RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
Attempts at censorship continue to be contentious, as those with opposing views try to shut down debate or sharing of controversial or offensive comments and materials, or even ideas which simply are in disagreement with others’ beliefs. For example, a Hamline University professor was recently fired for showing images of Muhammad in an art history class. Last year a UC-Davis student organization invited Stephen Davis of the conservative organization Turning Point USA to speak on campus, but the event was canceled after protests and counter-protests turned violent. The Florida Department of Education, with the support of Governor Ron De Santis, recently canceled a planned AP course in African American studies, citing examples of what it calls “the woke indoctrination” of students because of content dealing with critical race theory and the reparations movement. What other controversy of interest to the Jewish community recently took place over the issue of shutting down speech?
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by Zakarie Faibis is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0
A. A rabbi who is a member of the Shas political party which has joined the new coalition government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has advocated for the expulsion of foreign journalists who write what he considers to be “anti-Israel propaganda under the guise of journalism.” He specifically named, among others, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, Christiane Amanpour of CNN, and Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post.
B. A student at a university in New Orleans recently wrote an opinion piece stating that Ye (Kanye West) “did nothing wrong” in his recent comments about Jews. In her article she noted that “For the most part, Jewish people run Hollywood. That’s a fact.” As a result of her piece the student says she received death threats and calls for her expulsion from the university, leading her to decide to leave the campus and the state of Louisiana for at least a couple of weeks.
C. The Student Life Council of a university in Los Angeles withdrew funding from the campus Hillel organization after Hillel presented a program whose guest speakers, an Israeli Jew and and Israeli Palestinian, offered a perspective that the conflicting sides in the Middle East could and must find common ground for cooperation. The Student Life Council president said that the program was “an offense to the struggles of the Palestinian people under the apartheid regime of Israel,” and therefore a violation of their policy not to support any organization advocating “discrimination, hatred, or racism.”
D. The principal of a high school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania ordered the school librarian to remove a poster from the library wall which contained a quote by Elie Wiesel, reading “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” The principal said that the message was a violation of the school’s “neutrality” policy, banning signs which could advocate “any partisan, political, or social policy issue.”
E. A Jewish Community Center day camp in Chicago found itself in the middle of a huge controversy when a group of parents complained about the camp song, Once There Were Three Fishermen. The campers were accustomed to singing the song including the line “They all went down to Am-ster-SHHH.” But some parents objected to the censorship, saying that free speech was an important value that the children should learn at the camp. Those parents and their children held a protest march in front of the JCC, carrying signs and singing “Am-ster, Am-ster, Dam Dam Dam!”
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