I've gotten many responses about the incident of UCLA Hillel Director, Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller allegedly beating a pro-Israel woman. I got a letter from the woman ? Rachel Neuwirth ? which said she was bruised and resting at home, completely shaken. I got letters from some of you who said we weren't there and shouldn't judge the Rabbi, who has been doing wonderful work in the community for 28 years. And letters from some of you who want to start a campaign to get him fired by sending protest letters to the board of directors of Hillel.

I like to be fair, I really do. Especially when the reputation of a fellow Jew, and an Orthodox Rabbi who has worked in the community for many years, is involved.

So let's look at what happened, and then at the reputation of the man. I mean, if this was really an isolated incident, shocking as it was, is it right for us to destroy him? And if this is a pattern of continual unacceptable behavior on Rabbi Seidler-Feller's part, what responsibility do his bosses ? the people at Hillel who sign his checks ? have to bear? In other words, what has been going on at Hillel, for how long, and who is to blame?

First, what happened. Chronwatch reported it this way:

?After he left the Dershowitz presentation, Seidler-Feller spoke with a small group of demonstrators protesting at the event," said David Hakimfar, a fourth-year history student. Neuwirth - a freelance journalist who has been published in the Israel National News and Front Page Magazine - said she heard Seidler-Feller discuss an upcoming event with [involving] Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al Quds University and Palestinian Authority Commissioner for Jerusalem. She said she then approached Seidler-Feller, alleging that Nusseibeh helped direct missile attacks into Israel during the first Persian Gulf War.

?Neuwirth's lawyer, Robert Esensten, said Seidler-Feller then physically confronted Neuwirth, after which she called him a ?capo?. Neuwirth reported to police that her wrist was grabbed, and that she was kicked. Esensten said one of the actions preceded the insult, but he did not specify which one.

?Seidler-Feller's attorney would not discuss specific facts of the incident, citing the ongoing legal process. Seidler-Feller and Neuwirth were eventually pulled apart by nearby students, Hakimfar said. Hakimfar said he helped separate Seidler-Feller and Neuwirth, and added that Seidler-Feller ?landed at least one kick? before he and Neuwirth were separated. In addition to any potential criminal charges the city could file, Esensten said Neuwirth intends to bring a civil lawsuit against Seidler-Feller.?

Who is this Rabbi? And why would he attack a woman complaining about Sari Nusseibeh ? a man who praised "Jihad fighters" on Qatari Television on June 29, 2002, alongside Hamas official Khaled Mashal and Mrs. Umm Nidal, the mother of a suicide bomber, who encouraged her son to carry out the attack? A man who said: ?All respect is due to this mother, it is due to every Palestinian mother
and every female Palestinian who is a Jihad fighter on this land.? A man who told the Jerusalem Arab newspaper al-Fajr, in August 1993, that he supports ?the use of force against Israelis as a means of support of our negotiating position.? (As quoted in the Cleveland Jewish Times, Sept.8, 1993)

Sari Nusseibeh is a man indicted by the Government of Israel in Lod Military Court in 1989 (bill 108/89 and 109/89), because he ?served as a conduit for money for financing the intifada,? and was responsible for ?drawing up reports and leaflets for intifada purposes such as instructing intifada activists.? A man who said, ?Israelis are not human?; that Israel is a ?racist Zionist entity,? which was ?born in sin.?

There's much, much more. See for yourself.

So, why would a Hillel Rabbi be promoting such a person, encouraging Jewish students to feel sympathetically towards him? And why would the suggestion that Nusseibeh had done some bad things to Israel push him over the edge to physically attack a fellow Jew, an Israel supporter and a woman?

Take a look at what he's been doing at Hillel at UCLA all along. He's on the board of Tikkun Magazine, for one. And he's been hosting the likes of El Fadl, whom Daniel Pipes pointed out had for years contributed to the Holy Land Foundation, which the U.S. closed down last year because it raises money for the Hamas. He?s signed petitions published in major newspapers calling for an international force to ?protect? Israelis and Palestinians, ?to take up at once the Saudi proposals for regional peace endorsed by the Beirut Conference...? and endorsing a two-state solution.

