Sunday, June 19, 2011

Dear Yale...

Dear President Levin and Professor Salovey,

I am writing to urge you to reopen the Yale Imitative for Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemiitism and support the new structure and leadership. The study of this highly complex topic is extremely important to me and other researchers and scholars. You can only break down a topic like this through conversations and brain-storming sessions (the point of conferences and in-residence fellows). I don't believe that the study of antisemitism can be done alone and that's why a center like YIISA needs to exist (in addition to the one at Indiana University). As a future doctoral student, I want to have a place where I can attend conferences and produce papers to discuss and unravel the meaning of antisemitism and how it manifests itself.

I have done a book review relating to this topic. It contains a collection of essays that examine both antisemitism and philosemitism and I must tell you, after I read it, I realized that I knew even less about antisemitism. I wanted a forum but I only had myself and my editor to produce the review and I had to trust my own judgment. With these essays proposing new perspectives on antisemitism through literature, film, and politics, I was (and am still) left with a huge ball of knots in my stomach. Why did (and does) it happen and how can scholars and ordinary people recognize antisemitism if it manifests itself in numerous ways?

I admit that I do deal with the Holocaust as my major event specialty and naturally antisemitism is part of my research. There have been discussions as of late about the "new antisemitism" in Europe seeming to mirror what was happening nearly 75 years ago and researchers and scholars like myself only want to know how did that occur so we can recognize the signs today and advise leaders to stop the quiet or outright hatred. Antisemitism can come in many forms, even in the 1930s Europe. German Jews faced racial form of antisemitism. Polish Jews consistently dealt with pogroms and violence because of their religion and comparatively economic successes. American Jews occasionally heard verbal abuse but confronted more restrictions such as university quotas and exclusive hotels and country clubs.

These variations only raise a single question that I believe a center like YIISA has the ability to work through questions such as why such variations exist and how the victims combat them. Antisemitism seems to be like the game of whack-a-mole. They just pop up in various forms and it's hard to whack them all without understanding where they're coming from.

History has shown to repeat itself and I would like to believe that, with research and engagement, we can break that cycle.

Sincerely,

Sara Halpern
MA in Judaic Studies, University of Michigan

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