Exclusion not the answer

Editorial

Swarthmore College is a tiny, Quaker-founded liberal arts institution near Philadelphia. It has just 1,500 students, but its Hillel is making quite a splash. In what was obviously a premeditated shot across the bow of Hillel International’s policy on Israel, the Swarthmore Jewish students’ group declared itself an “Open Hillel.”

Washington, D.C.-based Hillel International (formally, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life) is the central administrative body for affiliated Hillels on hundreds of campuses across North America and a growing constellation in Latin America and, especially, the states of the former Soviet Union. The body has a policy – guidelines, they are called – on what kind of Israel-related activities can be undertaken by campus chapters. Specifically, Hillels are told not to partner with groups or to host speakers who deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, who delegitimize, demonize or apply double standards to Israel, or who support boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against Israel, or who foster an atmosphere of incivility.

A motion unanimously passed Dec. 8 by Swarthmore Hillel’s student board took direct aim at the prohibition, stating that “Hillel, while purporting to support all Jewish campus life, presents a monolithic face pertaining to Zionism that does not accurately reflect the diverse opinions of young American Jews,” and that “Hillel’s statement that Israel is a core element of Jewish life and a gateway to Jewish identification for students does not allow space for others who perceive it as irrelevant to their Judaism.” It adds that Hillel’s guidelines “privilege only one perspective on Zionism, and make others unwelcome.”

In an ancillary statement, the Swarthmore group declared: “All are welcome to walk through our doors and speak with our name and under our roof, be they Zionist, anti-Zionist, post-Zionist or non-Zionist.”

Harumph, replied Hillel International’s new chief executive officer, Eric Fingerhut, a former member of the United States Congress.

“Let me be very clear – ‘anti-Zionists’ will not be permitted to speak using the Hillel name or under the Hillel roof, under any circumstances,” Fingerhut wrote, adding that groups that do not adhere to the policy could be refused use of the name Hillel.

As seriously as we take these issues, and as passionately as we cherish our attitudes toward Israel, we must realize that the fate of Israel will not be determined on the campuses of North America. But the future of North American Jewry very well may be.

If there are significant numbers of “anti-Zionist, post-Zionist or non-Zionist” Jewish students clambering to get into Hillel, we may only be undermining ourselves by excluding them. Most obviously, the surest way to change the mind of such a headstrong young ideologue would be to get them in the door of the nearest Hillel. Chances are – not to be patronizing, but – these students may be doing exactly what they should be doing at college: testing the rigidity of received wisdom. If they are any kind of Zionist (anti-, post-, non-) it demonstrates at the very least that they have a passionate opinion about Israel. The opposite of love is not hate, Elie Wiesel reminded us, but indifference. “Anti-Zionism” is more likely to turn into “pro-Zionism” than indifference is likely to morph into anything Zionism-related. Besides, our experience with Hillel students in our own province assures us that these young Jews are fully equipped to appreciate, understand, confront, challenge and, if need be, refute any comers – post-, anti-, pseudo, crypto-, quasi- or semi-Zionist.

But converting or refuting Jewish opponents of Zionism is not really the issue here. The internal machinations of an organization – Hillel or some other – is not the point. The matter is the political or ideological litmus test we apply to qualification for membership in our group. It could be said that the group we are discussing here is Hillel, but it is, more accurately, membership in the Jewish people that is at issue, because the Swarthmore incident is merely one example of a larger discussion taking place in all our institutions.

The question is: Can one be a Jew and not a Zionist? And, if not, what do we do with those Jews who fall outside of the accepted orthodoxy? And, what happens to young Jews and their identification with our people when we treat them a certain way at a pivotal time in their spiritual and intellectual lives?

We Jews have turned disputation into such an art form that it is among our defining characteristics, parodied and admired. What is the Talmud if not the longest argument in history? This newspaper is fervently, unapologetically Zionist. But we are also Jewish. So we do not take well to anyone declaring opinions off limits. These pages have always been open to the most infuriating ideas, because that is the most authentic means of being a Jewish newspaper and, dare we say, of being a Jew.

Yes, most of us take our Zionism very seriously, but we, as a people, have accommodated Jews who reject God – for heaven’s sake! Are we unwilling to accommodate Jews who reject Israel? Are we truly afraid that bringing post-Zionist speakers – or however they self-identify – to campus will threaten our collective selves to such an extent that we will effectively shun those who invited them from our people? Are we so threatened by these ideas that we will literally cast out from our tent those who carry, or are willing to listen to, them?

We can disagree like Hillel and Shammai, but we are still, like them, Jews. After all, if you prick a post-Zionist with a pin, does he not bleed?

While this issue is universal, the Hillel-specific example adds poignancy. Let us ask, in the great spirit of Rabbi Hillel, how we can expect to raise a generation of informed, engaged Jews proficient in argumentation, the exalted sport, pastime and sacrament of our people, if we do not trust our young (or not-so young) to wrestle with confounding ideas while on, of all places, a university campus.

If not there, where?

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