‘Horrible wakeup call’
The Bay Area Jewish community received a horrible wakeup call from the recent brutal murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in Washington, D.C. But did we really hear the ring?
This beautiful couple was not there to celebrate the ideology of Zeev Jabotinsky, they were there to explore ways to reach peace between Israel and Arab Palestinians. The 21 gunshots fired point-blank snuffed out their aspirations for a harmonious future.
The media is saturated with opinions about the couple’s awful end in D.C. The real lesson is to develop situational awareness, not just in specific situations but in the broader context of the horrific antisemitic tsunami that has engulfed our nation of late.
With all of the cerebral power at our disposal, it’s baffling to me that so many people still seem to think that attending protests, signing petitions and writing emails will blunt the tidal wave of Islamist terror. Have we learned nothing from the survival of our beloved Israel?
Desmond Tuck
San Mateo
‘Moral vision’ versus Harvard
Fifty-six Bay Area rabbis who claim to be leading us with “moral vision” have come down squarely on the side of a systemically antisemitic Harvard against the Trump administration’s battle against the ingrained antisemitism of this university. (“56 local rabbis on the wrong way to stop antisemitism,” May 29)
Yes, systemic antisemitism has infested Harvard. Nothing exposes this systemic antisemitism more blatantly than this episode: In October 2023, Israeli Jewish student Yoav Segev was surrounded by a group of “free Palestine” thugs. They would not let him speak. They would not let him move. They humiliated him by covering his body with kaffiyehs. And what consequences did the Harvard Corporation mete out to these “activists”?
One of them, law student Ibrahim Bharmal, was just given a $65,000 prize by Harvard Law School to allow him to work with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The other, Elom Tettey Tamaklo, a divinity student, was just bestowed the highest honor of Harvard Divinity School by being named its class marshal. At graduation, when the student commencement speaker publicly praised him, much of the audience erupted in cheers.
Sadly, this is more than individual Jew haters assaulting Jews. This is Harvard’s institutionalization of that Jew hatred. Please explain to us, Rabbi Amy Eilberg, how siding with an institution corrupted with systemic antisemitism is leading with “moral vision?”
Scott Abramson
San Mateo
Who are you protecting?
In J.’s May 30 letters, Malka Weitman says that my friends and I petitioning against the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area means that we are “unwilling to acknowledge the antisemitism of the left and of more radical Muslim organizations.” I ask her how, in the context of the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and Muslims, does JCRC’s support for crackdowns on protest and for the continued destruction of Gaza keep Jews safe?
Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and other leftists care about Jewish safety, which is why we oppose the Trump administration’s turning us into scapegoats for repression. It’s one of many reasons we oppose indiscriminately bombing Gaza, where there are still living hostages. It’s why we ask JCRC: Where do you stand? Are you protecting Jews from antisemitism or the state of Israel from criticism?
On the same page in J., Jeffrey Goldman compares me to the “wicked son” from the Haggadah story. Well, if opposing Israel’s crimes in Gaza makes me wicked, I’ll accept that label with pride. I invite all Jews of conscience to join my wicked friends in fighting for a world free from violence, oppression and fear.
David Spero
San Francisco
Facing History & Ourselves doesn’t indoctrinate
Your piece on Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s rejection of a contract with Facing History & Ourselves was accurate, but incomplete. (“Central Coast school board rejects Holocaust education proposal,” May 9)
First of all, Facing History & Ourselves is not only an “anti-bias” organization, nor is it correctly described as a “Holocaust ed nonprofit.” It is a teacher-support organization providing guidance not only on content related to the Holocaust, genocide, human rights and collective violence, but on methods that bolster student engagement, critical thinking, inquiry-based learning and developmentally appropriate ways for students to “face history” and find their morally philosophical voices.
That does not include indoctrination nor answers about ongoing conflicts, but instead includes questions, explorations of narratives that frame conflicts, and the chance for students to move on their own from thought to judgment to action.
The educator’s role is to empower discovery, not to indoctrinate. That role does not preclude challenging students with difficult concepts or questions about current events, nor does it preclude exposing students to hard history about our own country’s failures. Gabriel Medina, the school board member who attacked us, would not survive as a teacher. He comes with a predetermined conclusion in mind about Jews, the conflict in Gaza and the role of teachers.
I was the founding and first director of the Bay Area office of Facing History & Ourselves. I’m retired now, but the core principles are still in play including that students’ exposure to the most difficult questions about the past and the most challenging issues of the present must be framed by a spirit of inquiry and discovery.
Pajaro Valley’s decision to reject Facing History jettisons inquiry in favor of performative activism. I feel sorry for those students who will miss such opportunities due to the short-sighted hysteria of Medina and his followers.
Jack Weinstein
Former regional director, Facing History & Ourselves, 1996-2018
Fremont