It began with a seemingly polite question from my longtime doctor during my annual physical in December, 2023: “So how are things at Pepperdine?”
Immediately, in the context of that moment, I knew it was much more than small talk. Over almost 20 years as my GP, we’ve rarely discussed faith — he a Jew, and I a Christian. Just a year earlier, he had told me with great pride that his daughter had been admitted to a highly-regarded public university in the Midwest. On this day, he haltingly described that young lady’s trials as Jew on campus, wondering whether she should put a Hanukkah Menorah up in her dorm room window out of fear of attack.
The phrase “October 8th Jew” is credited to Israeli writer and activist, Hen Mazzig, to describe those — especially outside of Israel — who became newly sensitized to the poisonous antisemitism in Western societies following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. It was an awakening to the awokening.
A recent survey of American Christians found that in the wake of the post-October 7th protests and actions 87% are “concerned about antisemitism in America today.” I am one of them. Becoming an “October 8th Christian” has been a journey both spiritual and professional, to explore my own roots as a Christian, academic leader, and American — to re-orient both sides of the Judeo-Christian relationship.
The fact that the locus of so many of the protests was the university campus doubled the impact of these events, and is changing me personally and professionally. I’ve discovered I’m not the only one who has become much more aware of the impact of this new wave of antisemitism on our own faith journeys, and on the campuses where we work.
While the national data regarding the rise of antisemitism is disturbing, its increase on campuses throughout the country is overwhelming: since the 2022-2023 academic year, the number of antisemetic incidents on campus have increased almost ten-fold. In another survey, over 70% of Jewish faculty reported witnessing antisemitism from colleagues or administrators — not just from students.
On a personal level, I’ve been prompted to reread and study the Old Testament — or as my Jewish friends would call them, “the Hebrew Scriptures.” I’ve read these chapters several times during my life as a Christian, but what’s happened since October 7th has added what I can only describe as a poignant dimension to these books of the Bible — helping me to understand not only my own faith, but Judaism in more profound ways. I recently attended my first Shabbat Dinner, and have become much more inquiring about the faiths of my Jewish colleagues.
Professionally, the changes are more notable. Called “a new hope for Middle Eastern Studies,” last year, in partnership with the respected Washington Institute for Near East Policy, my graduate policy program launched a new Master of Middle East Policy Studies in the fall, welcoming our first cohort of students to our campus in Washington, DC. As my friend at the Washington Institute, Rob Satloff, and I agree, this unique academic partnership between a Christian university and a predominantly Jewish research center was the direct result of witnessing the campus protests after October 7th.
With almost half of the inaugural group of students being Jewish, I learned new insights about the challenges many of them faced at their undergrad alma maters because of their faith. Moreover, it’s our own attempt to reform an academic discipline which has been at the forefront of the campus protests.
For a graduate program and university explicitly committed to the study and teaching of America’s Judeo-Christian “roots,” these last couple years have also inspired me to partner with likeminded Jewish academic institutions to promote this history to students and the broader public. I recently hosted an academic colloquium featuring the newly edited volume by Hillsdale University’s Bill McClay, and Yeshiva University’s Stuart Halpern, Jewish Roots of American Liberty. For the last several years, we’ve collaborated with Yeshiva’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought for our annual Constitution Day Lectures, featuring the Center’s scholars speaking about the incredible influence the Hebrew Scriptures had on the American founding.
Of God’s many qualities, his unique power to redeem — in examples told throughout the Old and New Testaments — has been most meaningful to me. As one looks out over higher education today, there is evidence of hope in regrounding our liberal arts studies on Judeo-Christian foundations through new academic programs and centers. I sense through this path, relationships — actual, in-person friendships — may be formed between Christians and Jews, so my doctor friend and I will be able to chat about happier times on campus.
