(RNS) — More than 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter objecting to President Trump’s crackdown on universities for what the administration calls tolerance of antisemitism, calling Trump’s executive orders and detentions of students who criticized Israel “cynical attacks on higher education.”
Its signers, who mostly represent Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist synagogues and institutions, include a broad swath of liberal Jewish leaders who oppose many of Trump’s policies beyond his disciplining of academia. Only a handful of Orthodox leaders signed the statement.
The letter, “A Call to Moral Clarity: Rejecting Antisemitism as a Political Wedge,” was jointly organized by J Street, the liberal American Jewish organization dedicated to a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and T’ruah, The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.
Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair, New Jersey, who helped edit the statement and is co-chair for the rabbinic cabinet for J Street, said the 550 rabbis and cantors who signed were the “tip of the iceberg.”
“I’m quite sure that the vast majority of American Jews support the sentiment behind this,” Tepperman said on Monday.
The letter begins by saying that the signatories are committed to fighting the rising tide of antisemitism. But it quickly adds: “… we cannot allow the fight against antisemitism to be twisted into a wedge issue, used to justify policies that target immigrants and other minorities, suppress free speech, or erode democratic norms.”
The Trump administration has launched a war against higher education for what it insists is a dangerous culture of antisemitism, cutting off federal funding for scientific and other research to Harvard, Columbia and Cornell Universities, among others, and threatening to investigate dozens more colleges and universities.
It has also sought to cancel visas and begin deportation proceedings against a number of students who had participated in demonstrations against Israel during the wave of campus protests last year over the war in Gaza.
“We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter says.
A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism. The poll, conducted by the Mellman Group in mid-April among 800 registered Jewish voters, found that 56% do not approve, while 31% do approve of how Trump is handling antisemitism.
Tepperman, the rabbi in Montclair, said, “The vast majority of Jews are concerned about rising antisemitism but want to see that antisemitism addressed within the context of maintaining due process and democracy. We know that … a governmental system that protects the rights of immigrants, protects the rights of residents is a system that is gonna be good for Jews. When that is eroded, that has typically spelled a bad time for Jews.”
HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, also issued a letter signed by 565 rabbis last week criticizing the revocation of student visas and policies toward immigrants.
“As Jewish religious leaders, we are deeply troubled when governments deploy law and bureaucracy to cause harm under the pretext of enhancing legal order,” that letter said.
On Friday, the Trump administration moved to restore some of the 1,500 visas of international students it had earlier revoked.