Education

Harvard Rabbi Blasts University Leadership Over Permissiveness Of ‘Antisemitism’

Screen Shot Of Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi Denouncing Harvard Antisemitism

(Screenshot/YouTube/Harvard Chabad)

Ilan Hulkower Contributor
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Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi blasted the university’s leadership Wednesday for allowing an antisemitic environment on campus.

“Antisemitism at Harvard is thriving. Calls to globalize the Intifada on campus. Harvard Rabbi slandered. Holocaust denial in Harvard Yard. The response: Silence. We’re still waiting for ‘Harvard to have our back,'” Zarchi tweeted Wednesday. (RELATED: ‘Words Matter’: Harvard President Apologizes For Comments In Hearing On College Campus Antisemitism)

The tweet also included a video of Zarchi’s speech on the Harvard campus before the seventh-night lighting of the Hanukkah menorah. Zarchi assessed the state of Harvard’s Jewish community in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel, as well as the local feelings of fear and abandonment by Harvard’s leadership.

“It pains me to have to say, sadly, that Jew-hate and antisemitism is thriving on this campus,” the rabbi commented.

“This bothers me until this very day. You know what happens to the menorah? After everyone leaves the Yard, we’re gonna pack it up. We have to hide it somewhere,” Zarchi said of the Hanukkah menorah.

Change to Harvard will only come when there is no need to pack up the menorah for fear it might be vandalized, Zarchi maintained.

Harvard President Claudine Gay and her husband attended the rabbi’s speech, the Jewish Insider reported. After Zarchi’s speech, Gay lit the candle used to light all other candles on the menorah and made no public remark, the outlet noted.

Chabad is a movement within ultra-Orthodox Judaism known for interacting with the secular world and trying to bring non-religious Jews back to religious observance, My Jewish Learning.com reported.