Very thoughtful essay, Daniel. As someone who has spent his entire life in elite universities (faculty brat at Brown, student at Columbia & Chicago; faculty at Stanford & MIT), what pains me most about the current crisis is that if you were to have asked me prior to 10/7 what was the best part of living in America, I would say it's the wide diversity of people I've come to have meaningful relationships with via my university experience, and how so many of these relationships are based not just on a tolerance for my Jewishness but often enthusiastic curiosity about it. And for the most part, this is still true. Indeed, many relationships have been strengthened since 10/7.
The challenge, and the source of great pain, of course is that this is not all that U.S. (private, elite) universities are, and that the malaise is systemic in various respects. And while I know many people who are committed to addressing these problems, I wish I could be more confident we will solve them.
I like this frame, and love the analysis of the atomizing nature of consumerist Western society, so focused on the individual and the sanctity of markets that we miss what is truly needed to produce and maintain value for human life: community. Community that has no price, that cannot be bought.
I would love to dive deeper into the issue of idolatry, however. It does provides a good way to analyze the Jewish relationship with higher education, and the power we felt it had on our ability to successfully integrate into Western/Northern society. Just as we believed Idols had the power to grant our success, to ensure our safety, so too we believed that by donating to and propping up Western institutions they would ensure we never again are faced by blistering antisemitism.
Interestingly, however, the metaphor does break down at that point in that we have discovered the idols do have power, it is just not the power we had hoped for. It turns out that they are actually very, very good at shaping public opinion against Israel, against collective Jewish identity. Higher education seems to celebrates the individual, atomized, Jew, the consumerist nature of Jewish culture, but it rejects the idea that the Jew is part of a greater community and that community could and should want collective representation in the land of its birth.
In other words, unlike in the story of Abraham, we are not dealing with a mound of dried clay, but with a being set upon our destruction as a people, a power aimed at disintegrating the bonds that hold us together. Our response, therefore, cannot simply be to walk away from them, to 'exodus' from the institutions as some have proclaimed, but rather to take on those powers head-on, to build an alternative and defeat them thoroughly.
As always, I'm beyond grateful for your engagement and feedback -- and this time, I'm particularly appreciative for your thought-provoking take on idolatry, and whether that's the right label in this context.
Perhaps this warrants a greater and lengthier analysis, but I think that idolatry consists of a bunch of distinct but overlapping errors/sins, namely: (1) interposing obstacles between Humanity and Divinity; (2) improperly assigning power to something; and (3) worshipping a power other than God. And I think that as relates to universities, I think we're probably committing all three: We let universities eclipse What Really Matters; we overstate their power; and we also worship what limited power they exert.
Which is to say, I certainly agree that universities have a semblance of power (although I think that we tend to exaggerate its power), and I see real value in engaging with universities on appropriate terms...
And to your last point -- well said and I wholeheartedly agree. An exodus per se isn't what this moment calls for (there's something nihilistic about just walking away). Far more interesting and important is where we're going...
Very thoughtful essay, Daniel. As someone who has spent his entire life in elite universities (faculty brat at Brown, student at Columbia & Chicago; faculty at Stanford & MIT), what pains me most about the current crisis is that if you were to have asked me prior to 10/7 what was the best part of living in America, I would say it's the wide diversity of people I've come to have meaningful relationships with via my university experience, and how so many of these relationships are based not just on a tolerance for my Jewishness but often enthusiastic curiosity about it. And for the most part, this is still true. Indeed, many relationships have been strengthened since 10/7.
The challenge, and the source of great pain, of course is that this is not all that U.S. (private, elite) universities are, and that the malaise is systemic in various respects. And while I know many people who are committed to addressing these problems, I wish I could be more confident we will solve them.
I like this frame, and love the analysis of the atomizing nature of consumerist Western society, so focused on the individual and the sanctity of markets that we miss what is truly needed to produce and maintain value for human life: community. Community that has no price, that cannot be bought.
I would love to dive deeper into the issue of idolatry, however. It does provides a good way to analyze the Jewish relationship with higher education, and the power we felt it had on our ability to successfully integrate into Western/Northern society. Just as we believed Idols had the power to grant our success, to ensure our safety, so too we believed that by donating to and propping up Western institutions they would ensure we never again are faced by blistering antisemitism.
Interestingly, however, the metaphor does break down at that point in that we have discovered the idols do have power, it is just not the power we had hoped for. It turns out that they are actually very, very good at shaping public opinion against Israel, against collective Jewish identity. Higher education seems to celebrates the individual, atomized, Jew, the consumerist nature of Jewish culture, but it rejects the idea that the Jew is part of a greater community and that community could and should want collective representation in the land of its birth.
In other words, unlike in the story of Abraham, we are not dealing with a mound of dried clay, but with a being set upon our destruction as a people, a power aimed at disintegrating the bonds that hold us together. Our response, therefore, cannot simply be to walk away from them, to 'exodus' from the institutions as some have proclaimed, but rather to take on those powers head-on, to build an alternative and defeat them thoroughly.
As always, I'm beyond grateful for your engagement and feedback -- and this time, I'm particularly appreciative for your thought-provoking take on idolatry, and whether that's the right label in this context.
Perhaps this warrants a greater and lengthier analysis, but I think that idolatry consists of a bunch of distinct but overlapping errors/sins, namely: (1) interposing obstacles between Humanity and Divinity; (2) improperly assigning power to something; and (3) worshipping a power other than God. And I think that as relates to universities, I think we're probably committing all three: We let universities eclipse What Really Matters; we overstate their power; and we also worship what limited power they exert.
Which is to say, I certainly agree that universities have a semblance of power (although I think that we tend to exaggerate its power), and I see real value in engaging with universities on appropriate terms...
And to your last point -- well said and I wholeheartedly agree. An exodus per se isn't what this moment calls for (there's something nihilistic about just walking away). Far more interesting and important is where we're going...