Rabbi David Wolpe resigned from Harvard University’s antisemitism advisory committee, dealing a blow to the school’s efforts to quell concerns over rising antisemitism on campus.
Wolpe, a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School, said his decision was based on “events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony” of President Claudine Gay at a congressional hearing this week.
That “reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped,” he said in a post on X.
1/3 Resigning, a Hanukkah Message: As of today I have resigned from the antisemitism advisory committee at Harvard. Without rehashing all of the obvious reasons that have been endlessly adumbrated online, and with great respect for the members of the committee, the short…
— David Wolpe (@RabbiWolpe) December 7, 2023
“Belittling or denying the Jewish experience, including unspeakable atrocities, is a vast and continuing catastrophe,” wrote Wolpe, rabbi emeritus of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
Controversy has intensified around Gay after her performance at the Dec. 5 hearing.
Condemnation of the presidents’ testimony has sparked a cascade of criticism from business leaders and politicians.
“Calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country,” stated Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman.
Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla, whose grandparents, aunt and uncle perished in the Holocaust, called it “one of the most despicable moments in the history of US academia.”
Investor Bill Ackman said “they must all resign in disgrace” while Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro slammed Magill’s initial response as shameful and unacceptable.
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