35:57
We had very early on.
35:59
More than a hundred professors, including two professors in the marketing division
36:03
at the business school, who signed the letter saying that the, the massacre of
36:09
October 7th was in military response.
36:12
That shows you where their mentality is.
36:15
Unfortunately, these professors have been ecking on the students for seven months.
36:20
Yet, when the time came to get arrested, these professors ran away to their
36:27
luxury homes, their Columbia funded homes in Morningside Heights, and let
36:31
the students, Carry the responsibility.
36:34
So I see them as callous, anti Semitic individuals, but also as non leaders.
36:40
I don't know what the opposite of a leader is because a real leader
36:43
doesn't throw someone into the fray and then go to the comfortable.
36:47
Then we have the Israeli and Jewish professors.
36:51
And we have a group, not a large group, but a group of professors
36:56
who's been active behind the scenes.
36:59
We've been trying to document and change some of the administration's ways.
37:06
Uh, unfortunately, most Jewish professors haven't joined.
37:09
I think out of just pure fear and concern, because they've seen what happens to
37:16
someone like me, who's outspoken, you know, I've been vilified by the students,
37:20
I've been vilified by the administration, there's a baseless investigation
37:23
against me, there's a petition to fire me, again, without any clear reason.
37:27
So, I won't be silenced, but other Jewish professors, unfortunately, have been
37:33
silenced because they don't want that.
37:36
But the real problem for me is the third group, the majority group of professors.
37:40
We have to remember there's 4, 500 professors at Columbia.
37:46
And I think less than a handful have spoken up against what's happening,
37:52
especially non Jewish faculty.
37:54
And at first I was surprised.
37:58
Then I was saddened and now I'm angry because now I understand
38:02
how mass level atrocities like the Holocaust, like slavery can happen.
38:11
Remember Columbia, Harvard, those schools were happening while
38:17
the United States had slavery.
38:20
Most of them said nothing.
38:22
And the same thing with the Holocaust, most of them said nothing.
38:26
And in Germany, you know, the universities gates were not shut.
38:30
They were open and professors of psychology, professors of business,
38:34
professors of engineering, they kept teaching, just not Jewish
38:38
students and not Jewish faculty.
38:39
And I can, and many of my colleagues who share a floor who are on, you know,
38:45
I see them on a daily basis, they think that they can just, Sit on the fence.
38:51
And unfortunately, what they don't understand, this isn't
38:53
a fence between two sides.
38:54
It's a fence between good and evil.
38:57
It's what Martin Luther King used to say, right?
38:59
That we'll be called to repent not only for the vitriolic actions of
39:03
the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
39:07
It's especially appalling to me because I was trained as a social psychologist.
39:12
And social psychology is all about what leads people to do bad things and what
39:20
leads good people to stand idly by.
39:22
And I believe I'm one of the only social psychologists in the
39:27
world who've been speaking up.
39:29
Which means that come August, you're going to have professors of social
39:33
psychology all over the country teaching students, teaching first
39:37
year students, introduction to social psychology about the bystander effect.
39:41
But they teach from books, not by doing.
39:43
And they, in my eyes, have lost complete credibility and should not
39:48
have any credibility in students.
39:50
The same thing with the professors who teach leadership.
39:53
At Harvard Business School, at Columbia Business School, at Wharton, you teach
39:57
leadership, but you're not leaders.
39:59
That is a complete loss of credibility.
40:02
Could you tell us briefly, why did they launch an investigation of you?
40:06
Where does it stand?
40:07
What were the grounds of investigating you?
40:10
So there's no grounds.
40:11
Uh, I could tell you What are
40:12
the, uh, what are the grounds that they say they're investigating?
40:16
They are investigating me for my social activism.
40:18
So first of all, it's only things that I've done on social media, which I'm
40:22
glad for because everything is public and everyone can just go and see.
40:25
And it's starting on the first video that went viral on October 18th,
40:30
Where I say, uh, rape is never okay.
40:33
They're investigating me for that.
40:35
And I intentionally say there that I am against the pro Hamas,
40:41
pro terror student organizations.
40:45
What they are calling that is racist and Islamophobic.
