以我們的名義：來自哥倫比亞大學猶太學生的一封信
致哥倫比亞社區：
在過去的六個月裏，許多人以我們的名義發聲。有些是好心的校友或非會員，他們出現在哥倫比亞大學大門外揮舞以色列國旗。有些是政客，他們想利用我們的經曆煽動美國的文化戰爭。最值得注意的是，有些是我們的猶太同齡人，他們自稱代表“真正的猶太價值觀”，試圖使我們的反猶太主義生活經曆非法化。我們在這裏，以哥倫比亞大學猶太學生的身份寫信給你們，我們與我們的社區息息相關，並深深地融入我們的文化和曆史。我們想以我們的名義發聲。我們中的許多人在課堂上坐在你們旁邊。我們是你的實驗室夥伴、你的學習夥伴、你的同齡人和你的朋友。我們和你一樣參加學生會、俱樂部、希臘生活、誌願者組織和運動隊。我們大多數人並沒有選擇成為政治活動家。我們不會敲鼓和喊口號。我們都是普通學生，和你們一樣，隻是想通過期末考試。那些在反猶太複國主義的幌子下妖魔化我們的人迫使我們采取激進主義，迫使我們公開捍衛我們的猶太身份。我們自豪地相信，猶太人民在我們曆史故鄉的自決權是我們猶太身份的基本原則。與許多人試圖向你們兜售的相反——不，猶太教不能與以色列分開。簡單地說，猶太複國主義就是這種信仰的體現。我們的宗教文本中充滿了對以色列、錫安和耶路撒冷的提及。以色列的土地上充滿了幾個世紀以來猶太人存在的考古遺跡。然而，盡管幾代人流亡世界各地，猶太人民從未停止夢想回到我們的故鄉——猶太，我們的名字“猶太人”的來源地。事實上，就在幾天前，我們都在逾越節晚宴上宣告：“明年在耶路撒冷！”
我們中的許多人並不虔誠，但猶太複國主義仍然是我們猶太人身份的支柱。我們被趕出了俄羅斯、利比亞、埃塞俄比亞、也門、阿富汗、波蘭、埃及、阿爾及利亞、德國、伊朗等國家。我們與以色列的聯係不僅在於它是我們的祖籍，還在於它是現代世界中猶太人唯一可以安全掌握自己命運的地方。過去六個月在哥倫比亞大學的經曆就是對這一點的深刻提醒。
我們從小就聽著祖父母講述的集中營、毒氣室和種族清洗的故事。希特勒反猶主義的本質就是我們“不夠歐洲化”，作為猶太人，我們對“優越的”雅利安人種構成了威脅。這種意識形態最終讓我們六百萬同胞化為灰燼。
當今反猶主義的邪惡諷刺是對我們大屠殺遺產的扭曲逆轉；校園裏的抗議者將我們非人化，強加“白人殖民者”的形象於我們身上。我們被告知，我們是“所有棕色人種的壓迫者”，“大屠殺並不特殊”。哥倫比亞大學的學生高呼“我們不希望猶太複國主義者在這裏”，同時高呼“猶太複國主義國家去死”，並要求“回到波蘭”，我們的親人在那裏埋葬在萬人坑裏。
這種病態的扭曲揭示了反猶主義的本質：每一代人，猶太人都被指責和當作當時社會邪惡的替罪羊。在伊朗和阿拉伯世界，我們因與“猶太複國主義實體”的假定聯係而遭到種族清洗。在俄羅斯，我們遭受了國家支持的暴力，並最終因是資本家而遭到屠殺。在歐洲，我們是種族滅絕的受害者，因為我們是共產主義者，而且不夠歐洲化。今天，我們麵臨過於歐洲化的指責，被描繪成社會最邪惡的殖民者和壓迫者。我們之所以受到攻擊，是因為我們相信以色列，我們的祖先和宗教家園，有權存在。我們被那些濫用“猶太複國主義者”一詞的人攻擊，他們把“猶太複國主義者”一詞當成對猶太人的美化誹謗，將其與種族主義、壓迫性或種族滅絕性等同起來。我們非常清楚，反猶太主義正在發生變化。
我們為以色列感到驕傲。作為中東唯一的民主國家，以色列擁有數百萬米茲拉奇猶太人（中東血統的猶太人）、阿什肯納茲猶太人（中歐和東歐血統的猶太人）和埃塞俄比亞猶太人，以及數百萬阿拉伯以色列人、超過一百萬穆斯林和數十萬基督徒和德魯茲人。以色列對猶太人和整個中東地區來說，簡直就是一個奇跡。
我們對以色列的熱愛並不需要盲目的政治順從。事實恰恰相反。對於我們許多人來說，當以色列政府的行為有問題時，我們對以色列的深愛和承諾會促使我們反對。以色列的政治分歧本質上是一種猶太複國主義活動；隻要看看反對內塔尼亞胡司法改革的抗議活動——從紐約到特拉維夫——就能明白為我們想象中的以色列而戰意味著什麽。隻要和我們喝幾次咖啡聊聊，就會發現我們對以色列的看法大相徑庭。然而，我們都來自一個充滿愛的地方，都渴望為以色列人和巴勒斯坦人創造更美好的未來。
如果說過去六個月在校園裏的經曆教會了我們什麽的話，那就是哥倫比亞社區中大量直言不諱的人並不理解猶太複國主義的含義，因此也不理解猶太人的本質。然而，盡管我們幾個月來一直在呼籲反猶太主義，但我們的擔憂卻被置之不理，被否定了。因此，我們在此提醒您：
