Letter to the Editor: A fellow goy at Brandeis
Published: December 9, 2005Section: Opinions
Dear Mr. Montgomery,
First of all, let me acknowledge your courage in writing this article. I assume that you knew it would be fairly inflammatory, but you wrote what you felt you had to. Good for you. However, my admiration for you ends there, and fairly abruptly.
As a fellow goy at Brandeis, this article hits fairly close to home. I am also learning to deal with a new situation in which I am not a part of the majority. It is especially strange for me because I came from a high school which was over 95% white and over 90% Christian. So I identify with your struggle to deal with a new, sometimes challenging atmosphere. However, the conclusions you jump to are absurd.
As far as I can tell, you are basing the majority of your argument (I realize you make reference to other incidents and other people, but since you do not tell us about them I cannot consider that a valid point of argument) on three explicit examples, and speculation. Firstly, that you heard an admittedly discriminatory comment on the bus one time. This is an inane piece of evidence. Firstly, since he was on the phone, you have no idea the context of his comment. This could easily have been a sarcastic comment. Even if it was a violent, serious, angry comment, it is one person saying one thing. And, to your credit, you acknowledge that it could be an isolated incident. But your other evidence is equally flimsy.
Your second claim is based off of some posters that were hung up over three years ago. Again, these are clearly the actions of a few misguided individuals. Your final real example of racism is that some Jewish girls wont date non-Jews. Dont you realize the irony of this statement? Some Jews, depending on levels of observance, choose not to date a goy because in their life faith is so important to them that they cannot share themselves on a romantic level with someone who doesnt have the same beliefs. You decide that this must be because they consider a goy inferior. If you bothered to learn just a little bit about the 55% of the student body you are generalizing, you would see that you yourself are doing the same thing you accuse them of, being intolerant of their way of life. I know some people who wouldnt date a woman taller than them, is this some kind of a hate crime too?
Your speculation about the firing of a former president is just embarrassing. There is no way that you know all of the reasons that Ms. Handler was fired, as you were not even alive when it happened. Even if she was fired for the reasons you suggest, the Brandeis community has the right to remain predominantly Jewish if they want. If youre uncomfortable with that, maybe you should have done a little more research before coming here.
The rest of your article is based off of a few sentences from the Facebook that you read way too much into, and non-committal statements from people you know. I agree that it would be a nice idea to build a mosque on campus, but lets face it, Brandeis isnt the only school without a mosque and its a little unfair to pick on them for that. Especially since there are Muslim services offered, included a Muslim prayer room in Usdan.
Im sorry that you dont feel comfortable in the Brandeis atmosphere. If you feel discriminated against, my suggestion would be to talk to some of your Jewish friends about the situationif you havent already alienated them by making ridiculous, unfounded generalizations.
Goyfully yours,
Sam Roos