More than 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter objecting to President Trump’s crackdown on universities for what the administration calls tolerance of antisemitism, calling Trump’s executive orders and detentions of students who criticized Israel “cynical attacks on higher education.”
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Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair, New Jersey, who helped edit the statement and is co-chair for the rabbinic cabinet for J Street, said the 550 rabbis and cantors who signed were the “tip of the iceberg.”
“I’m quite sure that the vast majority of American Jews support the sentiment behind this,” Tepperman said on Monday.
The letter begins by saying that the signatories are committed to fighting the rising tide of antisemitism. But it quickly adds: “… we cannot allow the fight against antisemitism to be twisted into a wedge issue, used to justify policies that target immigrants and other minorities, suppress free speech, or erode democratic norms.”
The Trump administration has launched a war against higher education for what it insists is a dangerous culture of antisemitism, cutting off federal funding for scientific and other research to Harvard, Columbia and Cornell Universities, among others, and threatening to investigate dozens more colleges and universities.
It has also sought to cancel visas and begin deportation proceedings against a number of students who had participated in demonstrations against Israel during the wave of campus protests last year over the war in Gaza.
“We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter says.
A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism. The poll, conducted by the Mellman Group in mid-April among 800 registered Jewish voters, found that 56% do not approve, while 31% do approve of how Trump is handling antisemitism.
RNS: 550 US rabbis sign letter condemning Trump’s antisemitism policy
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