“This is the task of educating a generation, and also a vast unlearning,” Wolpe said. “Part of the problem is a simple herd mentality — people screaming slogans whose meaning and implication they know nothing of, or not wishing to be disliked by taking an unpopular position. Some of it is the desire to social status by being the sole or greatest victim. Some of it is simple, old-fashioned Jew hatred, that ugly arrow in the quiver of dark hearts for millenia.” —Resignation Statement of Rabbi David Wolpe from the Antisemitism Advisory Committee at Harvard
No Jewish student should study in fear. No student should study in fear. These are moral convictions, timeless and universal.
It is 6:00 in the morning and I struggle to maintain my composure. Any library should be free of prejudice and bigotry, bullying and harassment. There are reports that antisemitism has infiltrated the law school library at Harvard Law School. I seek moral clarity, sense making. I won’t find moral competence at the President’s Office.
I am not Jewish. But the more I hear out of Harvard, I more I want to be Jewish. Anyone afflicted with bigotry and prejudice becomes me. And I become them.
I found moral competence in the resignation of Rabbi David Wolpe from the aptly named “Antisemitism Advisory Committee” at Harvard. Moral competence is not office politics or appeasement of the mob. That is not moral competence. Nor is moral competence mouthing the right words after the moral crisis presents itself — “cleanup on aisle 7.” One recognizes moral competence in clarity of vision in the moment. Moral competence comes from one’s soul, one’s innate sense of right from wrong. University Counsel can only do so much to help the incompetent.
Either one has the moral competence to condemn a pogrom in real time or one is morally incompetent. I don’t care about the moral competence of a hermit removed from society. I do care about the moral competence of leadership at Harvard.
Rabbi Wolpe got it right the first time by resigning from a futile and enabling Advisory Committee after hearing the congressional testimony of Harvard University President Claudine Gay. Wolpe saw into the inner nature of the feeble moral response to a question about a call for genocide of Jews. We should expect moral competence of national leaders. I expect moral competence of the President of Harvard University.
We live in times that demand moral courage. Most will remain silent because life is easier if one goes alone to get along. Some lack moral competence and will fail the ethical test in real time. And then a few will advance the cause of humanity with moral competence like Rabbi Wolpe. Harvard is blessed to have Rabbi Wolpe.
Some will say we should turn a blind eye to moral incompetence for the greater good of Black History, of circling the wagons around a beleaguered “oppressed” black woman. To this I say, the stakes are too high for Harvard, and our country, for moral deficiency.
Calls for genocide never depend upon the context. Please resign…for the greater good of Jewish students, Harvard, and our country. Have you no decency?
“For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens…May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants.”— President George Washington, August, 1790*
*moral competence
Rabbi David Wolpe Harvard Divinity School
Your comments keep me going/smile. I just believe we look to our national leaders for moral vision, moral courage, moral character. One cannot outsource moral wisdom. Your administrative assistant or the human resources department or the public relations intern can't do it. One must have moral clarity in the moment! As you recall, when I heard the news in New Haven on the morning of October 8, every fiber of my being told me what needed to be said. I heard no condemnation of evil day after day after day.
Then, I knew the moral competence was not there.
I haven’t attended church in a long time, and it’s not because I don’t hold religious views or don’t believe it’s worthwhile. However, if I could find a minister who gave sermons that resembled your writing, I’d definitely be there. You say so many things that are worth hearing, and I’m so grateful I listened to that one Charles Cooke podcast because it led me to you.