40:51
And even though I say it doesn't matter if you're Jewish, Christian,
40:56
Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist like myself, rape is never okay.
41:01
They are trying to paint those who support terrorism as a protective class.
41:09
This is why I'm being investigated by the Office of Equal Opportunity
41:12
and Affirmative Action.
41:14
Right, which is an incredibly important office, supposed to investigate racism,
41:20
sexism, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, like everything that's
41:25
like so horribly wrong in the world.
41:28
It should not be investigating those who call out support for terrorism, but that's
41:33
the only thing that they could find.
41:35
So that's what they're doing.
41:42
Noa, let me ask you, um, you're finishing up.
41:46
You've spent four years in Columbia.
41:49
Um, would you recommend Columbia to students, high school graduates now?
41:57
You know, to Jewish high school students and, you know, even younger students who
42:00
are, um, afraid of what they're seeing.
42:04
I say, and this is definitely, this is something that my Jewish friends hear.
42:08
I mean, this is what we talk about.
42:09
Cause we have gone over this.
42:11
many, many times.
42:12
I say, yes, still come to Columbia.
42:16
What you need to be sure you think about before that, though, is you
42:22
have to know what you're getting into.
42:24
Because for me, and for I think a lot of students, the, the primary issue
42:29
was just the shock of all of this.
42:31
I mean, we had no idea we were going to have to deal with this.
42:34
I mean, we just, we didn't see any of this coming in any way.
42:37
We didn't have any idea that we were going to have to deal with antisemitism.
42:40
But if you mentally prepare yourself if you know what you're getting into which
42:44
is to say we have this very very loud and hateful student movement on our campus
42:50
if if you know that that is going to be a Presence at school, but you also know
42:57
that your social circles are going to be very different I mean, you know for
43:02
a Zionist student You're only going to be able to have Zionist friends, which
43:05
really translates to just mostly Jewish friends, because not a lot of other people
43:09
are speaking up, at least right now.
43:11
I, but that's, and you know, that's not a problem for me, and I think if anything
43:14
that should be really desired, that's one positive thing, is that you have a
43:18
very, very strong Jewish community here.
43:21
And, um, and also, I mean, the reason I still advocate for Jews to come is,
43:25
again, this kind of goes back to my stubbornness that I've adopted out
43:28
of this situation is that, I mean, I will not be pushed out of my own hope.
43:32
This is why I didn't, I didn't leave campus all semester because this is where
43:36
I've lived the past four years, okay?
43:38
Like, this is, this is my space too.
43:40
I'm not going to be bullied out of it.
43:42
And I won't have our entire community bullied out of it either, if only
43:45
because, I mean, if that happens, things have gotten very, very serious.
43:49
But so I say, come anyway.
43:51
But the fact of the matter is, By not coming to Columbia, you're not
43:55
guaranteeing that you're not going to deal with this at any other school you go to,
43:59
which in fact we have pretty much seen.
44:02
I mean, if you're a student who is aiming for Columbia anyway, you're,
44:06
I mean, you're looking at all of the, the top institutions, all of which we
44:09
have seen have fallen victim to this sickness and this, this particular
44:15
strain of the virus of antisemitism.
44:17
So don't avoid Columbia because you will still deal with this in other places.
44:22
And if anything, what you can guarantee yourself when you come
44:26
to Columbia is that you will have a strong, supportive community with you.
44:31
You will have to deal with this, you know, BS, but I mean, as difficult
44:36
as it's been, it is manageable for some students, but that's the thing.
44:41
It does, it does come down to a personality.
44:45
It's very overwhelming to a lot of students, it's very distressing, but
44:49
there is an abundant of support to be felt in this community, and that's
44:55
what's made it manageable, you know?
44:57
And so, don't sacrifice.
44:59
But at least as of right now, it's still a good opportunity.
45:02
And so I say right now, do not forsake that.
45:05
If only because, I mean, it lets these anti Semites win.
45:08
If we, if we say, okay, you know, you got us, we're, we're too afraid.
45:11
I mean, that's, that's BS too.
45:13
So I say, absolutely don't shy away from Columbia.
45:16
We need more Jews, honestly, now more than ever.
45:20
I would say, you know, it's not where you go, it's how you go.
