Dr. Nicholaus Pumphrey, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Baker University led a discussion about antisemitism, Islamophobia, and the war in Gaza on Nov. 6, 2023, at the alumni center. Many Baker University students, faculty, and staff were in attendance and contributed to the conversation.
Guests were greeted with light refreshments consisting of shai b’nana (mint tea), knaidel (matzah ball soup), and baklava so guests could experience Jewish cuisine during the discussion. Pumphrey labeled each item in Hebrew with its English translation listed just below it. Each attendee was given a handout with information that would be discussed.
“Antisemitism was our original topic of discussion,” Pumphrey started. “It has now been a month since the war [in Gaza] broke out, so this morphed into something else.”
Pumphrey went on to share the definition of antisemitism, which was originally used in Germany in the 1860s to express Jewish hate, but the term “Semite” refers to peoples of ancient southwestern Asia. According to Oxford Reference, Semites are “a member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and Arabs.”
Judaism is split between ethnicities. Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of Central and Eastern European Jews. They traditionally speak Yiddish and serve matzah ball soup as a reminder of the hardships of the past. Sephardic, or Spanish Jews, who speak Ladino, are descendants of Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal before settling in other regions of Europe and Northern Africa. Mizrahi Jews are those of Arab descent.
Israel and the United States have the largest Jewish population in the world. Israel is home to over 6 million Jews, with much more diversity among ethnicities than any other country in the world. The United States is home to 5.7 million Jews, with many living in Los Angeles and New York City.
“Jews receive more hate than any other group within America,” Pumphrey said. “Second is Muslims, third is black Americans,” he continued. “There has never been a downturn of antisemitism in America. It has seen an increase of 400% since the war began, according to the FBI.”
Openly antisemitic hate has been on the rise over the last few years, leading to divisiveness and scrutiny over the systematic racism that is evident across the globe.
“It’s the same rhetoric they’ve been battling for years,” Anna McCullough, Director of Student Academic Success, said. “People in power are willing for innocent people to die to make this go away,” she continued.
“More people have died in Gaza in the last month than all of the Ukraine conflict. So yes, they’re more than willing to just let people die,” Pumphrey added.
While the ongoing war has been described as complex, many eventgoers agreed that “Complexity is a cop-out. It shows that we should be informed, but we are not,” as Pumphrey stated.
Baker University students joined in the conversation, emphasizing their feelings on the current state of the world. “It is so hard to sit here in Kansas and feel like I have no ability to do anything or help those in need,” junior Ann Beall said.
Pumphrey concluded the discussion with an important note, “You can criticize Israel, do not hate Jews.”
