‘A Sense of Belonging’: Harvard Holds Inaugural Affinity Celebration for Jewish Graduates

More than 100 Harvard affiliates gathered in the Student Organization Center at Hilles Monday evening for an inaugural Jewish graduates affinity ceremony co-hosted by Harvard Hillel and the University.

Though Hillel has hosted affinity graduation ceremonies in the past, this is the first year Harvard has officially co-hosted the event. Graduates and their families filed into a packed conference room after passing through tight security — including bag checks, wristbands, and metal detector wands — outside the SOCH.

Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, the president of Harvard Chabad, delivered a “D’var Torah” — or “word of Torah,” a speech sharing a personal interpretation of a particular Torah passage — in which he praised Jewish students present for the leadership they displayed throughout their time at Harvard, particularly over the last year.

“Harvard declared by admitting you that you have the goods to be leaders in the world. The question that some of us asked in the Jewish community, ‘will you be Jewish leaders?’” Zarchi said. “Over the past year, you have answered that with a resounding ‘Yes.’”

In his faculty address to attendees, Harvard Psychology professor Steven A. Pinker contextualized recent antisemitism on Harvard’s campus by comparing it to violent attacks against Israel in past decades.

“Antisemitism at Harvard is a serious scourge, one that I am committed to combating,” Pinker said. “But to call the University ‘the bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment’ is, to be frank, a tad hyperbolic.”

“The threats to the Jewish state are real. But in previous decades — some of them in my lifetime — Israel faced invading nations on three borders and several wars that threatened its existence, one of which triggered a DEFCON three nuclear alert,” he added.

Shai-Li Ron ’24, the event’s undergraduate speaker, said she experienced personal growth in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel as a result of Jewish students coming together to support each other on campus.

“The following night, we held a vigil, and there on Widener steps, I learned the most important lesson Harvard had to teach me,” Ron said. “I felt in the words of our songs, an answer to that moment, that we are ‘am echad’ — one people — Israel and diaspora, secular and religious, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi.”

Ron pointed to the “spontaneous circle of students” and their “hundreds of voices in one” at the vigil as a particularly significant moment in defining her understanding of Hamas’ attack.

Ron also said she hopes Harvard can increase campus discourse and break from “cancel culture.”

“Perhaps it is in a Jewish value of conversation, persuasion, good faith argument that can help guide our Harvard in this difficult time to move away from a cancel culture toward a culture of discourse,” she said.

A student picks up their stole at the Jewish graduates affinity celebration. By Julian J. Giordano

The event, which was moderated by graduating Harvard School of Public Health student Ariel R. Bernstein, also featured a musical performance by Heather Johnson, a mezzo-soprano with the Metropolitan Opera.

Moriah R. Lit, who will graduate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education this week, recalled how important a role Hillel, the University’s Jewish center, played in supporting Jewish students during her time at Harvard.

“In my time at Hillel, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with graduate students at Harvard, and the impact of this experience on our community cannot be overstated,” Lit said. “Together, we fostered a sense of belonging, provided support, and created spaces for intellectual and spiritual exploration.”

Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Sherri A. Charleston concluded the ceremony by encouraging students to remember the relationships they cultivated at Harvard.

“Even as you’re finishing up your studies and as you’re moving on from this place, I hope that you will take with it the members of this community. I hope that you will take with it the love for the community that you have built here,” Charleston said.

“That is what sustains us as we move forward from one place to another,” she added.

Correction: May 22, 2024

A previous version of this article incorrectly quoted Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi as saying that “Harvard declared by admitting you that you have the guts to be leaders in the world.” In fact, Zarchi said that “Harvard declared by admitting you that you have the goods to be leaders in the world.”

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.