On Monday, I learned that the chance to speak to over 1,000 student pro-Israel activists is not enough to get Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of Hillel International, in a room. I have two questions: why not, and if that’s not enough, what is? Let’s start with the first: why did Fingerhut withdraw from the…
Hillel International President Eric Fingerhut was aware of who would speak at a J Street conference before he confirmed his attendance, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group said. “After agreeing to speak for the first time in a public forum with J Street U students he chose to pull out, citing objections to the…
Eric Fingerhut, the president of Hillel International, is withdrawing from speaking at J Street’s annual conference because of the presence of Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator. “My desire to attend the conference was based on my wish to speak at a student-only session directly with the students who will be in attendance, to thank those…
More than a year ago, Hillel President Eric Fingerhut declared that “‘anti-Zionists’ will not be permitted to speak using the Hillel name or under the Hillel roof, under any circumstances.” That statement came in response to the decision by Jewish students at Swarthmore College to open their doors to speakers and groups that oppose Israel’s…
Eric Fingerhut speaks at Jerusalem U film screening / Dorri Olds Trying to get an unbiased education about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a never-ending conundrum. It’s like the parable of the blind men and the elephant — one blind man grabs the tail and says, “An elephant is like a rope,” another feels the trunk…
Dorothy Zellner spoke with a rare passion about how her Jewish upbringing inspired her to join the civil rights movement in the Deep South a half-century ago. Alongside black speakers at a panel at Harvard Hillel, the on-campus center for Jewish students, marking the 50th anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom summer, Zellner explained why it…
Hillel International has given its stamp of approval to a Harvard event that included a speaker who supports the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel — arguing that, in this case, the Jewish campus group’s own ban on such events doesn’t apply. Harvard University’s Hillel center for Jewish students co-sponsored last night’s panel…
An Orthodox Jewish man covered with snow walks in Jerusalem / Getty Images New York’s got nothing on ancient Jerusalem, and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s got nothing on Rabbi Hillel the Elder. While we were all rushing home to take shelter from the impending Blizzard Juno, with its promised “historic” downfall of 30 inches of snow,…
