“The Jewish Theological Seminary of America last week announced the appointment of Rabbi Bronwen Mullin as its rabbinic artist in residence.” (via The Jewish Week)
Envious of the teenagers lucky enough to study “Great Jewish Books” at the Yiddish Book Center each summer? I sure am. But I’ll take what I can get—so I’m happy that the Center has given all of us a taste of the experience with this reading list.
Last chance! We’ll be hosting the July Jewish Book Carnival right here on the My Machberet blog. For background on the project and instructions if you’d like to contribute a #JewLit-focused link (not a self-promotional one, if you please!), do check the Carnival HQ. Deadline: July 10.
Here’s what I wrote:
“It is blatantly anti-Semitic to single out one nation and only one nation for these sustained calls for economic and cultural boycotts, especially given the genuine human rights abuses occurring in Arab and other nations around the world. Censorship like the one advocated by Adalah-NY destroys a core role of the arts to create a neutral space for discussing human problems and learning of the situations experienced by others. If anything, Adalah-NY’s call stems from a long historical practice of singling out Jews and isolating them from their surrounding society.
No cultural organization should ever respect or promote censorship. Thank you for taking a stand for freedom of artistic expression and against anti-Semitism.”
I have come to the conclusion that silence is not an option. I don’t always know how to best respond, but thanking someone for taking a principled position is clearly the right thing to do.
As always, thanks again for posting (depressing) things like this.
I just wrote Debora Spar of Lincoln Center a note of thanks for refusing to boycott David Grossman’s play.
The link for the Center’s online contact page is: http://www.aboutlincolncenter.org/contact-us/online. A phone number is at the bottom of the page.
Here’s what I wrote:
“It is blatantly anti-Semitic to single out one nation and only one nation for these sustained calls for economic and cultural boycotts, especially given the genuine human rights abuses occurring in Arab and other nations around the world. Censorship like the one advocated by Adalah-NY destroys a core role of the arts to create a neutral space for discussing human problems and learning of the situations experienced by others. If anything, Adalah-NY’s call stems from a long historical practice of singling out Jews and isolating them from their surrounding society.
No cultural organization should ever respect or promote censorship. Thank you for taking a stand for freedom of artistic expression and against anti-Semitism.”
I have come to the conclusion that silence is not an option. I don’t always know how to best respond, but thanking someone for taking a principled position is clearly the right thing to do.
As always, thanks again for posting (depressing) things like this.
Adrienne
Adrienne, thank you so much for this comment. I’m going to follow your example.
BTW, Creative Communities for Peace had an excellent response: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/top-entertainment-industry-executives-sign-open-letter-supporting-lincoln-center-and-denouncing-boycott-israel-movement/
It’s good to see that more people are seeing this for what it is: censorship.
Thumbs-up.