Most were not Jewish; three were German, one was Polish, one Chinese and two were Muslim, one from India, the other from Morocco. Yet, at the end of the two-week seminar in Oxford, this diverse, global group of educators agreed to teach, using the syllabi they had prepared after listening to some of the world’s top experts on contemporary anti-Semitism.
The sponsor of this historic event was ISGAP, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. ISGAP is a reinvention of YIISA, Dr. Charles Ascher Small’s Yale-based institute that brought scholars from all over the world to speak on the phenomenon of the resurgence of the oldest hatred. ISGAP rose to become an institution with offices in New York, Montreal and Paris and affiliations with universities of great renown including Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, McGill, the Sorbonne and La Sapienza, in Rome.
I was delighted to learn that mine had been one of the applicants accepted in the selective process. Each participant was expected to prepare and present both a dream syllabus—what one would teach in a best-case scenario—and a working syllabus—what one could teach in universities where professors are required to have their syllabi approved (and this particular subject may be unwelcome).
ISGAP’s intention is to make the study of anti-Semitism, both historical and contemporary, an accepted discipline at prestigious institutions of learning. The expectation was that if successful, this would be the first of annual conferences that attract professors and graduate students to learn and teach about this complex and ever-changing subject. Nor is it intended merely for the sake of learning, as anti-Semitism was always an existential problem. In a nuclear world it is an existential threat to every living being, particularly when so much hatred is spewed by religious fanatics with Utopian visions and the will and means to sacrifice themselves and their children to achieve their apocalyptic delusions. September 11, 2001, hardly the first terrorist attack, should have been a wake-up call to slew of attacks have followed and continue, claiming untold numbers of innocent civilians. Yet, most people choose not to see or hear, intent on believing that they will somehow escape the wrath of people who are working to destroy them.
For me, both syllabi were dreams as I was the only participant not based at a college or university. As the director of the Holocaust Council of MetroWest, I have been addressing the issue of anti-Semitism and the increasing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel for the last 15 years. Teaching about the Holocaust, which was predicated on anti-Semitism, has allowed me a forum to broach this unpopular but hugely important topic, i not specifically to college students, but to a much wider audience.
In talks and presentations at schools, exhibitions and presentations I have the opportunity to make people of all ages aware that anti-Semitism is a plague whose potential makes SARS, MERS, EBOLA and AIDS seem almost innocuous. As the saying goes, “What begins with the Jews doesn’t end with the Jews.” Jews were the hardest hit by WWII. A third of the world’s Jews were annihilated and have still not recovered their pre-war numbers. Yet, Jews constitute about a 10th of the total victims of WWII. Had the allies not been infected with anti-Semitism, that terrible war could have been averted.
The Council’s mission is to bring awareness to those who regularly attend the various programs and exhibitions at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest headquarters in Whippany. They have become familiar with anti-Semitism and its numerous mutations. Nor is outreach limited to the Greater MetroWest Community. We are invited to give presentations at schools, universities, religious institutions and civic organizations throughout the state and beyond. Additionally, we are fortunate to have one of the largest and best speakers bureau consisting of eyewitnesses to the Holocaust who have been trained to address both small and large crowds, in some instances nearly 1,000 people. Our speakers are invited to places such as Omaha, NE where there are no eyewitnesses to that horrible catastrophe.
It’s ironic that it took well over half a decade for Holocaust survivors and WWII POWs and veterans to be invited to speak of their experience. Nowadays, they are honored and feted, but they well remember the time when survivors were met with disdain and even veterans, part of the “greatest generation,” well treated, awarded medals and benefits such as free college education under the GI Bill, were told to “forget about the past and look ahead to the future.” Talk therapy for trauma sufferers wasn’t popularly accepted until the Vietnam War. Yet, the subject of anti-Semitism, the attacks on Jews in cities and on college campuses, the BDS movement and the attempted delegitimization of Israel are still taboo on far too many campuses and in far too many social circles. ISGAP is intent on breaking the silence and speaking truth to power.
Fortunately, a number of the participating professors are tenured and free to teach as they design. The other participants will weave the subject of anti-Semitism into their already existing curricula. It is very sad, indeed, to think that such courses are necessary after the Holocaust, but it is comforting to know that thanks to its founder and funders, an institution exists to address this crucial need.
Barbara Wind is the Director of the Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest under the aegis of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ
By Barbara Wind
