Context Is King

Ivy League's think genocide is like loungewear

Is it wrong to call for the genocide of Jews?

Turns out it all depends on who's being asked. Harvard, Pennsylvania, and MIT presidents think the question is nuanced. In a recent congressional hearing, they respectfully declined to confirm whether advocacy for Jewish genocide breached their harassment policy, explaining it "depends on the context."

Aah, yes, context. Because there are certain situations where the wholesale slaughter of Jewish men, women and children is acceptable. Or, to put it another way, murdering Jews is kind of like doing things in loungewear. Sometimes it's appropriate, and sometimes it's not. Context is King, my friend!

Murdering Jews is kind of like doing things in loungewear. Sometimes it's appropriate, and sometimes it's not.

Don't look so surprised; there are plenty of times when it's, like, totally cool to kill Jews. Take Hamas' October 7 killing spree, for example. That was an essential and honourable act of decolonisation. Or what about Nazi Germany in the 1930s? Sure, they took it too far in the '40s. But for the better part of a decade, Harvard faculty warmly welcomed Nazi leaders and worked tirelessly to improve Germany's reputation in the West.

Like most of us, I suspect you were appalled by the revoltingly anti-Jewish public performance of Ivy League leaders. Still, let's be honest, nothing about it was shocking. Morally depraved, to be sure, but surprising? Not so much. Yad Vashem released the following statement:

"The positions taken by the three university presidents in their testimonies highlight a basic ignorance of history, including the fact that the Holocaust did not start with ghettos or gas chambers, but with hateful antisemitic rhetoric, decrees and actions by senior academics, among other leaders of society."

Frankly, they are being too kind. The absurdity of an Ivy League academic being unaware of fundamental facts becomes even more bizarre when it was their university that historically legitimised Hitler's Nazi regime. Thousands of intellectualisations and rationalisations until one day, society found itself waist-deep in an ocean of Jewish blood. These 'scholars' are long due for a stroll through an Eastern European neighbourhood now scrubbed Judenrein.

One excuse doing the rounds is that the esteemed Harvard president just wanted to defend free speech. How courageous of her! It would be a respectable defence if it weren't for the fact that Harvard consistently ranks as imposing some of the tightest censorship in America. The school is named by thefire.org as the only university with an "abysmal" speech climate. Look, all I'm saying is that it's a tad strange for ultimate enforcers of safe spaces to become warrior free-speech absolutists for exterminating Jews. Surely it's more than a bit suspect that those so swift to silence the mildest dissent against their own fragile orthodoxies now clamour that monsters be entitled to spew anti-Semitic bile?

Of course, there is an entirely more plausible explanation for their behaviour. Elite educators understand the implications of their actions. They just don't care. That's why they now magically endorse "Free exchange of ideas!" Freedom, freedom for one and for all. You obviously didn't get the memo: we owe genocide stans protection when it's open season on Jews.

But how exactly are these sophisticated individuals, the bastions of elite schooling, capable of such moral turpitude? An education, after all, is the most sublime pursuit known to man. We are consistently reminded that well-cultured societies are the bedrock of anything worthwhile—democracy, equality, rights, etc. The power of educational institutions can imbue society with the highest human values.

An answer to this puzzle dovetails with a message central to Chanukah. This is a festival often described in terms of victory over darkness. As families, we commemorate the Menorah once lit in our temple, a vessel that symbolises the light of the intellect. And our Greco-Syrian adversaries are accused of figuratively blinding the Jewish people's eyes.

Yet our sage's portrayal of Chanuka seems strange, to say the least. The Ancient Greeks were champions of cultural progress. They were the society that contributed philosophy- and, in the long run, Science- to the world. Names like Aristotle and Athens have become bywords for the brilliant rays of ever-advancing wisdom. In what universe could such an enlightened nation be associated with darkness?

To address our inquiry, let's return to the very beginning. In the Torah's Genesis narrative, God's first recorded creation was light. But if you picture God building the universe like a contractor erecting a house, starting the project by installing some lamps doesn't quite add up.

It was more than a bit weird when John installed lights before he’d got going on the rest of his house.

If we were the divine architect of the cosmos, most of us would probably get the basic infrastructure worked out first. You'd form the planets, maybe toss in an atmosphere or two, sculpt some land masses - the large-scale stuff. Only then would you bother with details like illumination. Imagine if a builder started constructing a home by hooking up some LEDs before the walls or plumbing was in. Lighting should be the last step to enable usage once the major construction is complete. But, in the creation narrative, it precedes all else.

One solution suggested focuses on the dual way we experience light. People constantly walk around using light to get things done in their day-to-day activities. It is the medium through which we interact with everything in our lives. And yet, stopping to think about it, the light we use also implies a source beyond itself- the sun. We may bustle around the entire day, never glancing at the sky. Nonetheless, the very presence of light suggests a greater dimension.

Wisdom is elegant and powerful; it is a goal we should all pursue. But the end for which we seek enlightenment matters. Its importance depends on the context. The intellect is compared to light because it similarly possesses the two dimensions we discussed. Just like illumination, it can be used for all manner of activities, and yet we must never forget true wisdom's source. God created light first to teach us this lesson. Wisdom is not some utilitarian tool but a window into a more enduring existence. Its source precedes all else.

Those who exploit wisdom for their own selfish ends cut it off from its source. They transform it into a tool contaminated by whatever negative traits its wielder possesses. This is why the Greco-Syrian Chanukah villains are associated with darkness. And this is precisely how three bastions of American education, trained in all manners of culture and knowledge, can sink so low.

The intellect should be a tool for grasping the sacred. But wisdom, for them, is not a means to a higher end. It is a game. And as in all games, the Jews are dispensable.

Keep Pondering, and Have A Wonderful Chanukah!

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