Harvard rabbi quits antisemitism advisory committee after university presidents' botched congressional testimony

• Rabbi David Wolpe resigned from Harvard's antisemitism advisory committee on Thursday.
• Wolpe cited Harvard President Claudine Gay's congressional testimony as one of the reasons.

David Wolpe, a rabbi and visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School, resigned from Harvard University's antisemitism advisory committee, he announced Thursday.

Wolpe's resignation came after Harvard President Claudine Gay, along with the leaders of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, testified before Congress on Wednesday. The presidents drew widespread criticism for their responses on whether or not calling for the "genocide of Jews" is considered harassment and a violation of their institution's code of conduct.

"It can be, depending on the context," Gay said.

In a post on X announcing his resignation, Wolpe said Gay's testimony factored into his decision to resign, explaining that "both events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped."

Wolpe said he believed "Claudine Gay to be both a kind and thoughtful person," that there are many good people at Harvard, and that the institution is "still a repository of extraordinary minds and important research." However, he said there was an ideology shared by "far too many of the students and faculty" that is "evil" in that it views Jews as oppressors and "intrinsically evil."

"Ignoring Jewish suffering is evil," he said. "Denying Israel the self-determination as a Jewish nation accorded unthinkingly to others is endemic, and evil."

"Battling that combination of ideologies is the work of more than a committee or a single university. It is not going to be changed by hiring or firing a single person," he said, adding, "This is the task of educating a generation, and also a vast unlearning."

Wolpe declined to provide additional comment when reached by Business Insider.

In statement provided to BI, Gay said: "I am grateful for Rabbi Wolpe's advice, perspective and friendship over the course of the last several weeks. With thoughtfulness and candor, he has deepened my and our community's understanding of the unacceptable presence of antisemitism here at Harvard. We have more work to do and his contributions will help shape our path forward. Antisemitism has no place in the Harvard community, and I am committed to ensuring no member of our Jewish community faces this hate in any form."

After posting about his resignation on X, Wolpe spoke to CNN's Kaitlan Collins Thursday night.

"I resigned because I came to the conclusion that I was not going to be able to make the kind of changes that I thought Harvard needed through that committee," Wolpe told CNN. "And at a certain point, you realize that you have accountability without authority."

Wolpe said the hearing was "difficult and painful to watch."

He also told CNN that he believes elite universities need to "unlearn" the ideology of oppression.

"So in practice, that means that people who say, 'Oh obviously to fix this you just have to get rid of that person or you just have to change this,' they're underestimating the fact that this is a deep cultural pattern: the idea that there's a class of oppressors and a class of oppressed no matter where you go or what you do," Wolpe told CNN.

"They have to unlearn that ideology and start to see individuals as individuals," he said, adding that, "Seeing a class of people as bad, no matter who they are, is intrinsically intellectually lazy and morally corrupt."

Following the reaction to the testimonies, the leaders of Harvard, MIT, and Penn released statements that appeared to backtrack on their comments. Harvard released a follow-up statement from Gay that said: "There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account."

Harvard isn't the only school experiencing consequences after the widely-criticized testimonies. The University of Pennsylvania had donor Ross Stevens threaten to pull a $100 million donation to the school if President Elizabeth Magill does not step down.

Billionaire Bill Ackman has also called on all three university presidents to "resign in disgrace."