The stone rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118:22
The challenges of this academic year were extraordinary. The year began with the heartbreaking devastation of October 7th, was punctuated by moments of protest and rage, and ended with disruption as Columbia University locked its campus and Barnard College restricted theirs.
I have never had a more difficult year to reflect upon.
The overwhelming feelings I felt throughout the year were a mixture of shock and confusion. It was impossible to get ahead of events as they unfolded, let alone on top of them, and throughout the year, there was the overwhelming exhaustion of just trying to absorb them.
If I could forget this year, toss it out like the rejected stone [אבן מאסו] described in Psalm 118, I would. But none of us can or should. Too much of consequence took place this year. It is fundamental to who we are as Jews to try to understand what happened this academic year and to learn from it.
At this point, a deep understanding of what we witnessed and lived through is beyond me—perhaps anyone—but I can reflect a bit on what I learned personally and professionally from the year I would like to reject.
First, I learned that I live physically and ideologically within a distinct and precious community that I have naively taken for granted and that also fostered this naivete. Personally, what surprised me most about this year was not that I was emotionally unprepared for the slaughter in Israel or for the protests that followed; it was that I could not imagine them—that the professional and Jewish worlds I inhabit made these events unthinkable until they happened and still leave me at a loss to understand them. Our worlds have changed since October 7th, and my assumptions of what it means to live Jewishly in America and in Israel have changed. This year educated me and taught me how much more I need to learn. I close this year less naive, but no wiser about where we are heading.
Second, I learned the value of seeking and holding a variety of perspectives at one time. Since October 7th, I have tried to speak with as many students as possible and ask them what they were experiencing and how they were processing the events in Israel and on campus. I quickly learned that students had different perspectives on and ways to engage with what was going on. Some were very engaged and affected, others were less so, or grew less so as the year progressed—wanting as normal a college experience as possible. It was not easy to affirm the variety of perspectives, and even harder, at times, to resist telling a simpler narrative to people who asked what campus climate was like. I often felt a dissonance between what I read about and what I heard from students, but I was always aware of the interrelated and impactful power of personal and public narratives.
Third, I learned the power of having core values that are the foundation of a clear mission and am grateful for the values that have been the cornerstone [ראש פנה] of List College’s mission. This program values and integrates critical inquiry and Jewish living and learning.
What we do at List College is unique and essential. I have always known this to be true, but now in this moment of Jewish uncertainty, I feel it more deeply and a bit differently. I understood our program to be essential to ensuring a vibrant Jewish future. After all, our graduates are informed, engaged Jews who build and invest in Jewish organizations and Jewish life. But now, at this moment, I understand how essential our program is to a thriving Jewish present.
Right now, our program prepares our students to engage with this complicated, sometimes ugly world from a place strengthened by knowledge and a communal commitment to the value and beauty of Jewish life.
Perhaps most importantly, right now, our program enables our students to be fully, joyfully, and unselfconsciously Jewish. Our students celebrate Shabbat, study the timeless sources that have shaped Jewish life, and work to understand how social, historical, religious, and political contexts make meaning and shape life.
I may close this year less wise, but I am more certain that what List College offers matters more than ever in this divisive and volatile world, and that our students are the cornerstone of a world in which Jews and Judaism thrive.
