CHOCHMAS NASHIM: EMOR: SPENDING YOM HAATZMAUT AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S COMMENCEMENT EXERCISE: V’HABOR REK AYN BO MAYIM
By: Suri Davis
This week’s Torah portion is the parshah of Emor/Say or Convey. G-d tells Moses to tell Aaron, the high priest, that he and his family shall remain on a holier, more separate level of holiness than the other Jews, remain pure and holy, so that you may serve G-d in His tabernacle or temple at any time.
It is a privilege, a fundamental right in the United States Constitution, to be able to speak one’s mind. The Ethics of our Fathers, which is learned between the holidays of Passover and Shavuoth teaches that a wise person remains silent.
So what did the class president of the Columbia University class of 2024 have to say, along with its Dean and Valecdictorian who wore a kaffiyeh? See their comments in the above videos. Graduates came on stage with Palestinian flags, keffiyehs, ripped up their dummy diplomas as those on stage smiled and applauded.
One would think that their vapid and misguided comments and acts are as innocuous as the simple text of the bible describes the pit into which Joseph brothers threw him; the simple text of the bible describes the pit as an empty pit. Not so, the bible was being kind to the 10 tribes. Rashi, the commentary on the bible tells us that there were snakes and scorpions in the pit.
It is not merely that the staff spoke about the crisis in Gaza, but applauding the hostile acts of graduates on stage, and backing down on the suspensions at Columbia University makes the university complicit with their venomous and destructive acts.
There were many Jews in attendance in support of Jewish graduates, hundreds of whom spoke out in a communal letter which I have enclosed, but they all attended, out of a sense of there is a proper place and time for discourse, and all should be comfortable at a communal ceremony meant to honor the four years of hard work put into graduation, or a sense that this too will blow over…sometimes it does, like during the McCarthy red scare, and some times it doesn’t, as in Germany and Russia and…
If rallies occur in the general public and supported by the masses, many of whom may not be educated generally and specifically about history, Jewish history, one might say, Habor rake/the pit, the threats of the rallies are merely empty, innocuous. But when these acts take place on Ivy League campuses, with the support of administration and faculty, with students who will have worldwide influence as leaders in commerce and government, and are presumed to be well educated, it takes on the additional danger set forth by Rashi: Aval Nechashim v’akravim yesh bo, but there are snakes and scorpions in it, there is great danger.
With the consent of government and university administration, these poisonous outbreaks continue throughout the streets. Rev. Jesse Jackson called New York Hymietown and we have been thrown into Hamaslag encampments, thrown into libraries for our safety, denied access to campuses for our safety, and the general public watches as these thugs gain momentum, and their lies accepted as truths.
The United Nations cut in half the number of dead set forth by Hamas’ Ministry of Health, as if they didn’t know the numbers were inflated, used to stoke Jew hatred around the world. We watch in wonder, we watch in fear, we watch in hope that our government wakes up and tamps down on these local terrorists.
HABOR RAKE AIN BO MAYIM, AVAL NECHASHIM V’AKRAVIM YESHO BO. Be careful what you say, they should elevate and not escalate.
This year the trilogy of Yoms, Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut took on new meaning and new urgency for the Jewish people and nation worldwide. Egypt turned on us this week, Jordan turned on us, the United States turned on us, the European Union turns on us AND the United Arab Emirates, on of our newest “friends” sponsored the United Nations resolution giving new rights to Palestine.
All of which I repeat to you is G-d’s way of letting us know “Yisrael B’tach B’Hashem, ezram umaginam hu/Israel trusts only in G-d, He is our shield and protection.”
Good Shabbos.
-Suri