August 30, 2018
Accommodation: Or, Growing Up Jewish in Protestant Canada
We were invited to join in the school's prayers and hymns, but our grateful acquiescence also implied there was something illicit or shameful about our Jewishness.
We present here the fourth chapter from the memoirs-in-progress of the renowned scholar and author Ruth R. Wisse. Earlier chapters can be found here. Further installments will appear over the next months.
“I must tell you that I’ve been feeling guilty.”
It was during my afternoon office hours at Harvard in November 2008, immediately after the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, that a freshman would blurt out this confession to me. Dreading a revelation that might require administrative action, I asked what was on her mind. She replied, “I worked for the Obama campaign.” I laughed with relief: “You and apparently everyone else. Why would that make you feel guilty?” She said, “Because I was really for McCain.”