45:24
And when you go to campus, the first thing I think you should do is buy a big
45:30
Star of David or a big Chai or, you know, like, because to show the world, don't
45:34
hide, show the world that you're Jewish, show your campus that you're Jewish,
45:39
find the community, don't ghetto size yourself only with Jews on campus, but do
45:44
know that you need your, your community, buy some books, be prepared to stand up
45:49
for yourself, For your values, but come, you know, these anti Semites professors
45:55
and students and administration, they represent the worst of us.
45:59
But students like Noa represent the best of us.
46:01
They represent the potential for the greatness and for Jewish and non Jewish
46:06
students that are just incredible.
46:09
So come, don't hide, be ready to fight, not physically, but ideologically.
46:15
Fight for your existence, but, but come.
46:18
And as long as I'm here, I'm fighting for you.
46:20
If they push me out, you know, I'll fight for you from outside, but I'm still here.
46:24
Noa, my last question to you is, uh, do you know what you're doing next?
46:28
Yes, so I am actually, um, I will be one more year at Columbia.
46:32
I'm, uh, finishing up my master's at the School of
46:35
International and Public Affairs.
46:37
I've done of what we have a few four plus one programs with
46:40
our various graduate schools.
46:42
So, so I'm doing, I'm doing that program, which means, you know, I've
46:45
got one more year at this institution.
46:48
Which I feel very good about.
46:50
I, a lot of people have, you know, asked me if I'm thinking about transferring.
46:54
My parents have actually advocated many times now that I transfer.
46:58
But I mean, like I've been saying, I've been here for four years.
47:02
I also started during COVID.
47:04
I mean, I have a, I feel.
47:05
For better, for worse, I feel very much like this is my space.
47:09
I've been brought up in this institution and it, it has to some
47:12
extent felt very much like home.
47:14
And so I am happy to continue that journey.
47:18
And also, I mean, I am happy to be here for this next year, if only because
47:22
I am ready to see this thing through.
47:24
I want to see the resolution to this.
47:26
And you know, if I can, I want to be a part of it, but I'm ready, as I've said,
47:30
you know, I'm ready to be done with this.
47:32
And I am, I'm excited to be here too.
47:34
Hopefully to wrap it up.
47:37
I want to tell you, you're, you're an awesome leader.
47:40
Thank you.
47:41
And amazingly articulate.
47:44
By the way, I would hire you for anything.
47:45
I don't even know what you're specializing in, but I wouldn't
47:48
even need to see a resume.
47:50
You're just, come on in.
47:52
Thank you.
47:53
Thanks Rabbi.
47:54
But, uh, I agree with what, uh, Shai said that, uh, you know, these qualities
47:59
in us that often we don't even know we have are tested in adversity.
48:04
and we're refined.
48:06
The Jewish sages talked about, well, why, why 40 years in the desert?
48:10
And, and they, they respond by saying that's the place where the
48:13
Israelites were refined so that they could understand, you know, what self
48:17
determination would require and they were, wouldn't be prepared for it.
48:22
So, um, if you had to go through these hardships and these difficulties,
48:27
know that, uh, it probably refined you even more and made you even more
48:34
effective, uh, than you might've been, uh, had you not had this experience.
48:39
One final question, uh, Shai, if I can ask you, um, any, uh,
48:45
any advice to American parents?
48:48
First of all, I don't believe that I am in any position to give advice.
48:52
Uh, I am as clueless as everyone else, but I want to give something
48:57
else, which is acknowledgments.
49:00
You know, I know many people are afraid.
49:03
Many people are living in this big uncertainty, um, things that we
49:11
have taken for granted as Jews, as individuals, and as parents,
49:15
we can no longer take for granted.
49:17
Um, know that you are not alone, know that we, we're all experiencing this.
49:21
So many, many of us are experiencing this.
49:24
The one thing I would say is this does not go away by itself
49:28
because again, going back, this is hate and hate doesn't disappear.
49:33
Hate needs to be pushed out.
49:37
And we cannot let it take a strong hold in, in our colleges, in high schools,
49:43
middle schools, and even elementary schools and daycares, which we're,
49:47
you know, we're stories coming out.
