A New Jewish Vision

WHY didn't Hillel participate in Visions '89?

Irene Shih, director of the event which included several other ethnic groups and over one thousand students, called Hillel's omission "regrettable" and attributed it to a "lack of communication."

Shih mentioned that the Student Advisory Committee (SAC) to the Harvard Foundation, which coordinated the event, does not have a Hillel representative or liason. In the rush to organize Visions '89, she said, the SAC never called leaders of Hillel to inform them about the event.

Correspondingly, however, Hillel never asked. Although the campus has known about Visions since early November, leaders of Hillel never called the SAC to request information.

But lack of communication may only have been part of the story. The SAC didn't forget about Hillel altogether; Shih said its inclusion was considered early in the process. And Hillel is no stranger to events run through the Foundation, as it is participating in its upcoming cultural festival.

BUT Visions wasn't just a cultural event. Its scope was political as well, addressing minority concerns such as admissions restrictions, the dearth of minority faculty, and the lack of a minority voice on campus. In this manner, the SAC's and Hillel's inability to contact each other may be symptomatic of a reluctance to confront a more central issue: whether Jews should still be considered "minorities".

On one hand, the historical experience of Jews on campus parallels those of other minority groups. Earlier this century, Jewish professors suffered from blatant discrimination when they attempted to receive tenure at universities such as Harvard. And quotas restricting Jewish admissions were prevalent only 50 years ago.

However, the history of Jews in America is radically different from those of other minorities, such as Blacks and Hispanics. In recent years, Jews have become part of the establishment on college campuses, while other minority groups remain woefully underrepresented among faculty and administration.

THE question of whether Hillel should have been involved in Visions '89 boils down to this: Is it appropriate for Hillel to stand with other minority groups demanding inclusion, when, in large part, Jews are already included?

Some Jews would answer a quick no to this question. Writers for the conservative Jewish magazine Commentary argue that Jews are no longer minorities in America. In fact, they see minority interests as antithetical to Jewish interests; they argue that affirmative action programs unfairly hurt Jews.

Others believe Jews must consider themselves "minorities," based on past history as well as present interests. For one thing, Jews suffered from some of the same kinds of discrimination that other groups encounter today; standing with minorities would be a kind of historical solidarity.

Jews also have immediate interests consistent with other minorities. For example, Jewish women benefit greatly from many affirmative action programs aimed at helping women. And historically, Jewish rights have never been protected consistently by any majority group.

Betty Mensh and Alan Freeman, Professors of Law at the State University of New York at Buffalo, wrote in the recent issue of Tikkun, "This ("We are not a minority') attitude is just another version of the assimilationist ploy that has been all too fateful for the Jews in the past...the vice of assimilation is that it is always superficial and fragile. Wouldn't it be better to abandon such a foolish enterprise, to give up on false security in order to regain dignity and self-respect?"

I agree with these latter arguments. In my opinion, being Jewish means more than being a stereotypical WASP who dances the horah. Jewish history, interests, and morality demand that Jews reach out to other minorities in the interests of justice and fairness.

HILLEL could thus have contributed positively to Visions '89. Issues of assimilation and racial harrassment are very similar for Jews as for other minority groups. And on the more subtle topics of minority faculty and admissions, Jews could simply have expressed empathy with other minority groups and offered support.

One of the central themes of Visions '89 was that each individual ethnic group does not have to have the exact same immediate interests to have the same overall interest. As keynote speaker Samuel Betances said, "Let's stop playing the game of my people have more scars than your people. There's no model minority. We're all in this together.