The Harvard professor speaks Thursday night, Jan. 17, 2008 at Temple Sinai.
Then she has a dialogue with Rabbi David Wolpe and answers written questions from the audience.
The topic? Her new book "Jews and Power."
She seems like an adorable old lady but she’s as tough as an Israeli.
Rabbi Wolpe asks her why American campuses are so hostile to Israel and to Jewish interests.
She does not agree with his premise. She says American students are no more anti-Israel than the general American population, which is quite favorably disposed towards Israel.
She says some people are attracted to studying Yiddish because it is the language of the weak. "There’s a Yiddish expression: He who lies on the ground can not fall."
Ruth relays an anecdote from Leon Wieseltier: Aristide, the former dictator of Haiti, studied as a priest in Israel. When meeting with a group of American Jewish leaders, he spoke to them in Hebrew until they told him they could not understand Hebrew.
Dr. Wisse loves Sinai Temple. She’s here with her husband.
"On college campuses, I feel that people don’t read."
"Nobody argues with me. They ignore me."
As for evangelical Christians: "If a group of people offers you their support in the area that you most need support, how can you not embrace them?"
She likes the main Republican contenders and considers the Democrats weak on Iraq and soft on Iran.
"For Jews who believe in God, moral confidence should come easily. For those who don’t believe in God, they should find their moral confidence in Judaism."
"We fail America when we give up our particularism… I tell my students, ‘Everyone wants to marry a Jew.’"
A pale young man with a paunch and ragged clothes sits next to me. During the course of the evening, he picks out the contents of his nose, then examines the resulting mess before putting his fingers in his mouth and chewing his nails. Then he repeatedly rubs his goopy hands all over his face.
I don’t pause to shake hands with him before fleeing.
I run into a friend.
"When did you get back from Vegas?" he asks.
"I didn’t go."
"Oh. I did. I’ve posted pictures online. I went to AVN. I don’t have your insider perspective. I’ll email you the link."
"Thanks."
