Shabbos Kestenbaum, 25, an Orthodox Jew and a graduate of Harvard Divinity College, was certainly one of a number of “on a regular basis Individuals” who spoke on the Milwaukee Republican Nationwide Conference (RNC) conference on July 17, 2024.
In a brand new interview with Fox Information Digital, Kestenbaum stated his “religion has offered solace and luxury throughout trials and tribulations. It has been a supply of power.”
Kestenbaum opened his speech in Milwaukee by proclaiming, “I’m a proud first-generation American. I’m a proud Orthodox Jew. And as of 5 months in the past, I’m the proud plaintiff suing Harvard College for its failure to fight antisemitism.”
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Kestenbaum stated that current occasions have solely made him establish extra strongly along with his Jewish religion and id.
“I truly purchased a bigger skullcap after Oct. 7,” he stated, “I’ve by no means been extra proud to be Jewish. I’ve by no means been extra proud to face with my brothers and sisters within the land of Israel. Within the face of adversity, I am not going to cower.”
He stated that after the Hamas terrorist assaults in opposition to Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he and lots of different Jewish college students throughout America skilled an uptick in antisemitism that they noticed and felt keenly.
“Once I planted 1,200 Israeli and American flags on campus, they have been all vandalized inside 24 hours,” he stated. “I used to be harassed by my friends merely for being a Jew, and have acquired numerous loss of life threats on-line.”
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Kestenbaum stated that Harvard college students and professors “overtly known as for brand spanking new Hamas-style assaults in opposition to the US,” and “refused to right away and unequivocally condemn” the homicide of 45 Americans and hostage taking of 12 Individuals on Oct. 7.”
College students in tents on campus have been shouting antisemitic slogans like “Globalize the intifada” and “Resistance is justified when persons are occupied,” he stated.
Kestenbaum described himself as being “deeply related” to Israel; he has many kinfolk, together with fast household, who dwell there.
In 2019, he graduated after a two-year program at Aish, a Jewish academic group; he studied Jewish philosophy, ethics and legislation in Jerusalem.
He stated the Aish program propelled him to pursue spiritual research in a broader tutorial context at Harvard, which for him, he stated, “turned out to be a bitter disappointment.”
Kestenbaum advised Fox Information Digital that he shortly realized that “normative Judaism, i.e. Judaism that sees its attachment to the land of Israel, was actually not accepted.”
He stated the college, judging by his personal expertise, taught about Israel in a means that “actually didn’t deal with the land of Israel in phrases apart from settler colonialism, apartheid, genocide and racism.”
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Kestenbaum referenced the current Jewish vacation of the Seventeenth of Tammuz — a quick day that commemorates the destruction of the second temple when Roman troopers broke down the partitions surrounding Jerusalem in 70 CE.
“We’re fasting 3,000 years later … in 2024, to commemorate that destruction,” he stated. “We’re intrinsically related to the land of Israel. We care deeply about what occurs within the land of Israel.”
He stated that in his expertise, what’s “virtually all the time” taught is that “anti-Zionism shouldn’t be antisemitism.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Harvard Divinity College for remark.
As beforehand reported, Harvard filed a movement in April to dismiss the go well with. Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton advised the Harvard Crimson on the time that “Harvard is dedicated to combating antisemitism and guaranteeing that our Jewish college students, school, employees, and alumni know they’re protected, valued, and embraced in our group.”
‘Shared future’
On Passover, whereas Jews have been celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, Kestenbaum stated Harvard college students in tents on campus have been shouting antisemitic slogans like “Globalize the intifada” and “Resistance is justified when persons are occupied.”
After his RNC speech, delegates got here as much as him to say that parishes and communities in South Dakota and Iowa have been praying for the Jewish group.
These slogans, stated Kestenbaum, have been “erasing any Jewish connection to their ancestral and historic land,” and a “name for the ethnic genocide of Jewish individuals … for the homicide of Jewish individuals on Passover itself.”
Kestenbaum just lately mentioned the escalation in antisemitism ever since Claudine Homosexual resigned from Harvard’s presidency on Jan. 2, 2024. He stated throughout a Fox Information phase that Jews have been being blamed for her departure and have been being known as “child killers.”
Kestenbaum advised Fox Information Digital, “Sadly, we’re [accustomed] to persecution, discrimination and bigotry … The Jewish individuals have all the time been the canary within the coal mine.”
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He added, “What begins with us by no means ends with us … Our shared future may be very a lot felt.”
He urged that folks not purchase into the damaging stereotypes, and as an alternative see for themselves what Jewish persons are like.
“Communicate with us. Discuss with us. We might like to have you ever for Shabbat dinner,” he stated.
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Kerstenbaum inspired others to “pray for us, your prayers work, your prayers are felt.”
He stated that after his RNC speech, delegates got here as much as him to say that parishes and communities in South Dakota and Iowa have been praying for the Jewish group.
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He additionally urged that folks advocate for the hostages to be launched by contacting policymakers.
Yael Halon of Fox Information Digital contributed reporting.