Wednesday, December 6th, 2023

Long before there was ever a thing called cyber-bullying, I attended a mandatory meeting at my daughter’s Jewish day school with the other Grade 7 parents. The principal spoke about the school’s anti-bullying policy. Here’s what he said:

“Cruelty and bullying in any form will not be tolerated. Cruelty can be name-calling, pulling a chair out from under someone, or any type of physical violence towards another student. The first time your child bullies someone or engages in any act of cruelty, he/she will receive a warning. The second time, he/she will be suspended. The third time, he/she will be expelled. And don’t come telling me that your child is a genius and too intelligent to be expelled. Intelligence is no excuse for cruelty. The Nazis were intelligent. The Nazis made rockets. But they also made soap.”

A powerful image indeed. That year, they expelled a boy who was a third-generation student at the school and whose parents and grandparents had donated enormous sums of money over the years. The message was clear. Cruelty is cruelty. It is unacceptable in any form and simply will not be tolerated. The students at that school learned kindness, perhaps the most important lesson of life.

Yesterday, the presidents of three of the top universities in the world, Harvard, MIT, and University of Pennsylvania, testified to the US Congress about campus anti-Semitism, something that has reached epic proportions across North America. All three presidents were asked the same question, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your school’s rules or Code of Conduct when it comes to bullying and harassment?”

That is a straightforward question.  It’s a simple question, a yes-or-no question. And yet, not one of the presidents was able to answer it directly. Their answers were convoluted, with these school leaders saying that it’s a “context dependent decision.” What?!  Seriously, WHAT?! I was appalled, as was Congresswoman Elise Stefanik who asked repeatedly and gave them ample opportunity to reply in the affirmative.*  Folks, this is pretty scary. If the super-smart kids at these elite universities are allowed to let their cruelty run rampant under the guise of “free speech”, not only are the Jewish People in trouble, but society is facing a catastrophic future. Intelligence is no excuse for cruelty. Let us pray for some morality from our leaders, let us pray for the safety of students, and — for the betterment of this world — let us speak out against this dangerous way of thinking!

Am Yisrael Chai!


*Watch a tiny segment of the exhange here.
Watch the entire 5+ hours of the grilling here.