An Open Letter to Shayna Lavi and Viktorya Saroyan

Dear Shayna Lavi and Viktorya Saroyan,

Thank you.

On May 14, San Francisco State University Arab and Muslim Ethnicities Professor Rabab Abdulhadi told students in a UCLA anthropology class that Jews who support Israel are white supremacists.

This vile brand of anti-Semitism, marketed as thinly veiled anti-Zionism, has infected classrooms across the United States. It often goes unchecked. Associate Professor Kyeyoung Park, charged with moderating the discussion, stood silently by as Jewish students were accused of white supremacy and ethnic cleansing.

Shayna Lavi spoke up.

She bravely pushed back on Abdulhadi’s anti-Semitic categorizations, only to be singled out and subjected to a barrage of hate and belittlement for the remainder of the class; all for the crime of being Jewish. Park remained silent, refusing to even make eye contact with her.

Viktorya Saroyan spoke up.

In an email to the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Inclusion, and Law she wrote:

‘This was hate speech, there is no other way of classifying it. Watching an educator belittle a student to tears with such blatant ignorance leaves me to question the values UCLA wishes to uphold.’

There is still no apology from UCLA’s Anthropology department.

Incidents like these are on the rise. Speaking at the convocation for NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Steven William Thrasher called for the boycott of Israel.

We make up less than 2% of the population, yet experience 58% of all religiously-motivated hate crimes — and it’s only getting worse. In Germany, anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased by 20%.

This week, Felix Klein, the government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, told the Funke media group: “I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany.”

In a generation that defines itself through the lens of social justice, and only 74 years after the Holocaust, it is once again not safe to be a Jew.

Never again. What starts as a whisper quickly turns to a roar — a lesson my people learned far too many times.

We like to ask ourselves what we would have done if we lived in the 1930’s. Shayna Lavi and Viktorya Saroyan have their answer. It is time for you to find yours.

No matter what form it takes, we must bravely carry our Judaism with us wherever we go. In their footsteps, I am going to begin proudly wearing a kippah when I go out.

Shayna Lavi is Jewish. Viktorya Saroyan is not. It does not matter. If you see something, say something. We all have a responsibility to speak up when something is wrong; to stand by our promise of Never Again.

To both of you, thank you. May you be an example to us all.

With eternal gratitude,

Joshua Wexler