49:49
So I know this is maybe not the most comfortable thing, but we all have to
49:55
get involved in our own ways, in our own capabilities, but we have to get involved.
50:01
Meaning.
50:02
If, you know, you should join your, your kid's PTA organizations, you
50:07
should be involved in your kid's education and don't expect your high
50:13
schooler to know how to deal with this if you don't prepare them for this.
50:20
Going back to the idea of antisemitism as a virus, well, you need to vaccinate
50:26
your kids and you need to prepare them.
50:30
And I've been telling parents, you know, one thing you can do is like,
50:33
Spend a Shabbat dinner playing devil's advocate and asking your kids, like,
50:39
prove to me that, you know, this isn't an apartheid, that this isn't genocide,
50:43
that this isn't ethnic, whatever, like the buzzwords that the anti Semites
50:46
will throw at us, prove to me, or, you know, what makes this a blood libel?
50:52
How is this related to blood libels?
50:54
a blood libel is?
50:55
Okay, well go and read.
50:57
Parents need to push their kids to, to this education because the
51:02
idea of a secular public education.
51:05
It's relatively new, but throughout our history, we have educated our kids and
51:11
we have strengthened them and we have given them the armor and the ideological
51:17
tools to fight for their existence.
51:18
This is why we have Passover.
51:20
Passover is just a long seminar, you know, with some food and that's what we do.
51:26
So I ask parents to get more involved.
51:29
And the other thing that I would say is I think what Noa is doing
51:34
and what she symbolizes and I hope what I'm doing is good.
51:37
We are not fighting the institutions.
51:41
We're fighting for the institutions.
51:44
I'm not against Colombia.
51:46
If I was against Colombia, I would leave.
51:48
You don't stick around in this horribleness with
51:52
something you don't like.
51:53
You only stick around and fight for something that you love
51:56
and you believe will be better.
51:59
So, despite all of its ills, and I think the current administration is
52:04
one of the worst Colombia's ever had, I still believe in Columbia as the
52:11
idea, as the institution that it can be, and that's what I'm fighting for.
52:15
So, always fight for rather than against.
52:19
I want to thank both of you.
52:20
Both of you are heroes in your own way and assumed leadership in a vacuum.
52:28
I don't know if you hadn't stepped forth, you know, especially
52:31
you, Shai, at the very beginning when nobody else was speaking.
52:36
And, um, you on the student level, Noa, It's just a remarkable thing.
52:41
And you know, and sometimes during our more sober and somber moments here and
52:47
thinking about what kind of leadership do we have currently in the Jewish community
52:52
and the future of the leadership of the Jewish community, when we encounter people
52:59
like you, it, Renews our hope and our optimism, which is, of course, the essence
53:05
of Jewish civilization to begin with.
53:08
So, uh, thank you very much.
53:10
For those of us, uh, who might look back at this 20 years from now, you saw Noa at
53:15
the beginning of her national leadership.
53:18
And here is where it started.
53:21
Uh, present at the creation.
53:23
No, no pressure, Noa.
53:25
No pressure.
53:26
Thank you.
53:27
Yeah.
53:27
We'll see.
53:27
We'll see where things go from here.
53:30
This is something that I actually, every time, because I, I am so
53:34
immensely lucky to talk with so many incredible young people, Jewish and
53:39
non Jewish people that are stepping up.
53:41
And I am so grateful for all of you, but I also remind all of them, like you
53:48
are not responsible for their fates.
53:50
Of the entire Jewish people, you know, you are doing this,
53:54
you're doing an amazing job.
53:55
And if you want, we will be there for you.
53:59
We will give you the resources.
54:00
We will stand with you.
54:04
You should be doing what you want and don't feel pressure because of us older
54:10
people, uh, to, you know, we will be okay.
54:14
We will fight this.
54:15
But if you want to be our leader, we will embrace you with, uh, with open arms.
54:21
Thank you.
54:21
Thank you.
54:22
I appreciate it.
54:27
What an inspiring podcast.
54:30
I am filled with awe at the courage of both Professor Davi Dai and Noa Fay.
54:36
It's important to remember that within Gen Z, the Jewish community has some
54:40
of the most amazing people like Noa.
