UNINVITED
I was scheduled to give a lecture at a Synagogue in the Tampa area on campus antisemitism. Unfortunately, the heckler’s veto won, and objections by one or more members to my appearing resulted in cancellation of the appearance.
I was scheduled to give a lecture later in September on campus antisemitism at a synagogue in the Tampa area. It had been scheduled for months. They invited me. I was doing it for free. We even changed the date to accommodate the Rabbi’s schedule. I planned my fall around it since it involved travel.
They just uninvited me because one or more members objected to me appearing at the synagogue. The specific objection to me never was given, but it was clear it was political and that having me was “controversial” among some members.
I told the Rabbi that was giving in to the heckler’s veto and depriving members who did want to hear me of the ability to do so. If someone didn’t want to hear me, the remedy was to not attend, not to cancel the lecture.
I explained that it would be the same non-partisan presentation I have given many times, of my personal observations and experiences dating back to my days at Harvard Law School in the early 1980s, and how the racialization of the conflict and the coopting of “racial justice” movements by anti-Israel groups needed to be understood as a major part of why so many campuses are no-go zones for Zionists and Jews. There would be no mention planned of Trump, Biden, Harris or anything else about domestic politics, as that was not part of my lecture.
The Rabbi didn’t disagree with me on any of these points, but ultimately proved to be a weak person unable to stand up for what is right. This is a problem I see frequently among Rabbis, they want to avoid membership controversy at all costs, but in so doing, create a separate controversy.
All the explaining was to no avail. The lecture is cancelled. I’m univited.
I’ll survive, but I’m not sure about the long-term survival of the American Jewish community, which is facing unprecedented pressures on campuses and communities. The liberal American Jewish community is so broken, it can’t even unify over something like fighting campus antisemitism.
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As a resident of the Tampa area, let me guess it was Schaari Zedek or Roldeph Shalom? Two reform synagogues that I have had issues with due to their worship of political ideology versus actual Judaism. I’m sorry that happened, and wish my Chabad would invite you to come to speak!
“Reform” was my first thought.
This is a problem I see frequently among Rabbis, they want to avoid membership controversy at all costs,
T’ain’t just rabbis, my friend. Way too many everywhere.
This was my second thought. Courage is in short supply everywhere.
Were flights and hotel rooms already booked and paid ?, Send them an invoice for any costs incurred.
The “liberal” Jewish community is thoroughly enmeshed in higher education, which has been thoroughly captured by the religion that has arisen around critical theory in its various guises. That ideology has spread down until today, pre-K teachers are evangelizing their charges into this religion–whose revolutionary eschaton demands the destruction of the civilization the universities were built to nurture and protect.
For a few decades, there wasn’t so much of a price to be paid for Jews in academia. That didn’t used to be true:
“In order to pursue a university career, [Daniil] Khvol’son converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1855, an act that earned him the chair of Hebrew and Syrian Studies at the University of Saint Petersburg. When he was asked why he became a Christian, he is said to have replied: “I was convinced it was better to be a professor in Saint Petersburg than a melamed in Eyshishok.” Another motive may have been to better defend his Jewish coreligionists; indeed, all his life he maintained very close relations with community leaders such as Kalman Schulman and Yitsḥak Elḥanan Spektor. The latter apparently urged him to defend the Jewish people against certain allegations.”
But the tolerance of Professor Jacobson’s days in college are gone. It would be very difficult today for an ambitious young Jewish academic to espouse his views. And as far a corporate jobs goes, the HR departments tend to be woke strongholds. In many ways American higher education is less tolerant than the premier university of Tzarist Russia was in Khvolson’s day.
The Orthodox Church demanded ritual observance and lip service. Pre-woke academia was no longer seriously Christian, and would even allow open Jewish affiliation and observance.
Today’s American Cultural Revolution demands more and will use violence to get it.
Go over to fighting racism against white men in general. That covers Jews and gets more to the heart of the matter anyway.
Glenn Loury just published on YouTube (speed typing)
”
Can we first understand the problem correctly? If our kids are testing poorly, I’m talking about black kids, it’s not because the test is biased against them, it’s because they do not know the material. If a poor Asian kid living in a three-room apartment with four siblings can ace the test, our kids can do it too. Anybody who doesn’t think so is a racist.”
Ought to distinguish malevolent and benevolent racism. Getting the problem right is more important if it’s not going to be an eternal problem.
Nothing of value, as usual.
This is a result of the feminization of religions in western culture.
You are too nice not to name names. Perhaps the rabbi would allow you to publish an open letter to the congregation?
Professor,
If you want things to change – name and shame them.
This is a problem I see frequently among Rabbis, they want to avoid membership controversy at all costs, but in so doing, create a separate controversy.
true but now we must add to that another fact:
the government of the left actively encourages violence against pro america/israel pov
and of course the “violence” of stopping your speech
freedom is never free
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