Boundless Insights - with Aviva Klompas The Antisemitic Rot at Harvard – with Rabbi David Wolpe
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In this episode of Boundless Insights, Dr. Rachel Fish is joined by Rabbi David Wolpe, Rabbi Emeritus of Sinai Temple and former visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School. Rabbi Wolpe shares his firsthand experiences with antisemitism on Harvard’s campus, his involvement and subsequent resignation from an advisory group tasked with addressing antisemitism, and his broader reflections on the challenges facing American higher education. They discuss the underlying ideological challenges at Harvard and other elite institutions and the urgent need for genuine viewpoint diversity and courageous moral leadership in academia. Rabbi Wolpe also reflects on the internal dynamics of the Jewish community, advocating for clear boundaries around anti-Zionism and urging resilience and courageous engagement.
Guest Bio:
David Wolpe, named America’s most influential rabbi by Newsweek and one of the world’s 50 most influential Jews by The Jerusalem Post, is the Max Webb Emeritus Rabbi of Sinai Temple. He is the ADL’s inaugural rabbinic fellow and a scholar in residence at the Maimonides Fund. Rabbi Wolpe has taught at leading institutions including Harvard and UCLA, and his writing appears in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Time. A frequent media guest and public debater on religion, he is the author of eight books, including the national bestseller Making Loss Matter and David: The Divided Heart, a National Jewish Book Award finalist now optioned by Warner Bros.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Rabbi Wolpe’s essay in The Free Press: "Harvard is Spraying Perfume on a Sewer"