Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the controversy touched off at the University of California Berkeley School of Law and go behind the scenes of a global summit of religious leaders in Kazakhstan. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sarah Wildman, Boaz Weinstein and Noah Shachtman.
A decision by nine student organizations at the University of California Berkeley School of Law in August to adopt bylaws prohibiting pro-Israel speakers sparked an uproar in the Jewish community over the weekend.
Last Wednesday, the Jewish Journal published an op-ed with the headline “Berkeley Develops Jewish-Free Zones,” written by Ken Marcus, the founder and president of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. The op-ed ignited a media storm, with the New York Post, The Jerusalem Post, Newsweek, Daily Mail, National Review and other outlets dedicating space to the issue. Barbra Streisand tweeted to her nearly 800,000 followers, “When does anti-Zionism bleed into broad anti-Semitism?” and followed up with a second tweet linking to Marcus’ op-ed.
Days later, The Daily Beast published a counter-argument, “There Are No ‘Jewish-Free’ Zones on the UC-Berkeley Campus,” written by Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the state university’s law school. Chemerinsky argued that fewer than 10 out of the law school’s 100 groups had adopted the bylaws, and while he disagreed with the move, none of the participating organizations had acted on the bylaws, and the debate remained a First Amendment issue.
So what is happening at the law school? “Both trends can be true,” Tyler Gregory, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, told Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss. “We need to give credit to the administration and to the campus Jewish groups — the Hillel, the faculty — for making Berkeley a more friendly place for Jewish and Zionist students. At the same time, we should be rightfully concerned, and be paying attention to this new tactic of clubs trying to ban Zionists from campus groups.”
UC Berkeley, which garnered a reputation beginning in the 1960s as the epicenter of collegiate political activism, is among the American academic institutions producing the highest number of joint academic papers with Israeli co-authors, and has a sizable Israel studies program, with visiting faculty from Israel on campus. In 2019, the Center for Jewish Studies at Berkeley created the Berkeley Antisemitism Education Initiative to address antisemitism on campus. Ethan Katz, a professor at the law school who chairs the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Jewish Life & Campus Climate and was one of the initiative’s co-founders, noted that the challenges facing Berkeley students are similar to those facing students elsewhere in the country, and that the administration has created “a very strong set of supports in place and a very strong set of institutional homes for those students.”
Pro-Israel students at Berkeley, Katz explained, “face the same political headwinds” as students on other campuses. “Those concerns are real,” he added, “and there are things that make it challenging for those students sometimes… It’s a reality of where we are in the contemporary American conversation about Zionism and Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
What we’re reading: The Washington Examiner interviews 32 Jewish and non-Jewish students and young alumni, academics, communal and advocacy group figures about growing pressures in left-wing spaces to hide their Zionist views.
in the room
At first White House Rosh Hashanah event, schmoozing, sushi and presidential selfies

First Lady Jill Biden, President Biden Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff host a reception to celebrate the Jewish New Year in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C, September 30, 2022.
It was a scene reminiscent of the lobby of any synagogue, or a kiddush luncheon after the conclusion of Shabbat services: Hundreds of Jews gathered in one big room, schmoozing and saying “Shana tova” and enjoying some brisket and challah. These were the leading figures of American Jewish life — rabbis and educators; activists, politicians and policymakers; nonprofit professionals and lay leaders — but instead of meeting outside of Yom Kippur services, they were standing under glistening chandeliers in the White House’s stately East Room for the first-ever White House Rosh Hashanah event, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Spiritual home: “If I acknowledge everyone by name, we’ll be here [until] the Hanukkah reception in December,” President Joe Biden joked at the start of his remarks. He mentioned Rabbi Michael Beals of Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Del., a synagogue in Biden’s hometown. “That’s where I received my education. I probably went to shul more than many of you did,” he said. “It’s been a home, and over the years, we’ve shared deep conversations about faith and finding purpose.”
Torah talk: Biden addressed the crowd, with many Jewish Democratic leaders, to loud cheers and applause. He quoted the Talmud and the late British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, offering what amounted to a D’var Torah that applied Jewish teachings to his policy agenda.
Surprise appearance: The most memorable moment for many was a surprise performance by Israeli-American violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, who performed the prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” from the High Holidays liturgy. Guests sang along.
Guest list: Biden did not stick around long to chat with attendees, but he did borrow the phone of National Council of Jewish Women’s Chief Policy Officer Jody Rabhan to take a selfie with a couple dozen people. The event’s guest list was intended to reflect the diversity of the U.S. Jewish community, with efforts made to ensure representation of Jews of color, Orthodox Jews and LGBTQ Jews, according to officials with knowledge of the event plans.
Florida thoughts: Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff all began their remarks by mentioning the impact of Hurricane Ian. “This reception comes at a very difficult time for so many Jewish families in Florida, possibly for some of you who have loved ones in Florida, mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends,” said Biden. “Temples will be shuttered on Yom Kippur,” Jill Biden acknowledged, “and some will have to break their fast without beloved family beside them.”