Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance presents Crisis on Campus: Antisemitism, Zionism, and the Future of Higher Education

Sunday | September 22, 2024 | 2:00pm
Photo Exhibition in the Transept | 1:00pm
Sanders Theatre

The Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance/HJAA, in cooperation with Chabad at Harvard and Harvard Hillel, and in solidarity with partner organizations at other universities and major Jewish organizations, is hosting a historic summit on one of the most critical issues of our time. We welcome alumni, students, faculty, affiliates, and friends from the broader community.

In what is expected to be the largest gathering of Jewish affiliates in Harvard’s history, we are gathering to discuss the events of the last year and how they impact Jews in higher education. Together, we will commemorate and reflect on the year and set out a path forward. We will honor our fallen and our captives, hear from leading lights in the Jewish world, and build bonds of unity as we confront the ongoing crisis. By gathering at the start of the fall semester, we hope to promote necessary changes and influence decisions being made at this critical time. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Dara Horn, Dr. Einat Wilf, Eylon Levy, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, as well as students and faculty.

We hope to provide insight and inspiration to set a new course for the coming year, and to deal with the challenges of antisemitism on campus with honesty, integrity, and results. Jewish alumni are united in our belief that correcting course on antisemitism and Zionism will naturally lead universities away from divisive extremism and back to their core mission of educating the next generation of knowledgeable, morally sound leaders in every field.  
 


  • 11:00 am – Bagel Brunch Social will precede the event. Location to be provided to ticket holders.
    • Ticket holders should watch their email for a registration form to sign up for the bagel brunch. Capacity is limited; late registrants will be notified if space becomes available.
  • 1:00 pm – Devastation and Devotion: Drawing Strength from Unity
    • A Photo Exhibition of Images from 10/7 and its Aftermath
  • 2:00 pm – Crisis on Campus: Antisemitism, Zionism and the Future of Higher Education
    • Memorial ceremony for our fallen citizens and soldiers and pledge to work for release of our Hostages
    • Part 1: Zionism and Heroism: Reclaiming Jewish National Pride from Academic Lies
    • Part 2: Believe Your Own Eyes: The State of Campus Antisemitism and Steps toward a Better Future
  • 5:30pm – VIP Reception, Location to be provided to ticket holders.

Eylon Levy - Mr. Levy is co-founder of the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office and host of the State of a Nation podcast. He served as an Israeli Government Spokesman in the October 7 War with Hamas, becoming one of the leading voices for Israel. He previously served as the international media advisor to President Isaac Herzog after a career as a TV news anchor. Born and raised in the UK, he studied at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge before making Aliyah and serving in the IDF.

Dr. Einat Wilf - Dr. Wilf is a leading thinker on Israel, Zionism, foreign policy and education. She was a member of the Israeli Parliament from 2010 to 2013, where she served as Chair of the Education Committee and Member of the influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Born and raised in Israel, Dr. Wilf served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces, Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Dr. Wilf has a BA from Harvard, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. She was the Goldman Visiting Professor at Georgetown University.

Dr. Wilf is the author of seven books that explore key issues in Israeli society. “We Should All Be Zionists”, published in 2022, brings together her essays from the past four years on Israel, Zionism and the path to peace; the co-authored “The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace”, was published in 2020.

Dr. Dara Horn - Dr. Horn is the award-winning author of six books, including the novels In the Image (Norton 2002), The World to Come (Norton 2006), All Other Nights (Norton 2009), A Guide for the Perplexed (Norton 2013), and Eternal Life (Norton 2018), and the essay collection People Love Dead Jews (Norton 2021).

One of Granta magazine’s Best Young American Novelists, her books have been translated into eleven languages and she is the recipient of numerous prizes for her fiction. Her nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, and The Jewish Review of Books, among many other publications, and she is a regular columnist for Tablet.

Horn received her doctorate in Yiddish and Hebrew literature from Harvard University. She has taught courses in these subjects at Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University, and has held the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professorship in Jewish Studies at Harvard. She has lectured for audiences in hundreds of venues throughout North America, Israel and Australia. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt - Deborah E. Lipstadt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 30, 2022 as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, with the rank of Ambassador. As Special Envoy, she leads efforts to advance U.S. foreign policy to counter antisemitism throughout the world.

Special Envoy Lipstadt has a storied career as a historian, academic, and author. At Emory University’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, which she helped to found, she served as the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies. She has also taught at the University of Washington, UCLA and Occidental College. Special Envoy Lipstadt also served as a research fellow at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Her numerous, award-winning books include: The Eichmann Trial; Denial: Holocaust History on Trial; Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory; and Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933-1945. She received the National Jewish Book Award three times, most recently in 2019 for Antisemitism: Here and Now. Her biographical study of Golda Meir was published by Yale University Press in 2023. She was also named as one of TIME 100’s Most Influential People of 2023.

In April 2024, Ambassador Lipstadt was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest learned societies in United States. Special Envoy Lipstadt is probably best known for having been sued for libel by David Irving, one of the world’s leading Holocaust deniers. The case, which lasted for six years and was heard in court in a twelve-week trial, resulted in Irving being declared by the court to be “a right-wing polemicist,” who engages in antisemitism, racism, and misogyny. That trial was depicted in the 2016 film Denial , which was based on her book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier .

Special Envoy Lipstadt was a historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, helping design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust. She has held a Presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (from Presidents Clinton and Obama) and was asked by President George W. Bush to represent the White House at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Special Envoy Lipstadt holds a BA from the City College of New York and an MA and PhD from Brandeis University.

 
 

Event Security Notice:

No bags allowed. 

All attendees may be required to undergo/abide by additional security measures at this event. Ticket holders will be notified prior to the event if any additional measures may apply.


Ticket Prices

Early Bird Sale (until 12:00PM on 9/16/24):
General Admission: $18
Students: $7
Premium: $180

Regular Pricing (starting at 12:01PM on 9/16/24):
General Admission: $36
Students: $7
Premium: $180

Premium tickets include a preferred seating area in Sanders Theatre and access to a post-event reception (details to be announced).

If interested in private bus transportation from NY/NJ/CT, email HJAASanders@gmail.com for more information.

 

Run Time

3 hours, with intermission.

  

Parking

Free parking is available at the Broadway Garage, located at 7 Felton Street, between Broadway and Cambridge Streets. Parking is from one hour pre-performance to one hour post. More info at Parking & Directions.

 

Sanders Theatre

45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138
View in Google Maps

Sanders Theatre interior