The Contemporary Antisemitism Series - Promise and Betrayal: Jews, Antisemitism, and Higher Education in North America

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Light refreshments will be provided.

Abstract: Jews are feeling more vulnerable than at any time since the Second World War. They were traumatized by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and, in the wake of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, a drastic spike in antisemitic incidents throughout the world. Universities have been of particular concern to Jewish students, parents, and alumni who believe that pro-Palestinian students and faculty have had free rein to shut down other points of view, disrupt campus life, and shame or shun Jewish students who refuse to disavow Israel.

Jews in the United States and Canada are angry, fearful, and feel betrayed – but that sense of betrayal can be an unacknowledged assertion of strength. The public protests coming from Jewish organizations assume that people will listen. The emotional state and rhetoric of North American Jews today testify to the successes as well as the challenges of Jewish integration and acceptance. The current moment, for all of its perils is also a continuation of long-held expectations by Jews of the societies in which they live.

Biography: Derek Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History and the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University. He has published a dozen books, most recently Zionism: An Emotional State (2023), and is currently writing a book titled The War for Palestine, 1947-1949: A Global History. He is a past president of the American Academy for Jewish Research, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, Oxford.