Harvard Administration Blows Out the Hanukkah Lights
Harvard prioritizes vandalism over religious freedom
There is no freedom left for Jews in America. That’s what Harvard has taught us this past month.
(Headline from New York Post article. Find the whole article here.)
They were not worried about the vandalism, which apparently had become a regular part of Harvard life.
Harvard took the vandalism as the given and the Jewish right to worship as the variable.
One could be stopped by the university; the other could not be.
Surely I am not the only person who is dumbfounded by this. A university with a $60 billion endowment could not find the money to hire a security guard for 8 nights?
Think about how good it could have been for President Gay’s image if, after her congressional testimony, for just one night, she joined the Jewish community in solidarity to protect our Hanukiah. For a university so concerned with maintaining its image, this could have been a slam dunk.
But, alas, they told the Jews to look less Jewish instead. They told the Jews to put their religion in the closet to protect the university’s image.
At Harvard, America’s most ancient institution. An institution founded for religious freedom.
Harvard was founded in 1636 to provide education for Puritan ministers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The same Puritans who came to this country six years earlier in search of religious freedom.
John Harvard’s statue in the middle of Harvard Yard is a monument to America’s promise of religious freedom.
But, right now, Harvard is a monument to American hypocrisy, and the university should put a bag over Harvard’s head.
Harvard’s current president said, in congress, that the university protects its students’ first amendment right to free speech, even hate speech, even to call for the genocide of Jews.
However, the very same president, behind closed doors, told the Jewish community to hide their Hannukiah to save face.
It was my understanding that the First Amendment protected both the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion, but, apparently, I was mistaken.
According to Harvard University’s recent conduct, it appears that the First Amendment actually protects the freedom of speech and the freedom of vandalism, but it has nothing to do with religion.
Religious freedom has no place at Harvard. That is the messaging coming out of the university,
Rather than fire President Gay after her highly embarrassing testimony, the university chose to circle the wagons. Then, that same president told the Jewish community to put their Jewishness away at night.
I have to imagine that John Harvard is rolling in his grave seeing this. He came to this country seeking religious freedom, and now his namesake university prioritizes antisemitic vandalism over Jewish worship.
It cannot be said any more simply than that.
Harvard prioritizes antisemitic vandalism over Jewish worship.
The president stood before Congress and said it.
The board of directors stood behind her and said it.
The alumni who let this continue have said it.
Vandals are more welcome at Harvard than religious Jews.
After placing the bag over John Harvard’s head, the university should change their slogan from “Veritas” to “Vandalism.” That would be a better representation of their values.
One purpose of the Channukiah is to spread light in the darkest time of the year. Jewish people have been spreading our light for two and a half millennia. Even in the dark days of Nazi rule, we found the strength to spread our light.
But now, Harvard has told their Jewish community to extinguish that spiritual flame and hide their Jewish pride so that they may preserve their public image.
Harvard is a travesty. A wasteland where American values once flourished. An America where a Jew cannot keep his Channukiah out at night is no America at all. It is a hollowed out shell of its former self.
A nation once renowned for its religious freedom now prioritizes the freedom to vandalize over the freedom to worship.
The “City on a Hill” that John Harvard and the Puritans once envisioned has slid off its perch and sunk into the depths of moral relativism and intellectual dishonesty.
Vandalism and Jewish worship.
One of these things is legal; one of them is not.
One of these things is allowed at Harvard; one of them is not.
One of these things is protected by the university; one of them is not.
Harvard is sending a very clear message to the Jewish community: we do not care.
We do not care about your safety.
We do not care about your feelings.
We do not care about your right to worship.
Message received, loud and clear.
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