U.C. Davis safe? Report says otherwise
According to Amcha’s “Report on Anti-Semitic Activity in 2015 at U.S. Colleges and Universities with the Largest Jewish Undergraduate Populations,” targeting of Jewish students, anti-Semitic expression and BDS activity are all prevalent in schools with significant Jewish undergraduate populations.
Analysis of the careful research methods employed in developing the report, which consist of submitted incident reports, media accounts, social media postings and online recording, indicates that U.C. Davis ranks fourth in highest incidence of targeting Jewish students, fourth in highest overall anti-Semitic activity, eighth in highest incidence of BDS activity and ninth in highest incidence of anti-Semitic expression.
Perhaps Diane Wolf (“Is campus safe for your kids? Yes,” Oct. 7) is not fully aware of the documented expressions of anti-Jewish hostility encountered all too often on the UCD campus.
We ignore anti-Jewish campus hostility at our own peril.
Julia Lutch | Davis
Rosy picture of Jewish life belies reality on campus
I agree with Diane Wolf that there may be “a nuanced understanding of the difference between struggling against Israeli occupation and anti-Semitism.” But in case of the hysterical screams and shouts at the BDS-SJP meetings, there may be no doubts that this is the place where anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism are fully converged.
I agree with Wolf when she says: “It is 100 percent safe for Jewish students” at U.C. Davis. Physically — yes (so far). But emotionally — the Jewish students (and not only them) may not have felt safe when, upon the conclusion of the January 2015 student senate meeting where a pro-BDS resolution was approved, the pro-BDS activists yelled: “Allahu Akbar!” and a member of the U.C. Davis student senate, Azka Fayyaz, proclaimed on her Facebook: “Hamas & Sharia law have taken over UC Davis.”
And I agree with Wolf that legal aspects of the First Amendment should not be neglected. But it would only be fair if she would have mentioned that on Feb. 19, 2015, the student court overturned the divestment resolution on the grounds that the measure was not sufficiently related to student welfare. In other words, it was a purely political exercise of an anti-Israeli/anti-Semitic rage. And as such it was simply a mockery of the First Amendment.
Wolf may paint a rosy picture of Jewish life at U.C. Davis, but the mere fact that the U.C. Board of Regents, in March 2016, adopted a resolution condemning anti-Semitism on U.C. campuses, including Davis, speaks volumes for itself.
Vladimir Kaplan | San Mateo
Wholesome campuses begin with ‘sincere inquiry’
We found much congruence in the U.C. Davis perceptions of Diane Wolf and our concrete experiences over decades of facilitating and mentoring civil dialogue on dozens of campuses in California and across the U.S.
In parallel we’ve also seen many examples of authentic prejudices on campuses as well as anecdotal, sometimes exaggerated stories from the self-appointed watchdogs and funded collectives who have “whipped up fears with little basis in reality,” well-described by the director of Jewish studies.
One distinguishing quality of wholesome campuses is the availability of truly adult leadership skilled and willing to create face-to-face student experiences with a new quality of civil, respectful communication that begins with listening and sincere inquiry of the “other” human being.
The required faith in courageously being the first to hear and humanize — the prescription of our Shema — is a quantum leap above today’s more usual recommendation from within and outside of campuses to “stand up for yourself” and “don’t let them get away with that.”
Our prayer for 5777 is that students choose to be lights to the world and their campuses by being great listeners — an act that dignifies each participant and closes distances.
Libby and Len Traubman | San Mateo
It’s ‘Shanah Tovah!’
What were you thinking? Where or when did you or do you hear people say “Happy Rosh Hashanah!” It seems to me that we say either “Happy New Year” or “Shanah Tovah.” Your Sept. 30 cover was attractive, but this confused greeting really spoiled the nice picture.
Susan David | Berkeley
A rabbi and a statesman, and an end to an era
With 5776 now behind us, an era has passed. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, just as the shofar was about to be sounded in the synagogue he cherished for 40 years, Rabbi Theodore Alexander of Congregation B’nai Emunah took his last breath at the age of 95.
The death of Rabbi Ted, as he was known to everyone, does indeed mark the end of an era — the era of Jews who lived through Kristallnacht, who fled Germany to spend the war years in Shanghai and then, once here, assumed positions of leadership in the Jewish community.
Ted Alexander reached out to everyone — those estranged from Judaism and those hungering for more, old Jews and young Jews, mothers, fathers, grandparents and children, Jews by birth and Jews by choice, intellectual Jews, traditional Jews, liberal Jews and conservative Jews, those inside the tent and those outside it. And the sanctuary of B’nai Emunah from which he touched so many, was, like himself, able to find a place for every one of the many people who came to pay tribute to his achievements and his memory at a two-hour funeral service on Oct. 6.
May the life of this towering individual be a lesson for how one can give and teach and care and lead, despite or because of the challenges he faced in his formative years. Tehiyeh nishmato tzerurah b’tzror hahayim — May his memory be bound fast to those of us blessed with life!
Just two weeks ago, with the death of Shimon Peres, also at the age of 95, the Jewish world marked the end of an era for the State of Israel. Shimon was a complex individual who didn’t have patience for small talk. He believed there was serious work to be done, and he never shirked from that charge. He was a leader at both ends of the spectrum — a warrior and a peacemaker, a visionary and a pragmatist, and he ultimately emerged as Israel’s only true statesman in recent times.
Clearly among his great lessons is the message that one can change. He changed from a military commander to a persistent peacemaker, a man who defied the trend of his own party and his own populace, who never gave up his dream for an Israel at peace with her neighbors. His life demonstrated the key lesson of Yom Kippur — we are not mired in the world we came from. We can espouse a vision for a bright future and we must work to transform that vision into reality.
Rabbi Moshe Levin | San Francisco
Thanks, Obama
President Obama comes back from the Peres funeral ceremony, and what is one of the first things his White House does? It deletes the word “Israel” after Jerusalem. According to his administration, stating that Jerusalem is part of Israel would be offensive to our “peace partners” the Palestinians. Yes, Barack Obama may have honored the life of Shimon Peres, but in a far deeper symbolic gesture, he delegitimized the nation of Israel.
Scott Abramson | San Mateo
Jews having a good life in very nice neighborhoods
Secretary of State John Kerry and the State Department complained about Israel’s latest plan to build in the settlements. Their overreaction is one-sided discrimination. The plan is to build only 98 apartments, within the area of an existing settlement. The total area of all the settlements is only 3 percent of the area of the West Bank. The Palestinians have their population centers in large areas of the West Bank, in which they construct all the time, without State Department complaints.
It is notable that the State Department objects to Israel building a few apartments in a settlement without any corresponding condemnation of Palestinian refusal to have direct peace talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, their incitement and glorification of terrorism, and their refusal to accept Israel and the Jewish state which it has been for 64 years.
I wish people who complain about the settlements could go and see them in person, where they would find Jews having a good life in very nice neighborhoods.
Norman G. Licht | San Carlos