May 1, 2027
9:30 am
Antisemitism, an American Tradition, Book Talk
Shabbat Voices
The Past is Prologue I: White Nationalism, Antizionism, and Jewish Anxieties
In August 2017, white nationalists marched across the University of Virginia campus chanting “Jews will not replace us.” Did the neo-Nazis who chose that chant know that this conspiracy theory about Jews replacing the country’s purportedly just leaders, dates back more than a century? Six years later, two months after October 7th, Dr. Nadell sat alongside the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn in Congress who were asked to account for the anti-Israel activities on their respective campuses. Two of those presidents would soon lose their jobs. But the protests roiling their campuses also had historical antecedents. This presentation will explore how these pasts pushed their way into our present.
The Past is Prologue II: Antisemitism, an American Tradition
Colonists not only carried rucksacks to America. They carried ideas about Jewish enmity and degeneracy that dwell at the core of western civilization. The first Jews to land in New Amsterdam in 1654 faced them head on. Since then, across American history, Jews have contended with these ideas, variations on their themes (like those discussed in our first conversation), and the actions they spurred. In our afternoon gathering, powerful PowerPoint images from the past will enable us to better understand the cyclical nature of antisemitism in America and why it has once again bubbled up today.
