"Imagine a World without Jews" Hofstra University professor

[grossproffit]

After telling a professor I would need to miss class for the Jewish high holidays, I was told I needed to re-evaluate my religious beliefs. That same professor told the class to imagine a world without Jews in it.

Later, a student compared the Jewish tradition of marrying within the religion to Nazi eugenics. When I approached the aforementioned professor after class to tell her how uncomfortable the comments had me feel, I was essentially told to be less sensitive.

Then, just three days after the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in which 11 Jews were shot attending services, another professor asked the class to discuss whether the shooter was “truly evil.” Many students expressed the belief that the shooter, who murdered 11 innocent Jewish people, could not be considered evil as he did what he believed was right.

On another occasion, a classmate told me it was no longer important to learn about the Holocaust since everyone knows about it already. I disagreed, citing a statistic stating that over a third of people in major European cities do not know about Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp in Nazi Germany. She replied, “Of course Europeans wouldn’t know about that, the Holocaust is American history.”

https://www.thehofstrachronicle.com/category/editorials/2019/9/12/t703om6ntzdjzq9bcxkquvf93fqyum

It's time to start suing the crap out of these universities.

[raging moderate]

1. .Oh! This Gentile stands with Jews!

I am so sorry to hear all this! Please, Jewish Friends, know that you have many, many of us standing with you! I grew up in a Chicago neighborhood with many Jewish people. I had so many good experiences with Jewish people who lived around me! Some of us love you! Imagine a world without Jews? Yeah, like the old pagan Europe was so great! Mass human sacrifices, unlimited rights of bullying chieftains, constant drunken stupors, rampant illness and food poisoning! (Did you know that the Hebrew Bible not only mandates frequent cleaning but also helpfully gives the basic recipe for soap? It took my ancestors awhile to digest all the information in that book, but they eventually figured out that it suggested that a whole lot of cleaning should be happening!) Then there are people like Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein! And the idea that everyone should learn to read. (The Hebrew scriptures advocate reading and striving to gain wisdom.) And there is social justice and the rules about helping poor people (Those Hebrew scriptures forbid oppression and mandate sharing of one's wealth, with the reminder that Someone Very Powerful may care how a king treats his people.) I think you people can feel proud of the overall effect your ancestors have had on the world.

[JudyM]

32. Thanks for your kind message. Allies are important.

Now more than ever in my lifetime.

[still_one]

2. At the minimum the professor should be fired

[dchill]

3. And blackballed.

[still_one]

4. I agree

[iluvtennis]

10. + 1 nt

[elleng]

5. They should at LEAST be educated,

the universities that is. HOFSTRA??? OMG!

[area51]

6. WTF?

[Paladin]

7. At Hofstra? On Long Island, NY? For real?

I have some familiarity with Hofstra, from a few years ago. Back then, a significant portion of the student body and faculty was in fact Jewish. Have things changed?

Regardless of any changes, those comments and actions are way the hell out of line, and need to be confronted. Sorry you were subjected to such things.

[thesquanderer]

8. "Imagine a World without Jews" is possibly about the LEAST offensive thing in that article.

Because at least that one can be answered with, imagine a world without Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, Bob Dylan, Stephen Spielberg, William Shatner, et al.

[grantcart]

15. Jesus, Mel Brooks, etc.

[RussellCattle]

28. I thought that including William Shatner was funny.

Jesus and Mel Brooks are funny when paired together though.

[mucifer]

33. yeah, that made me laugh

[JudyM]

24. LOL, William Shatner

And Leonard Nimoy!

[cannabis_flower]

29. Adam Sandler's song about everyone that celebrates Hanukkah

[packman]

9. Need some info about the college?

https://www.hofstra.edu/

[steventh]

11. Shocking!

I'm somewhat familiar with Long Island NY, where Hofstra U is located in Hempstead NY. I'm under the impression that Long Island has a large Jewish population. So I find this story of an openly anti-Semitic individual teaching in this school at this location surprising. It takes chutzpah (nerve, gall).

I looked at Hofstra's web page and found this:

https://www.hofstra.edu/index.html

Hofstra University is an EO/AA/ADA educator and employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, physical or mental disability, marital or veteran status in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Hofstra University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to its students.

There's a Holocaust Museum just 12.5 miles north of Hofstra in Glen Cove NY.

https://www.hmtcli.org/museum/permanent-exhibit/

We offer a contextualized history to explain the 1930s increase of intolerance, the reduction of human rights, and the lack of intervention that enabled the persecution and mass murder of millions of Jews and others, including people with disabilities, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gays, and Polish intelligentsia.

It makes me wonder how such ignorance on the part of the teacher and a couple of students exists so close to the building holding information about the tragic history of the holocaust.

[Karadeniz]

12. Just awful...professors may know a lot of facts but lack overall understanding.

[The Wizard]

13. The Nutty Professor

could use an Enlightenment moment.

[TNNurse]

14. What was the subject of this class???

Was it how to be an ignorant bigot? Was it White Supremacy 101 , Christians Only????

[grantcart]

16. Color me sceptical. Current President of Hofstra is Dr. Stuart Rabininowtz

[thesquanderer]

19. Lots of people hate their bosses.

Working for someone of a different religion, color, ethnic group, does not mean you can't be bigoted against people of that religion, color, ethnic group.