54:44
Charismatic, dynamic, brilliant Jewish leaders.
54:49
Crises often bring forth attributes we never knew we had.
54:52
History creates great people and great leaders.
54:55
We have some awe inspiring young Jews in our community, so poised, so
55:00
articulate, so courageous, compelling, and captivating that one wonders how
55:05
such people were produced and why we did not pay enough attention to them before.
55:10
In their hands lay the future of American Jewish life.
55:15
What did they receive that others did not?
55:18
That is the question before us at the dawn of this new Jewish age.
55:22
How are our schools, camps, youth groups going to change?
55:26
What Jewish values will we emphasize moving forward?
55:30
October 7th revealed the moral rot at the core of many of
55:33
our most elite universities.
55:35
It is the result of years of neglect, as Hemingway described going bankrupt,
55:40
at first gradually, then suddenly.
55:45
Columbia University, that bastion of excellence.
55:50
The alma mater of some of America's most revered heroes, Columbia student
55:55
Alexander Hamilton, in whose name the building that students recently occupied
55:59
and trashed was dedicated, purportedly said, The truth will set you free,
56:06
but first, it will make you miserable.
56:09
We must recognize and accept the truth of what is happening.
56:13
It will make us miserable.
56:15
But we cannot address the problems if we do not know or prefer to ignore.
56:20
What they are, there is a malignancy at the very core of the most elite
56:24
institutions of higher learning.
56:26
A clarion call to America that we are sick, and we are sick at the
56:30
highest levels of American society.
56:33
As is so often the case, it is the Jews who clarify the extent of the cataclysm.
56:39
The perpetual canaries in the mine.
56:42
But more, anti semitism is never only about Jews.
56:46
When the canary dies, It reveals a toxic and lethal atmosphere
56:51
that no living being can endure.
56:54
It goes much deeper than this or that president of a university, this or that
56:57
board of governors or administration.
57:00
Which is why even brilliant university leaders are having such difficulties
57:05
explaining their positions, let alone instilling a climate of
57:09
learning, diversity, respect.
57:11
Tolerance values they say they and their institutions are committed
57:16
to and without which none of their other objectives can be achieved.
57:22
I do not believe that there is a university president in office
57:25
today who wants to see Jews assaulted physically or verbally.
57:30
I do not think they want to empty their campuses of Jews, but I do think
57:35
that many of them have an ideological blind spot when it comes to our people.
57:40
That is why they.
57:42
The most intelligent human beings in the world give the
57:46
impression of being so confused.
57:48
What they see so clearly in other dimensions is opaque to
57:52
them when it comes to the Jews.
57:54
Free speech issues are relevant, but they are often served up as red herrings.
57:59
Can you imagine what would happen to students?
58:02
Were they to chant anti black slogans, anti Asian, anti gay slogans on campus?
58:08
Why is go back to Poland tolerated at Columbia?
58:12
And by the way, what they mean by go back to Poland is not the modern country
58:16
that is a member of the European Union.
58:18
They mean Auschwitz.
58:21
A student who even whispered to a third generation Asian
58:25
colleague, Go back to Japan?
58:27
would be expelled within a day.
58:30
The wrongness of the chant to an African American student, go back to Africa,
58:33
would explode in the minds of university administrators with perfect clarity.
58:39
They would not complicate us with free speech contentions, or, it
58:42
depends on the context, excuses.
58:46
The uneven and inconsistent application of their own rules is a window into the
58:51
mindset of university administrators, DEI functionaries, and faculty members.
58:57
The majority of Americans detect and recoil from the hypocrisy.
59:02
The truth may make us miserable, but eventually I think that deep
59:08
down, some senior administrators and plenty of faculty agree with the
59:13
identity based binary theories of social justice blazing through and
59:18
consuming elite academic institutions.
59:22
Some consider American Jews white and privileged.
59:25
Some consider the Jewish state white and privileged.
59:29
Some consider Zionism, the liberation movement of the
59:32
Jewish people, inherently racist.
59:35
Some believe that October 7 was justified as legitimate resistance.
59:40
After October 7, 170 members of the Columbia faculty signed a
59:44
petition justifying the right of Palestinians to resist what they
59:48
called violent and illegal occupation.
