Bari Weiss, Rose Ritch resign after harassed over their Jewish identities
In an environment where monuments are being torn down, antisemitic rhetoric can no longer be given a “pass.”
By LISA ANSELLA WOMAN holds up a sign during a demonstration in Times Square in New York City in 2017.(photo credit: CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS)
The past two weeks have seen the resignations of two powerful Jewish female voices: former New York Times editor and columnist Bari Weiss, and former University of Southern California student government vice president Rose Ritch. Weiss and Ritch both cited outright hostility against their Jewish identities and solidarity with the State of Israel as the reasons for their decisions to step down from their positions.At first glance, both women appear to check all of the requisite boxes on the progressive checklist of suitable qualifications to hold such positions. Weiss cites her accomplishments of bringing in political dissidents, minority voices and other “voices that would not otherwise appear in your pages,” while Ritch cites her plurality of identities including “queer, femme or cisgender” as rendering her qualified “as electable when the student body voted last February.”Yet in her resignation letter excoriating the blatant hypocrisy she had experienced during her tenure at the Times, Weiss signals that the “lessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to democratic society have not been learned.”Both Weiss and Ritch assert that it is their respective Jewish identities that have led to their verbal harassment and vilification in the physical and virtual space. Ritch’s critics argue that her support for Israel has rendered her complicit in racism and by consequence guilty of espousing racist ideology. In her resignation letter, Ritch cites an aggressive social media campaign designed “to impeach her Zionist ass,” despite university claims to “nurture an environment of mutual respect and tolerance.”Similarly, in her letter of resignation, Weiss cites “constant bullying” by colleagues who disagreed with her views. “They have called me a Nazi racist,” chiding her about “writing about the Jews again.” In addition, several of her colleagues insisted that Weiss be rooted out if the company is to be a “truly inclusive” publication.As David Suissa, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, so keenly identifies in his recent article assessing Ritch’s resignation, “Arguably the worst insult in America today – ‘racist’ – is being weaponized against Jews who have the nerve to support the existence of a Jewish state.”The irony of this statement cannot be understated, and the inherent perils that the current climate of cancel culture presents cannot be ignored. In an environment where monuments are being torn down and, in the case of USC, buildings are being renamed in a campus-wide effort to right the wrongs of historic fascist and even Nazi affiliations, antisemitic rhetoric can no longer be given a “pass.”THE ATTACKS on Ritch are part of the broader corrosive influence of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that has permeated the mainstream of progressive consciousness. By suggesting that Ritch’s support for a Jewish homeland would somehow render her “unfit for office or justify her impeachment” in effect resurrects the oldest of Dreyfus Affair level antisemitic tropes that call into question the primary loyalties of Jews who hold public office and “holding Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.”Political disagreements have always fueled the fabric of intellectual debate and especially on a college campus. Yet in Ritch’s case, labeling her Zionism as racism effectively silenced her voice in the debate and rendered her fair game to be canceled under the guise of political correctness, which bends far toward the side of the anti-Israel narrative.What we are witnessing is a collective silencing of those who do not hold these toxic antisemitic views by those who do, ironically similar to the voices of moderate Islam squelched by the voices of extremism. Throughout modern history, intellectual curiosity and a sense of civic responsibility to repair what was broken in society were pursuits identified with both the college campus (think Berkeley of the ‘60’) and the printing press (thing Enlightenment). Yet, what we are seeing on college campuses and in the press is a narrowing of the acceptable definition of “woke” consciousness, where membership is qualified by an asterisk that Jews need not apply.
Our nation is at a crossroads with an upending of long-held beliefs, practices and even social institutions being questioned and redefined to fit the zeitgeist of the current political climate. We are not exempt from these vital conversations, nor should we shirk from necessary inward introspection as we strive to repair a world so broken by racism, elitism and discrimination.However, it is incumbent upon us to root out the misguided and misinformed ideology that has led to the resignation of these two powerful and important voices, and to decry all antisemitic rhetoric at every occurrence with a zero-tolerance policy. After all, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?” (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14)The writer is an associate director of the USC Casden Institute, and lecturer of Hebrew language at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Los Angeles.