[grantcart]

22. I just think that if there was widespread antisemitism that the President would take action

For all we know it's a student who hates her professor.

If someone said "imagine a world without Jews They were more likely to try and get the students to think of how Jews have enriched civilization.

[thesquanderer]

25. re:"They were more likely to try and get the students to think of how Jews have enriched civilizatio

That was my first thought when I saw the headline of the post, I thought it was going to be a positive article! Alas...

[AJT]

17. Can you imagine a world without antisemitism?

Oh, yes please yes.

[ananda]

18. Geezus! I hate the assumption of superiority among haters.

Why do people need to feel better at the expense of others?

I really hate hate.

[lunatica]

20. the World would be a bleak place indeed

if variety, culture, language, art, and diversity were taken out. Life would be a burden of sameness, an excess of dullness and starved of imagination. I prefer not to be part of it. I would opt out.

[Perseus]

21. "Of course Europeans wouldn't know about that, the Holocaust is American history." --- WOW!

That right there should have earned the student an "F" and disqualification for the rest of the class.

I read the book titled "Auschwitz" when I was a kid, it should be mandatory reading. People need to know about that and feel the pain those people suffered to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I wish the curriculum of schools today, and I mean from 1st grade on, would have a minimum of six books as mandatory reading. Of course they would have to choose well to take them from children literature to youth and adult, but books that teach about life, history, about being good human beings should be part of it.

There are so many books out there that would open kids eyes to what the World should be, to the beauty of diversity, to the beauty the World provides.

Art, music like the teach in Europe which by the time a kid is out of 8th grade they can read music perfectly should be taught at schools, and it is these things republicans like to cut funds because they know these expand the mind, and republicans are only interested in keeping people stupid.

[LiberalFighter]

23. Wow! Unbelievable!!!

And they are stupid.!

Imagine a world without Jews? If that were the case there wouldn't be any Christians either because Christianity relied on the existence of the Jewish religion.

[crazytown]

26. That train is never late

Anti-semitism is zombie bigotry. No matter how insane it is to the core ...

[demigoddess]

27. stupidity is on the rise. That gives rise to all these versions of hate.

Jesus, I hate this era, and all that goes with it.

[Backseat Driver]

30. Was this a Humanities class?

Just a few thoughts: I've had instructors purposely challenge the class with "hard" positions in order to elicit discussions about ethics, morality, religion, and politics - Instead of feeling victimized, did any of the students speak up to challenge the ideas of those the writer found offensive. As for litigation, isn't college a place where one learns about functioning in the adult world and discerning truths, facts, and how to come to terms of one's own beliefs and living with many who don't share that perspective? Perhaps what happened means only a clue that this particular university isn't the place the student will best learn.

For instance, I believe better gun control regulations will help control the epidemic violent use of assault weapons; and "responsible" owners via the 2nd amendment should not have problems with compliance of reasonable regulation outside a specifically named, well-regulated militia. Yet, going to college saw "show and tell" in my Humanities by a student and a discussion of different aspects of ownership and use while that student's Glock was being passed around the room.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

31. And here I thought "Imagine a World without Jews" was a way

to recognize how much western civilization owes to Jews.

[Red Pest]

34. Some thoughts on this overt antisemitism

It is more than a little surprising to me that this occurred at Hofstra University with no consequences for the offending professor. I have been a professor at the University of Rhode Island for 37+ years. At the start of every academic year the University administration sends out a notice reminding all the faculty (both tenure track and non-tenure track) that students are allowed to take days for religious observances. They specifically list the major religious holidays, especially Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I would expect that the Hofstra University administration does the same.

Further, in my years at URI, I have never heard of a faculty member harassing a student over religious observances (though I do know of a few sexual harassment cases). I am sure that if there was that sort of overt antisemitism on campus, especially committed by a faculty member, I would have heard about it as I was on the Hillel Board and my wife was the president of our Hebrew school and of our synagogue (which includes many faculty members).

I would suggest that the student involved lodge a complaint with the Dean of the college in which the professor is in and also go to the Affirmative Action Office and lodge a complaint.

[Behind the Aegis]

35. Heartening to see so many postive responses.

They far outpace the 'splaners and sceptics. What a nice change.

[MosheFeingold]

37. Concur

I expected to be goysplained.

Maybe we can all stop pretending that supposedly liberal colleges are any less hostile to Jewish people as "whites-only" trailer parks in Alabama.

[MyMission]

36. Seeing headline, i thought it might be a positive article about the contributions of Jews

Silly me. A world without Jews would also be a world with no Jesus, no 10 commandments, no scriptures, no polio vaccine, no societal laws, etc. We have made tremendous contributions to society, wherever we have lived.

But I knew with so many replies it wasn't positive, even before I read the thread. And I know Hofstra.

I must admit, I attended grad school at Hofstra in early 1980's, have a diploma somewhere. MA, with distinction, dropped out of the PhD program ABD, it is a corporate entity more than many schools.

Will send them a letter about this (and they will send me a request for money).

The anti-Semitic handwriting is all over the walls of many places, figuratively and often literally. Just because there are many Jews in the NY area, who enjoy community in large numbers, there are many more non-jews. Some of those embrace their Jewish friends, teachers, community, while others resent and feel hostility and prejudice towards us.