Ben Shapiro, a student at UCLA, writing in the YU Commentator of a conversation with then head of Hillel ? Richard Joel ? summed it up this way: ?I go to UCLA, so I am most familiar with the situation there. The Rabbi at UCLA Hillel is Chaim Seidler-Feller, a rabidly leftist Jew who openly sympathizes with the Palestinians. In the past he has compared Jewish treatment of Palestinians to Nazi treatment of Jews. Chaim Seidler-Feller offers virtually no support to the pro-Israel wing on campus.?

Joel's reply: ?Rabbi Seidler-Feller is a knowledgeable man, and a good friend of mine. I am proud to sign his paychecks... By the way, everyone in this room should learn from him.?

Last year, Mr. Joel was appointed President of Yeshiva University, even though he has no doctorate, nor does he have rabbinical ordination. Recently, a reader sent me the information that Yeshiva University was now hosting Lieutenant Guy Grossman, one of the Israeli army traitors going around with his ?Courage to Refuse? message, raising money to denounce and demoralize the Israeli army. It's going to be a ?debate,? Y.U. says. Right. This is what we need an Orthodox institution to support. But I guess with Mr. Joel at the helm, we should all get used to this kind of thing.

Now I want to discuss why. Why has Chaim Seidler-Feller been allowed to run amok at UCLA? And why has his boss been promoted? Considering what Natan Sharansky recently reported about the shocking state of Jewish life on campuses nationwide, in which Jewish students are intimidated, brainwashed and physically threatened, can the state of Hillel on campus be considered a success story, warranting a promotion to president of one of the last bastions of traditional Jewish campus life in America?

My answer is this: Fundraising. Mr. Chaim Seidler-Feller and Mr. Joel are wonderful fundraisers. By searching for moderate Arabs with a magnifying glass, fostering the illusion that there is such a thing, and it is only the ?bad? Jews who can?t seem to find them and make peace with them, Rabbi Chaim has opened the floodgates for ever greater donations by Jews who desperately want to disassociate themselves from those terrible Israelis, and the stigma of being a Jew who supports them.

If you are having trouble with this, I invite you to visit the spanking new Yitzchak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life, which boasts a ?recreation room, pool, ping pong tables, a library and a computer lab.? Just what the beleaguered Jewish students of UCLA need. Rabbi Chaim said at the opening, which ?hoped to attract students of all denominations,? that ?it is up to us to fill these stones with light, love, and the presence of the Divine...? Needless to say, Rabbi Chaim has been appointed the Director of the Yitzchak Rabin Hillel Center, etc.

I suppose his personal example in kicking a pro-Israel activist gives us a better understanding of what kind of spirit is going to fill this building, made possible by donations like the million dollars from Lew Wasserman, of whom Rabbi Chaim said: ?His Jewishness was manifest in his generosity.? In the brave new world of Jewish leadership, I suppose that?s enough to make a person a good Jew these days, especially when people like Rabbi Chaim are on the receiving end.

As for Mr. Joel, the trustees of Y.U. who chose him were no doubt also looking at the bottom line. During his 14 years as president and international director of Hillel, Mr. Joel took a floundering organization and left behind a juggernaut with 1,000 employees and a 50 million dollar annual budget. Some of the people honored at fundraising dinners for Hillel included Edgar Bronfman, notorious for his Israel-bashing, who is ? surprise ? International Hillel Chairman. But, so what? They raised $500,000 in one night. And that?s what counts, apparently. Even to the trustees of Yeshiva University, an Orthodox Jewish institution of higher learning that includes a Rabbinical School. I'm sure President Joel, who I understand is a great guy, will raise a great deal of money for Y.U. But what will be left of its students? Jewishness, and its support for their Israeli brethren is another question altogether.

[If you'd like to voice your concerns to those involved, I enclose the following contact information:
Karasik@yu.edu - Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
yuisraelclub@hotmail.com
Joel@yu.edu - President of YU Richard M. Joel
President of Hillel, Abraham Infeld - (202) 449 6500
rabbichaim@uclahillel.org]