The real danger comes from the assumption that we are free to believe whatever we wish, that we do not have to engage ideas.
I have had students tell me that I shouldn’t raise issues in classes because others, not blessed with the “right” Jewish education, might be misled. I have met parents who tell their children to avoid professors who hold the wrong political views, or worse yet, to take a required course but never challenge the professor for fear of a low grade.
The real danger comes from the assumption that we are free to believe whatever we wish, that we do not have to engage ideas.
Many years ago I entered the new field of Jewish studies believing that sustained academic scholarship would illuminate the future of Jews, Judaism and mankind. I was naive; many of my expectations have been proven wrong. But I cannot imagine a nobler cause.
Bernard Dov Cooperman is a professor of Jewish history at the University of Maryland.
