Shuffle the deck, King David

We got cards

Mar 03, 2025

Mr. Solomon:

We got cards. It is time to reshuffle the deck in public.

The new ADL College scorecard is in. It might be time to shuffle the deck on College Hill. Hamilton should not be rated yet.

We can change that

Without a new amended NYS Hate Crime Law, the Oneida County DA, along with the College's inaction, was forced to conclude that the anti-Semitic rant by Adyn Brenden does not pose a threat to current and future Jewish students.

Embers remain for you.

It is wise for any Jewish parent to remain agnostic about the new ADL College list (below), as transfers out of Hamilton and ongoing Jewish recruitment are the only accurate metrics for evaluating the college's success and failure in retaining its influx of Jewish graduates since our tenure in the 1970s and 1980s. While colleges provide input to the ADL, it serves a purpose but lacks our perspective.

The Oneida County DA and Justice Williams are not feckless lawyers, nor is Justice Williams a dishonest member of the clergy, despite his Church’s active support of BDS after it recently rejected Christian Zionism and divested all its Israeli bonds.

My lawyer classmates explained to me that the Oneida County DA had no legal basis to issue a superseding Hate Crime charge against Adyn Brenden for writing:" Kill All the Jews wherever you find them.”

Not until the NYS Assembly passes the Lavine Amendment to the NY Hate Crime Law.
Not until the U.S. Department of Justice-led Task Force to Combat Antisemitism file federal hate crime indictments against campus activists “supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews,” said Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, who leads the efforts.

Nonetheless, claiming no “Hate Crimes” on the Hill to the ADL illustrates paltering. Furthermore, short-term solutions aimed at the economic benefits for the Town of Kirkland, the Tantillos, the College's P&L, and Chabad of Clinton may create opportunities for viruses to proliferate unchecked.

Embers remain for you.

Two of our children, classmates I was unaware of, might make different decisions or not care. As I am facing imminent heart surgery next week, my revised estate plan excludes tuition at Hamilton.

Some of our hearts remember too much because appeasing those who hate us before we are born always has unintended consequences.

By the way, I have all the Gordon Prize poems I rightfully deserve because poets share their work with poets despite threats from putzim katan.