Jewish Leaders at Harvard Diverge Widely in Responses to Ongoing Pro-Palestine Encampment

As the pro-Palestine encampment enters its sixth day, the leadership of the University’s two Jewish centers varied widely in their responses to the ongoing occupation.

Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi slammed the protesters in a statement he released on the first day of the encampment, calling on the University to “remove these Jew haters and Hamas lovers.” Meanwhile, Harvard Hillel President Nathan B. Gershengorn ’26 promoted unity in an email on Sunday, affirming that the Jewish students participating in the encampment must be welcomed at Hillel.

“We also commit to being a truly and unashamedly pluralistic space for Jewish students on campus,” Gershengorn wrote. “There is no single way to be Jewish, and it is a distinct and unique institutional failure on our part every time any Jewish student feels that Hillel is not a place where they and their views are welcome.”

“This includes the Jewish students participating in the encampment,” Gershengorn added. “You are also welcome.”

On Friday, members of the encampment held a Shabbat service on the grass of Harvard Yard. Organizers drank grape juice and matzo, an unleavened bread traditionally eaten for Passover, and sang Shabbat blessings.

But at the same time, Gershengorn — like Zarchi — acknowledged that the protest in Harvard Yard has disturbed some freshmen students and prevented them from preparing for final exams from their dorms.

“Today, there are Jewish students who have shared that they are renting hotels off-campus or feel unable to study in their rooms,” he wrote.

He added that Hillel is committed to supplying resources to these students and called on the University “to wholeheartedly join us in supporting these students.”

Dean of Students Thomas Dunne wrote in a College-wide email on Saturday that students participating in the ongoing encampment “will face disciplinary consequences as outlined in existing policies.”

“Repeated or sustained violations will be subject to increased sanctions,” Dunne added.

Zarchi wrote on Wednesday that freshmen studying in their rooms “are being confronted with terrifying chants of globalize the Intifada — a call for the murder of Jews.”

“That those who seek the destruction of the Jewish people are receiving support from Harvard students and other university students around the country — as we heard today from Hamas, should shake every moral person to their core,” Zarchi added.

But Gershengorn’s message diverged in his insistence that Jewish students with a range of religious affiliations and political views feel accepted at Hillel.

“We are navigating a very difficult time on campus and in the history of the Jewish people,” he wrote. “I have heard students on all sides of these questions admit their wish to give up on the pluralist project. But this is the one thing we cannot afford to do.”

Gershengorn ended his email on a hopeful note.

“​​The Jewish community is not perfect,” he wrote. “It is messy, it is weird, and it makes no sense to anyone who isn’t part of it.”

“It is my sincerest dream that all Jews — regardless of religious affiliation, political beliefs, and cultural background — can experience the beauty of this community that we all know is there,” Gershengorn added.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.