Posted on 02/13/2006 4:41:02 PM PST by SJackson
Our first reaction to reading Northwestern University professor Arthur Butz's latest claim that the Holocaust was a Jewish hoax was-like that of so many-pain, frustration, and outrage. But more than anything, we felt profoundly annoyed that the lies of a delusional academic would undermine all the hard work of so many to make Northwestern the welcoming home for Jews that it is.
Our Jewish Theater Ensemble just concluded a sold-out five performance run of the musical 'Children of Eden,' by Broadway composer Steven Schwartz, a theatrical interpretation of the first nine chapters of Genesis. Attendance at Hillel's Shabbat dinners has doubled in the last year. Our Orthodox, Conservative and Reform services have been enjoying some of their best attendance of the year. Students are attending conferences all over the country, sponsored by Hillel, AIPAC, and other organizations. Other students are preparing to host a major international summit on innovative approaches to social action, and another national conference on human trafficking-both completely student-initiated. Another group of students is launching an edgy, engaging magazine looking at life through a Jewish lens. And a creative and dedicated group of students is planning a huge dance party featuring an Israeli DJ to celebrate Israel Independence Day.
And yet all people would hear about was Northwestern's nutty professor. Instead of seeing the thousands of meaningful Jewish experiences we at Hillel work so hard to facilitate; instead of learning of our Jewish studies program, which features some of the best scholars in their fields anywhere in the world; instead of knowing about the creativity and enthusiasm of the estimated 3,000 Jewish students at Northwestern; instead of all this, the nation would only hear about the outbursts of a tenured anti-Semite, and would come to think that that was the end of the story.
So we decided to change the story. Rather than dignify nonsense with a debate, we re-framed this event as an educational opportunity on a grand scale. We convened a community forum, at which every student had the chance to vent their anger and frustration in one of many small groups. We then asked those groups to focus on some basic questions: "Why does the Holocaust matter? What does this mean for Northwestern? And how do we ensure that 'Never Again' means Never Again?"
Northwestern students engaged in those conversations with all the energy, creativity, and dynamism that we would expect. Their momentum was so strong that they decided to hold another meeting the next night, and to continue the discussion over the ensuing days, deliberating and planning their actions. Proposals have emerged for immediate activism, including bringing a prominent speaker to campus, holding a series of 'fireside' talks in the dormitories and residential colleges, and taking out ads in the student newspaper, all geared towards raising awareness of the dimensions of Holocaust remembrance.
In the longer term, students are talking about ideas to institutionalize the study of the Holocaust, its history and its contemporary relevance, on an even greater scale. While Northwestern already boasts a chair in Holocaust studies, held by Prof. Peter Hayes, one of the leading Holocaust historians in the world, the University could take this moment to go much, much further. Students envision the world's leading academic center for the study of the Holocaust residing here at Northwestern. They want to attract the very best Holocaust researchers and teachers to its faculty, creating interdisciplinary models of Holocaust study in all of its schools-Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Law, Business, and everywhere in between. With this proposal, NU students have shown a way to turn this painful chapter in Northwestern's history into a lasting legacy that will erase from memory the name of our sadly tenured kook.
In the past week we have heard from parents of current and prospective students, alumni and others, concerned that Northwestern is a bad place for Jewish students. We want to say loudly and emphatically, "Punct Fakert-Precisely the opposite!" Northwestern is a wonderful place for Jewish students to live, learn, and grow Jewishly. And precisely because of the way our community has responded to this incident, Northwestern is engaged in the deepest and widest discussion about the importance of the Holocaust of any campus in America. Now is the moment for Jews at Northwestern. We hope you will join us.
Adam Simon and Rabbi Josh Feigelson are, respectively, the Executive Director and Campus Rabbi at Fiedler Hillel Center at Northwestern University. ©2006 Louis and Sarree Fiedler Hillel Center at Northwestern University
Posted: 2/13/2006
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Northwestern professor backs denial of Holocaust by Iran chief
NU rips Holocaust denial-President calls prof an embarrassment but plans no penalty
The time is now for Jewish students to beat the living crap out of this scumbag in a dark alley. And then again. And again. Until he learns Jews are not to be f**ked with.
Ah, these Jewish kids have it all over them. They have an eternal soul and know it. B.H.
Does Butz really beleave it didn't happen? Or is he just a Nazi apologist hoping that idiots can be convinced so?
As Kinky Friedman said "they aint makin' Jews like Jesus anymore! We aint gonna turn the cheek this time!"
Yes there was no holocaust. And I suppose the Indigent people of this continent just invited us to take their land? And their was probably no killing fields in Asia in the mid-70's?
These revisionists make me sick.
I wonder if the Second Amendment will ever enter their liberal college brains.
Oh! Well all righty then, we can all sleep better at night!
Just curious, did Adam & Eve appear actually nude in the play or did they wear flesh colored body suits?
So, the pictures, videos, eye witness testimony, etc. of all the people who witnessed this crime against humanity were wrong? Lying? Well, my uncle saw it first hand. Tell him he is a lier...well, you can now I guess, since he's 87 years old, and can't kick your a$$ anymore.
Oh, btw, I'll vouch for him, and I'm easy to find.
5.56mm
I am shocked, SHOCKED that you could suggest such a course of action. Oh look, I think, is that an Indian nickel? I better take my time picking it up, while the gun cabinet...in the back...second closet on the left....the blue metal box has the ammo...is unlocked, and I sure hope noone steals anything and uses it to shoot a certain Nazi in the ass.
Just who are the "indigent" people of the continent? Do you mean "indigenous"? A rather smarmy slap at the United States, which if it didn't exist, the world would be ruled by Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin. Plus, many of the "indigenous" people of the continent, my ancestors, married with the earlier English/French settlers, also my ancestors.
All that Jews in the U.S. have to do is start acting like their cousins in Israel, who have sixty active years doing what they have to do in order to survive:
Kill the murdering Muslim bastards! And when they come back for more, kill them some more! Meanwhile, Jews live, and thrive, and raise up the next generation. Without taking advice from the kumbaya crowd.
It's an imperfect solution in an imperfect world, but in the meantime,
Israel lives!
A more fruitful subject to focus on is why there are so many idiots teaching in universities.
A rather smarmy slap at the United States
Flesh colored bodysuits festooned with greenery from Michael's(arts and crafts store). Before Eve ate that apple, they hid behind paper mache bushes, ala a 3rd grade stage set. Lol! Sorry, when you mentioned the bodysuits, my mind went with it.
What a great article, though. Thoughtful and logical activism against the typical libel that there was no Holocaust. I like the idea of the small groups picking topics to discuss. Conservative college students can learn something from them.
And so every non-Jew has eternal soul. The question where this soul will end up.
No, I don't think that the migration of Europeans to North America was always "peaceful" but I do think that in the long run, it was one of the most beneficial events that ever occurred in our world for both the Indians and the Europeans. I've never bought the "Peaceable Kingdom" theory of native Indian life pre-Europeans; the various Eastern Woodlands groups were constantly at each others' throats, just as the European peoples had been for centuries in Europe.
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