Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Community

First Rabbi Ordained on Harvard Campus: ‘Worst Colleges for Jews’ List Deserves an ‘F’

As the first rabbi ever to be ordained on the Harvard campus (my bet din was held this past April before more than 100 witnesses in an event room at Harvard Divinity School, where I took my M.Div. degree in June) — Harvard was a wonderful place to be Jewish. The campus certainly is liberal; we’re guilty as charged on that. And The Algemeiner certainly is conservative, so it’s unsurprising that they don’t like us. Because they haven’t shared their methodology, we are left to guess at what led them to their conclusions, and my guess is The Algemeiner is once again conflating Judaism with whatever the Likud Party has to say, so that anytime anyone suggests, for instance, that settlement construction is a bad idea, The Algemeiner feels unwelcome.

Well, I’ve got some news as a recent M.Div. graduate of Harvard Divinity School and as a proud Israeli citizen and registered member of the Avoda (Labor) Party. Harvard stood behind me in every possible way, bending over backward to make my rabbinical studies possible, and even paying for my year in Israel as a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellow. The resources for Jewish students at Harvard are unparalleled, from a bustling Hillel to a library chock full of rare, centuries-old Hebrew books that students can just open and read. And Harvard is a place where we welcome all ideas, even those we may disagree with, as long as they are substantiated by evidence, methodologically ethical as well as clear, and take previous scholarship into account. By those measures, The Algemeiner’s article would have been unwelcome indeed at Harvard. It would have received a failing grade if turned in as a first-year undergraduate assignment. Maybe that’s what has got The Algemeiner’s feathers in a ruffle.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.