10 月 12 日，許多人抗議以色列，而我們的朋友和家人的屍體還未幹，我們就敲響了警鍾。當人們大喊“不惜一切代價抵抗”時，我們退縮了，他們告訴我們，我們“都是近親繁殖的”，“沒有文化”。當一名“激進分子”舉著牌子告訴猶太學生，他們是哈馬斯的下一個目標時，我們顫抖不已；當 Sidechat 用戶告訴我們，我們在撒謊時，我們難以置信地搖頭。當 CUAD 營地的一位領導人公開自豪地說“猶太複國主義者不配活下去”，我們很幸運他們“沒有出去謀殺猶太複國主義者”時，我們最終並不感到驚訝。當我們看到學生和教職員工用身體阻止猶太學生進入我們共同擁有的校園，甚至當他們默默地轉過臉去時，我們感到無助。這種沉默很熟悉。我們永遠不會忘記。有一件事是肯定的。我們不會停止為自己挺身而出。我們為自己是猶太人而自豪，也為自己是猶太複國主義者而自豪。我們來到哥倫比亞大學是因為我們想拓展我們的思想並參與複雜的對話。雖然校園裏現在可能充斥著仇恨言論和簡單的二元對立，但開始修複裂痕並開始跨越政治和宗教分歧建立有意義的關係永遠不會太晚。我們的傳統告訴我們，“熱愛和平，追求和平”。我們希望你能加入我們，真誠地追求和平、真理和同理心。我們可以一起修複我們的校園。
In Our Name: A Message from Jewish Students at Columbia University
To the Columbia Community:
Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who show up to wave the Israeli flag outside Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians looking to use our experiences to foment America’s culture war. Most notably, some are our Jewish peers who tokenize themselves by claiming to represent “real Jewish values,” and attempt to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism. We are here, writing to you as Jewish students at Columbia University, who are connected to our community and deeply engaged with our culture and history. We would like to speak in our name.
Many of us sit next to you in class. We are your lab partners, your study buddies, your peers, and your friends. We partake in the same student government, clubs, Greek life, volunteer organizations, and sports teams as you.
Most of us did not choose to be political activists. We do not bang on drums and chant catchy slogans. We are average students, just trying to make it through finals much like the rest of you. Those who demonize us under the cloak of anti-Zionism forced us into our activism and forced us to publicly defend our Jewish identities.
We proudly believe in the Jewish People’s right to self-determination in our historic homeland as a fundamental tenet of our Jewish identity. Contrary to what many have tried to sell you – no, Judaism cannot be separated from Israel. Zionism is, simply put, the manifestation of that belief.
