Jewish Harvard Divinity Student Writes of ‘the Betrayal of Campus Progressivism’

Jewish Harvard Divinity Student Writes of ‘the Betrayal of Campus Progressivism’

Shabbos Kestenbaum is the college Democrat who is now supporting Trump that we recently featured in a post.

He writes at the Harvard Salient:

October 7th and the Betrayal of Campus Progressivism

The land of Israel is central to my religious identity. It is the direction I face when praying three times a day, the source of nearly all biblical commandments and Jewish rituals, and the birthplace and namesake of my People. I was raised as an Orthodox Jew: the primacy of living in that Land, something Jews have been doing uninterrupted for 3,000 years, was manifest in almost all areas of our daily lives.

Israel is also where I lived for three years.

Residing in the Old City of Jerusalem as a student in Yeshiva, I was within walking distance of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Western Wall. Contrary to the stereotypes peddled at Harvard Divinity School, my Jewish Day Schools, Yeshivas, and community actively and consistently challenged us to explore co-existence, dialogue, and mutual understanding with Muslims, especially our Palestinian neighbors.

It was in this spirit of religious and academic probing that I decided to apply to Harvard Divinity School.

Although I knew I would be the only Orthodox Jew in the entire program, I believed it offered an ideal environment to explore different religious perspectives and expand my intellectual limits.

As such, I took classes that ran counter to my worldview. Learning from Professors and peers in courses such as “Settler Colonialism in Israel/Palestine” at the Divinity School and “Law, Human Rights, and Social Justice in Israel-Palestine” at the Law School, I was genuinely curious about and open to the divergent viewpoints necessary to propagate a proper educational experience. Moreover, I attended numerous Jews for (Palestine) Liberation events and often participated in the Harvard Divinity School Muslims’ weekly Halaqa gatherings.

However, such toleration at Harvard University was never reciprocal.

While much-deserved outrage has been expressed toward the morally reprehensible and intellectually bankrupt statement signed by 34 student groups at Harvard—a statement that blamed Jews for the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—perhaps what was most nefarious was the individual responses of my fellow classmates.

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