Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof (Justice Justice You Shall Pursue), read a sign that Cornell’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace hung over Goldwin Smith Hall the evening before last year’s Jewish Unity Rally, when hundreds of Jewish students, staff, faculty and community members gathered to unite against the plague of antisemitism that swept through campus in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. For those who have supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on campus since last year, these words from Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy in English) have been a favorite way to exploit Jewish values to dodge accusations of antisemitism.
On the surface, it’s easy to say that using the Torah’s words as an argument to divest from weapons is a genuine pursuit of justice. But what is the context behind the Torah’s words and those of JVP? In their apparent bid to provide divine justification for BDS, JVP conveniently left out an equally important part of this line from Deuteronomy 16:20:
Tzedek tzedek tirdof l’maan tichye v’yarashta et ha’aretz asher-Ha’Shem Elokeykha noten lakh. (Justice Justice you shall pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.)
JVP’s preferred verse appears to be ardently Zionist, deeming the Jewish peoples’ return to our indigenous homeland an act of justice. So, given that context, what is a genuine pursuit of justice? In my view, there are a few obvious answers. Calling on Hamas to unconditionally release the rest of the hostages they kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, whom they have no doubt emaciated to the same extent as Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, is a good place to start. They could also call on Hamas to honor the current ceasefire deal by releasing Shiri Bibas along with her five-year-old Ariel Bibas and two-year-old Kfir Bibas, the latter now having spent the majority of his life as a hostage.
But Hamas won’t listen to JVP. After all, Hamas’ founding covenant is quite clear that the Jewish people, of which JVP members are part, should be wiped out of existence. So, perhaps we should turn to some more practical ways they can pursue justice on campus. At the most basic level, all students have a responsibility to do their part to create a welcoming campus environment, something at which JVP failed miserably when they came out in defense of students who shoved police officers during the riot at the Statler Hotel in September, trying to normalize them non-violent. They further undermined that responsibility in a guest column published in The Sun coming out in defense of a person who “takes his cues from the armed resistance in Palestine” (Hamas) and tweeted, on Oct. 7, “Glory to the Resistance.” By doing so, JVP at Cornell has aligned itself with an antisemitic terror group that carried out the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Put simply, shoving police officers is violent. To align oneself with those who support violence against civilians normalizes violence.
How do such associations impact a campus environment? Are we really to believe that Patrick Dai’s threats against the Jewish community and the riot at the Statler Hotel happened out of nowhere? Such events do not occur without something to incite them, which is why it is so vital that JVP and the Coalition for Mutual Liberation’s normalization of antisemitism and violence on this campus not be ignored.
Jewish law has an important concept known as Kol Yisrael arevim ze bazeh (all of Israel is responsible for one another.) In other words, this is a responsibility to assure all Jews’ well-being and safety. How does JVP expect to fulfill that obligation when we, their Jewish and non-Jewish peers at Cornell, have fallen victim to the violence that they promote? So, when we accuse JVP and the CML of antisemitism, it is not weaponization. We want the war in Gaza to end with the hostages home. We want peace for all. We want to be free of antisemitism and violence. The only ones weaponizing antisemitism are those who target us and twist our values.
My message for JVP at Cornell is simple: Our faith will not be your weapon for violence. Our Torah will not be a vehicle for your lies — all you have to do for us to stop accusing you of being antisemitic is to stop being antisemitic.
Ezra Galperin is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is an At-Large Representative on the Student Assembly and Vice President of Communications for the Center for Jewish Living.He can be reached at egg48@cornell.edu.
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