Letter by NYC Council Member Inna Vernikov to
Jack Kliger, President and CEO, Museum of Jewish Heritage
Dear Mr. Kliger,
I write to express my disappointment with the latest news about the exclusion of Governor Ron DeSantis from an event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in furtherance of promoting a “message of inclusivity.”
As a museum devoted to teaching the world about the horrors of the Holocaust, MJH is an institution with a deep understanding of the dangers of political censorship.
As you are aware, when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, one of their first moves was to eliminate civil rights of the people, including freedom of speech. Hitler understood that in order to control the German people, he had to prevent them from hearing opposing viewpoints and freely expressed ideas.
In modern day America, we have seen attempts to “cancel” political speech, in a way that is reminiscent of Nazi and Soviet Era censorship.
With that knowledge in mind, you can imagine my surprise to see MJH engaging in a form of “cancel culture,” prohibiting Florida Governor DeSantis, a duly elected government official representing 21 million people, including more than half a million Jews, from attending a Jewish Leadership Conference at the museum. According to Museum staff, DeSantis was banned because his views “don’t align with the museum’s values and its message of inclusivity.”
Governor DeSantis is one of more than 36 million Republicans in America. To suggest that his political views are unwelcome at MJH, is to suggest that 36 million Americans are unwelcome there.
The decision to vet the politics of event attendees at MJH must be a new one, as in 2018, The Museum famously offered a platform to Rep. Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, a fervent hater of Israel and supporter of the movement to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction the State of Israel.
On the contrary, Governor DeSantis has been a great friend to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. I find it to be unconscionable that the museum has chosen to ban someone who has devoted enormous political capital to efforts including fighting Antisemitism, promoting Holocaust education, and providing security for Jewish institutions.
Mr. Kliger, I ask that you immediately rescind the decision to prohibit Governor DeSantis from speaking at the Jewish Leadership Conference. There is nothing more sacred in this country than our rights to free speech, freedom of expression, and the freedom to hold whatever political beliefs we choose.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “MJH doesn’t do politics.” However, choosing to refuse entry to members of one specific political party is, in fact, playing politics. Matters such as the Holocaust should not be used as tools to promote a political agenda.
The lessons of the Holocaust are innumerable, but one of the most critical ones is this: intolerance in any form, breeds hostility, suppression, and ultimately discrimination. For a Museum that aims to educate against these exact evils, I urge a swift reconsideration of the intolerant practice of banning a Republican Governor for simply holding differing viewpoints.
I was proud to be involved in efforts to fund the Museum of Jewish Heritage as a member of the Jewish Caucus, as well as allocate funds from my discretionary funding pot. I’m afraid that should the Museum continue in this direction, I will not in good conscience be able to financially support it. I will also discourage others from doing so.
I thank you for your efforts to support Holocaust education, and I hope to hear back from you expeditiously.
Hon. Inna Vernikov
Council Member, 48th District
City Council Minority Whip
(Hon. Joe Borelli
Council Member, 51st District
City Council Minority Leader)
Publisher’s Note:
I fully agree with every word of this letter.
I am a member of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, but I will not renew my membership if this decision is not rescinded.
Naomi Klass Mauer, Co-Publisher
The Jewish Press
Rabbi Dr. Jerry Hochbaum Remembered
I was very saddened to read about the passing of Rabbi Dr. Jerry Hochbaum (“A Mighty Tree Has Fallen-Rabbi Dr. Jerry Hochbaum, z”l,” April 29).
I had the privilege of knowing Jerry in his early years on the Lower East Side and was a classmate of his at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshivah. Below is a picture of our elementary school graduation class taken in 1946 taken in front of their Henry Street building. Jerry is on the second row from top, forth from left, and I am on the top row, second from left.
Rabbi Hochbaum has made many great contributions to the Jewish community and he will be sorely missed.
“Hamakom yenakhem etekhem betokh shaar avelay tziyon viyrushalayim.”
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, NJ
Words From Children Say It All
Much has been written and commented concerning the waves of terrorism currently taking place in Israel. None have encapsulated the affects of these actions as powerfully as the following few quotes from a Jerusalem Post article published on May 7, 2022.
Oren Ben Yiftah was the first murdered in Elad, the father of five. His five-year-old son, Rafael, said, “Dad when will you return? When will you pick me up from school? I love you.” His seven-year-old brother, Noam, said, “I already miss you. Why did this happen to you? I don’t believe that you will no longer come to my school. I’m afraid that there will be no one to take care of me like you. I promise I will take care of my mother and my sisters.”
No matter the age or stature of an individual, I doubt whether one will find purer expressions regarding the horror of this terrorism.
Howard J. Cohn
New Milford, NJ
Brinkmanship or Blinkmanship?
Our Jewish attitude to Vladimir Putin may well be embodied in Sholom Aleichem’s witty remark, “May Hashem bless and keep the Czar – far away from us!”
The present saber-rattling about escalation in the war evokes memories of the “brinksmanship” practiced between America and Russia at the time of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. How fitting it is that Bridget Brink will be the new United States ambassador to Ukraine.
After the crisis ended, when U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk was asked “What happened?” he replied, “Somebody blinked.” It is fortunate that our present chief diplomat is Anthony Blinken, who is Jewish, is not blinking vis-a-vis Russia, while it is to be hoped that he will blink and stop trying to foist the two-state solution on Israel.
Ed Yitshaq Levenson
Oaxaca, Mexico
Temple Ban a Mistake
The Pilgrimage Festival Musaf Amidah laments: “We cannot ascend to appear … because of the hand that was dispatched against Your Sanctuary.” Sadly, that hand now is our own. Intimidated by Hamas rock-filled hands, and those menacingly brandishing rockets in Gaza, the Israeli government banned Jews from the Temple Mount for the remainder of Ramadan.
Rather than calming tensions, that only further emboldened Hamas aggressiveness. After a brief respite, rocks then sailed over the Kotel onto Jewish worshippers below; random rockets from Gaza resumed. Worse, the ban has reinforced a gross misperception that the Jews, not rioting Muslims, were the cause of ongoing unrest.
Presence on the Temple Mount ought not be a zero-sum game. Islamist gross disrespect for Jewish religious sensibilities must not be allowed to dictate the conditions on which Jews can be present there. A Jewish government ought not, except under the most extraordinary circumstances, impede from doing so, those hearing echoes of an earlier call: “Let us go to the House of Hashem” (Ps. 122).
Richard D. Wilkins
Syracuse, NY