59:51
Some are strangely attracted to Hamas.
59:55
Hamas, we love you, they tolerate on their campuses.
59:58
I am Hamas.
1:00:00
Long live the Intifada.
1:00:02
These are not really pro Palestinian demonstrations.
1:00:05
They are more anti Israel and anti Zionist protests.
1:00:09
Among the reasons they keep sliding into intolerance It's not because of some
1:00:14
lapse in discipline by the protesters.
1:00:17
At the heart of the Palestinian National Movement is a rejection of
1:00:21
coexistence and a hatred of Israel.
1:00:23
And hence, the protests are not simply about Palestinian suffering,
1:00:28
although I grieve for them.
1:00:30
And I agree that it is a legitimate concern, morally and politically.
1:00:35
It is entirely legitimate to debate when and whether a
1:00:38
ceasefire should take effect.
1:00:40
To lament the human cost of war and to want the bloodshed to stop
1:00:43
is appropriate, even welcome.
1:00:46
But fundamentally, the protests are about what Hamas represents
1:00:51
in the protesters eyes.
1:00:53
Legitimate resistance to an alien colonial Jewish presence in the land of Israel.
1:00:58
A pathological resistance to the indigenous presence of the people
1:01:02
who gave that land its name.
1:01:04
The protests are about what they say it's about.
1:01:07
From the river to the sea.
1:01:10
Globalize the Intifada.
1:01:12
It is not that the protesters language is unduly radical and
1:01:15
therefore should be curbed.
1:01:17
It is the cause they fight for that is unduly radical.
1:01:22
Why is We Are Hamas even acceptable at all?
1:01:24
Why is Burn Tel Aviv to the Ground even acceptable at all?
1:01:28
And why globalize the Intifada?
1:01:31
Do students even know what that was?
1:01:34
It was a mass murder campaign on the streets of Israel in restaurants,
1:01:37
schools, buses, hospitals.
1:01:40
My message to young Jews is do not begrudge these years.
1:01:45
They can make you better.
1:01:46
Nothing inspires us more than the fight for principle.
1:01:49
Moral sentiment and grim resolve lift the heart and stiffen the spine.
1:01:54
We get better through moral struggle.
1:01:57
Rediscover your Jewish pride.
1:01:59
Fight back as hard as our opponents.
1:02:02
You will find many allies, both Jewish and non Jewish.
1:02:07
I know that some Jews your age have joined the anti Zionist crowd.
1:02:11
They are a relatively small minority, but they have influence on you and your peers.
1:02:16
Understand that their opposition to Israel is not really about Israel at all.
1:02:20
Israel will survive and prosper with or without them.
1:02:23
It is about you.
1:02:25
It is about the future of American Judaism.
1:02:28
We cannot survive, separated from the vast majority of our people.
1:02:33
Jews who tell you otherwise are deluded.
1:02:36
And to the Jewish community at large, consider the influence that
1:02:41
one person Shai Davi Dai has had because he refused to take it anymore.
1:02:46
We need to respond as strongly and comprehensively as we can.
1:02:51
Every little action helps.
1:02:53
Letters to administrators, pressure on radical faculty, withholding
1:02:58
alumni contributions, pursuing legal remedies to enforce the right of
1:03:03
Jewish students to a safe environment.
1:03:06
Be active.
1:03:07
These are important times.
1:03:09
And finally, double down on Judaism.
1:03:14
This has always been the response to anti Semitism by those
1:03:17
who survived these periods.
1:03:19
It is why you are still here.
1:03:22
We are the remnants of those who refused to convert, who fought for Jewish
1:03:26
dignity, and outlasted our oppressors.
1:03:31
This is a good time to recommit to our people.
1:03:35
It is a good time to invest financially in the key institutions of Jewish life.
1:03:40
Take the money you would have otherwise donated to your alma maters.
1:03:44
And give it to synagogues and other Jewish institutions.
1:03:47
Stay optimistic.
1:03:49
Be a happy warrior.
1:03:51
We have seen worse.
1:03:53
Eventually, we will prevail.
1:04:00
Until next time, this is In These Times.