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Blacklisted in San Francisco

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There has been a growing controversy since the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation first announced the most restrictive funding guidelines in the country.

from Tablet Magazine:

Academic Question

San Francisco’s Federation puts new restrictions on its grants, worrying Bay Area Jewish-studies profs

At first glance, an open letter published in last week’s Forward seemed like business as usual. The letter, signed by about 70 Bay Area Jewish intellectuals including the biblical scholar Robert Alter and the poet Adrienne Rich, protests a decision by the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation to restrict its funding to groups and projects that hold what it deems to be acceptable views on the State of Israel. Given both the ongoing acrimony within the region’s Jewish community over Israel politics and the propensity of Bay Area Jewish intellectuals to sign open letters, one might suppose that not much was at stake for the signatories beyond the hardening of lines around their political camp.

But for many of the signatories, there’s much more on the line.

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  1. I do not think “blacklisted” is the appropriate headline for this link. Nobody is being denied the right to speak, teach, publish, or promote whatever they like. What they may be denied is money given to the Jewish Federation for Jewish communal purposes. That is hardly the same as a “blacklist,” any more than a rejection letter from a publisher is “censorship.” Please note, I’m not taking a stance on the wisdom of the SF guidelines, I’m only commenting on the accuracy of this blog headline.

  2. Miriam-Webster also defines blacklist as a list of persons who are disapproved of. The SF guidelines are clearly indicating “disapproval’.

  3. Well, OK, but there are all kinds of people the SF Jewish Federation – or any Federation – doesn’t “approve of” in the sense of “doesn’t give communal dollars to.” That would include the Netura Karta and every local Conservative synagogue – because funding those groups isn’t the Federation’s mission. Blacklist is a powerful word, reminiscent of the McCarthy era, when lives and careers were destroyed by powerful government forces. Denying somebody a Federation grant- especially somebody employed by a state funded university who will continue to teach and publish as they please- just isn’t in the same league, IMO.