Letter to Nichol: A Jewish Perspective

This is a very thoughtful letter from Jonathan M. Baron, W&M Class of 1992, regarding Nichol as a self-appointed spokesperson for the broader Jewish community.

January 2, 2007

Dear President Nichol:

The decision to remove the cross from Wren Chapel marks a deeply sad moment in the history of the College, and I join the members of the William & Mary community who have expressed disappointment and strong opposition.

In your e-mail of December 20 on the controversy, you wrote the following: "I have been saddened to learn of potential students and their families who have been escorted into the Chapel on campus tours and chosen to depart immediately thereafter. And to read of a Jewish student, required to participate in an honor council program in the Chapel during his first week of classes, vowing never to return to the Wren."

The attempt to justify, even in part, the removal of the cross as some sort of accommodation of the broader Jewish community is terribly unfortunate. The suggestion of a general Jewish intolerance for Christian symbols located in places of Christian worship is misguided and threatens to create the very divisions you seek to avoid. Judaism does not gain by denying Christians their historic spaces and practices, including when those spaces and practices extend to the public square.

Christians and Jews do not occupy a zero-sum game of religious observance. To the contrary, the Christian tradition in America has long held that all of mankind is created in G-d's image, and it is this enduring belief that has advanced tolerance and equal protection of religious and other minorities. Your action suggests, or at least concedes the point, that Christianity represents some kind of offense from which Jews require protection. Beyond the simple absurdity of the matter, contemporary events in lands characterized by declining Christian practice and/or growing secularism do not argue that less Christianity creates a more favorable environment for Jews.

The Jewish people in the United States have achieved unprecedented security, prosperity, and status as full citizens. It is difficult to believe that, whatever the motives, citing Jews as a pretext for removing the cross from Wren Chapel can do anything to improve upon this happy condition. Thankfully, we can be confident that American Christianity will continue to assert the tolerance that for centuries has made this country a land of hope and opportunity for the Jewish people.

Sincerely,

Jonathan M. Baron, W&M Class of 1992

Member, B'nai Tzedek Congregation of Potomac, Maryland

_________________________________________________