JEWISH WORLD

14 JEWISH WORLD • JUNE 14-20, 2024 By MENACHEMWECER &   DAVID SWINDLE A ddressing graduates at Ye- shiva University’s com- mencement on May 29, Senator John Fetterman noted that he was last at a graduation “literally a quarter century ago,” when he graduated from Harvard University. The pro-Israel senator’s reference to the Ivy League school, which has been accused of silence concerning antisemitism, drew some boos from the audience. “Today, I have been profoundly disappointed with Harvard’s inabili- A Progressive Senator Like No Other John Fetterman attacked Harvard at YU commencement ANALYSIS ty to stand up for the Jewish com- munity,” Fetterman said. He then reached for the hood from his Har- vard robe. “For me personally, I do not fun- damentally believe that it is right for me to wear this today,” said the ju- nior senator from Pennsylvania, drawing widespread applause and a standing ovation, even from those on the stage with him, as he re- moved the hood. Videos of Fetterman responding to anti-Israel activists in and around the U.S. Capitol abound on social media. But a different sort of imag- ery surfaced on Wednesday, as the senator received a presidential me- dallion—Yeshiva University’s top award—at the New York private university’s commencement cere- mony. In one video, which the writer and researcher Dovi Safier shared, Fet- terman holds hands with YU Presi- dent Rabbi Ari Berman and Rabbi Hershel Schachter as they and grad- uates dance to the song “Geshmak to Be a Yid” (“It’s delightful to be Jewish”). Schachter, 82, is among the most senior leaders of Yeshiva Universi- ty’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theologi- cal Seminary. In a photo that Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, a Jewish educa- tor, posted on social media, Schachter is shown blessing the sen- ator and thanking him. “During these challenging times, the leadership, service and moral ‘I have been profoundly disappointed with Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community,’ said Fetterman. clarity of this American patriot and hero of Israel have been a beacon of hope and strength for the country and the world,” Yeshiva University stated about Fetterman. Like Senator Fetterman, the Ye- shiva University community has been deeply engaged in the post- Oct. 7 battle against antisemitism, and in “the pursuit of justice for the victims and the hostages still in cap- tivity,” YU stated. “This year, in par- ticular, given Senator Fetterman’s career of activism on behalf of the United States and Israel, Yeshiva Sen. Fetterman (D-Pa) removed his Harvard Kennedy School mas- ter’s graduation hood in protest of its treatment of Jewish students, bringing the house down.  Sen. Fetterman (center) wearing the YU presidential medallion—the school’s top award – around his neck, mingles with adoring faculty members. YU President Ari Berman called Fetterman ‘one of the true heroes of our time for his courageous commitment to moral clarity.’ continued on page 27