Our religious texts are replete with references to Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem. The land of Israel is filled with archaeological remnants of a Jewish presence spanning centuries. Yet, despite generations of living in exile and diaspora across the globe, the Jewish People never ceased dreaming of returning to our homeland — Judea, the very place from which we derive our name, “Jews.” Indeed just a couple of days ago, we all closed our Passover seders with the proclamation, “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
Many of us are not religiously observant, yet Zionism remains a pillar of our Jewish identities. We have been kicked out of Russia, Libya, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Poland, Egypt, Algeria, Germany, Iran, and the list goes on. We connect to Israel not only as our ancestral homeland but as the only place in the modern world where Jews can safely take ownership of their own destiny. Our experiences at Columbia in the last six months are a poignant reminder of just that.
We were raised on stories from our grandparents of concentration camps, gas chambers, and ethnic cleansing. The essence of Hitler’s antisemitism was the very fact that we were “not European” enough, that as Jews we were threats to the “superior” Aryan race. This ideology ultimately left six million of our own in ashes.
The evil irony of today’s antisemitism is a twisted reversal of our Holocaust legacy; protestors on campus have dehumanized us, imposing upon us the characterization of the “white colonizer.” We have been told that we are “the oppressors of all brown people” and that “the Holocaust wasn’t special.” Students at Columbia have chanted “we don’t want no Zionists here,” alongside “death to the Zionist State” and to “go back to Poland,” where our relatives lie in mass graves.
This sick distortion illuminates the nature of antisemitism: In every generation, the Jewish People are blamed and scapegoated as responsible for the societal evil of the time. In Iran and in the Arab world, we were ethnically cleansed for our presumed ties to the “Zionist entity.” In Russia, we endured state-sponsored violence and were ultimately massacred for being capitalists. In Europe, we were the victims of genocide because we were communists and not European enough. And today, we face the accusation of being too European, painted as society’s worst evils – colonizers and oppressors. We are targeted for our belief that Israel, our ancestral and religious homeland, has a right to exist. We are targeted by those who misuse the word Zionist as a sanitized slur for Jew, synonymous with racist, oppressive, or genocidal. We know all too well that antisemitism is shapeshifting.
We are proud of Israel. The only democracy in the Middle East, Israel is home to millions of Mizrachi Jews (Jews of Middle Eastern descent), Ashkenazi Jews (Jews of Central and Eastern European descent), and Ethiopian Jews, as well as millions of Arab Israelis, over one million Muslims, and hundreds of thousands of Christians and Druze. Israel is nothing short of a miracle for the Jewish People and for the Middle East more broadly.
Our love for Israel does not necessitate blind political conformity. It’s quite the opposite. For many of us, it is our deep love for and commitment to Israel that pushes us to object when its government acts in ways we find problematic. Israeli political disagreement is an inherently Zionist activity; look no further than the protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms – from New York to Tel Aviv – to understand what it means to fight for the Israel we imagine. All it takes are a couple of coffee chats with us to realize that our visions for Israel differ dramatically from one another. Yet we all come from a place of love and an aspiration for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
If the last six months on campus have taught us anything, it is that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People. Yet despite the fact that we have been calling out the antisemitism we’ve been experiencing for months, our concerns have been brushed off and invalidated. So here we are to remind you:
We sounded the alarm on October 12 when many protested against Israel while our friends’ and families’ dead bodies were still warm.
We recoiled when people screamed “resist by any means necessary,” telling us we are “all inbred” and that we “have no culture.”
We shuddered when an “activist” held up a sign telling Jewish students they were Hamas’s next targets, and we shook our heads in disbelief when Sidechat users told us we were lying.
We ultimately were not surprised when a leader of the CUAD encampment said publicly and proudly that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and that we’re lucky they are “not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
We felt helpless when we watched students and faculty physically block Jewish students from entering parts of the campus we share, or even when they turned their faces away in silence. This silence is familiar. We will never forget.
One thing is for sure. We will not stop standing up for ourselves. We are proud to be Jews, and we are proud to be Zionists.
We came to Columbia because we wanted to expand our minds and engage in complex conversations. While campus may be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it is never too late to start repairing the fractures and begin developing meaningful relationships across political and religious divides. Our tradition tells us, “Love peace and pursue peace.” We hope you will join us in earnestly pursuing peace, truth, and empathy. Together we can repair our campus.
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