‘Jews and Power’ Course at Oberlin College Ignites Controversy
"I heard Professor Berkman’s life was threatened. I want no part of what has become dangerous or violent towards any individual"
A letter-writing campaign has commenced in an attempt to prevent an Oberlin College assistant professor from teaching his course titled “Jews and Power.” The Jewish woman who discovered the class says she “want[s] no part of what has become dangerous or violent towards” Berkman and worries about the hate-mob that the professor has faced.
The professor — Matthew Berkman — will teach the class “Jews and Power” at the Ohio school, and also teaches a number of other classes in the college’s Jewish Studies department.
Many people have condemned Berkman, as some consider him to have anti-Israel opinions and are critical of his support for the BDS movement.
One retired NY State teacher — who asked to remain anonymous — brought the class to light when researching what classes Oberlin College offers. She wrote in a Facebook post about the class description.
“I periodically search the course catalogue of my alma mater… recently, I was alarmed to find a course titled ‘Jews and Power’… [Berkman’s] framework is antisemitic at every turn,” she alleged.
“In the course description the professor states Jews are either presented as perennial victims or hold undue control. It’s a no-win premise in which Jews are either exaggerating, lying, or manipulating. I would suggest this would be a course to avoid,” the teacher wrote on January 3 to a Facebook group with 60,000 members.
However, the retired teacher changed her mind by January 11th, when I contacted her, deeply worried about the threats of violence that had been directed at the professor since her post was made public.
“Under no circumstances! Do not mention my name. I heard Professor Berkman’s life was threatened. I want no part of what has become dangerous or violent towards any individual,” she pleaded with me when I reached out for comment.
Berkman teaches Jewish studies at Oberlin College. Oberlin College’s Media Representative, Andrea Simakis, reached out to Liberty Affair and claimed people have misinterpreted the goal of the class.
“The course ‘Jews and Power,’ is intended to reduce antisemitism by helping students understand its historical roots. The course also illustrates the different ways that Jews organized themselves politically in response to anti-Jewish power,” said Simakis.
While some have raised concerns about the course title, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies Matt Berkman chose the course title because it mirrors the groundbreaking book by the conservative scholar Ruth Wisse, a strong advocate of Israel, she added.
“Professor Berkman’s course aims to educate our students, to push against toxic antisemitic tropes, and to arm them with the historical context required to understand the rise in antisemitism we are seeing in the world today,” she claimed.
“As the course description for ‘Jews and Power’ makes plain: 1) The contention that Jews are an all-powerful controlling force is antisemitic and 2) The purpose of the course is to challenge a simplistic understanding of Jews as either all-powerful or permanently powerless,” Simakis said in a statement.
Berkman used his First Amendment right to rally for BDS, which certainly gives supporters of Israel pause. Berkman was not available to answer questions. However, this should not be construed as an admission of guilt or otherwise: most professors accused of “thought-crime” are instructed by their university not to speak with the media.
Berkman has been associated with anti-Israel Jewish organizations for at least the last 15 years. He once chanted at a Gaza rally that “we’re here because we think it’s a disgrace that our public officials are celebrating seventy years of occupation and apartheid and turning a blind eye to violence against unarmed protesters.”
However, most of the so-called anti-semitic implications made about him by Canary Mission — a nonprofit dedicated to exposing Jew hate — are actually just paraphrases of what Jewish Voice for Peace posted to social media while Berkman was involved with them. It’s unclear whether which were actually written by the college professor.
Berkman has taught a number of classes at Oberlin, including “Zionisms” and “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” He also supervises upperclassmen in special seminars where students design their own research project and carry it out, later reporting their findings. As seen in the newspaper clip above, Berkman does not seem happy about Israel.
Berkman’s class is scheduled to start Monday, February 5th, 2025. His PhD thesis may be of interest to anyone considering taking his class, as it discusses Zionism and Israel quite a bit. To people who have alleged across internet forums that Berkman hates Jewish people, I have not been able to identify statements he made relevant to that. He is married to a Jewish woman, and even wrote about going to the mikvah with her before marriage.
Think I missed something? Email me: tonimaeairaksinen@gmail.com
This report was brought to you by Toni Airaksinen, Senior Editor of Liberty Affair and a journalist based in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, Florida. Follow her on X: @Toni_Airaksinen. Or Buy Her a Coffee.
This article was published in conjunction with Liberty Affair, where I’m a Senior Editor and Reporter.
Mr Berkman does not and cannot speak for "Judaism" or for Jewish History.
Teaching at Oberlin has become a mark of total radical and often irrational off the wall partisanship in this last generation, and the scholarship of University professors at large has also degenerated, especially those who profess Anti-US and Anti-Israel political adherence. Berkman is admitted activist with an agenda, and that is inimical to reliable and sound scholarship
The fact that Berkman has married another Jew proves nothing.
Did the 50,000 German Jews who under special Nazi dispensation from Hitler, serve in the Nazi army as soldiers have some sort of imprimature to represent Judaism??
Jewish Voice for Peace, is not even a Jewish Organization, being composed of supposed Jews, Atheists, Christians, Muslims Communists, and are united by their attack on the very existence of Israel. The titles that Political Groups call themselves means nothing, just as The last Federal "Anti-Inflation Bill" was not about inflation, Antifa is not about Liberty, etc, etc.
Judaism is an anarchy. There are Jews to be found around the world who claim that they alone speak for Judaism can decide on the existence or not of Israel.
Some of them make the most outrageous claims, but they don't represent Judaism, any more than American Neo-Nazi's represent The United States.
Mr Berkman represents only himself, and his anti-Israel and Anti-American partisanship disqualifies him from teaching anything about Jews, Israel, or the US. There are too many "activist" charlatans with politcial agendas teaching in our Universities in the 21st century.
The fantasy the author here buys into that Jews cannot possibly be anti-semites, when thre have historically been Jews who attack the very substance of other Jews and Judaism. Resistence to the journey to the promised and land was already displayed by the Jews of Egypt who turned back to return to Egypt, rebelling against Moses.
George Soros, comes prominently to mind, Finkelstein, Shahak et al, whole careers are based on their anti-Semitism.
They are found in any Jewish division,"Reform Judaism and some Hasidic Movements have had sections that were virulently anti-Zionist, even for the last 2 hundred years, but for completely different reasons. And yet Today some of those movements are totally wedded in support of Zionism and Israel.
Judaism and Jews and Israel are not a monolithic unity. Judaism is actually an anarchy, and to me, "Professor" Berkman is part of a nihilist movement of some flying under the banner of "Jews".
Thanks, again, Your articles are always worth reading.