I’ve written before about an undergrad class I’m taking at Vandy that’s supposed to be looking at the literature and history of the Middle East. For the past few weeks we’ve been talking about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and, not surprisingly, it hasn’t been pretty.
They're Not Complete Idiots: But they don't understand Judaism
Here's the best example of the problem I have with the class: two Tuesdays ago we were talking about the origins of Zionism, and one of the two profs who teaches the course asked the class what they knew about Zionism. A girl raised her hand and said, "The Elders of Zion...?" She then started to say what she thought they were, which sounded like it might be right, but the professor interrupted her and said that it was a religious group. I cut in at that point and zealously set the record straight. Clearly, the prof wasn't trying to be anti-Semitic, and I don't think he had any idea he was wrong. The history of the Protocols aren't part of his field as an Islamic studies professor, but his lack of knowledge was pretty terrifying.

Today in class, the other professor handed out a copy of a page he had made from a Reform siddur. He pointed to the maariv aravim and ahavat olam paragraphs and then read the translation that the siddur provided:
“O God, how can we know You? Where can we find You? You are as close to us as breathing, yet You are farther than the farthermost star. You are as mysterious as the vast solitudes of night, yes as familiar to us as the light of the sun. To Moses You said: "You cannot see My face, but I will make all My goodness pass before you."
Even so does Your goodness pass before us: in the realm of nature, and in the joys and sorrows of life.

When justice burns within us like a flaming fire, when love evokes willing sacrifice from us, when, to the last full measure of selfless devotion, we demonstrate our belief in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness, then Your goodness enters our lives and we can begin to change the world; and then You live within our hearts, and we through righteousness behold Your presence.”

The problem is, those paragraphs aren’t even remotely related to the Hebrew texts they purport to be translating. The prof then went on to say that in Judaism what's most important is the "ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness" which is why American society has chosen to (mostly) embrace the Israeli superstory, and Zionism. This text was what we needed to know about Judaism, he explained.

I don't know what to do. Tikkun Olam, the idea of trying to fix the world and spread righteousness, is not even mentioned in the Hebrew text. Yes, Tikkun Olam is a huge part of Judaism, but it's not why the US is supportive of Israel, and neither is it the reason any particular person should support Israel. The Hebrew is, I think, a more accurate and succinct description of what Judaism is about, but that was clearly not helpful to the agenda of the class/discussion in the mind of the professor.

I like both professors on a personal level, but I'm excruciatingly uncomfortable in class. Their understanding of Judaism is (or seems to be) bad, and they're passing this poor understanding off onto a class that dutifully copies it down into notebooks. These aren't anti-Semitic people, and I don't particularly object to what they're saying about Israel, but I'm really concerned about what they're saying about Jews and Judaism. In some cases, like the Elders of Zion episode, I’m happy to step in and make sure that outright and harmful falsehood isn’t propagated, but with something like the prayers, the line is less clear to me. What he was saying about Judaism was nice, it just wasn’t particularly true. And if I step in I risk him getting mad at me for correcting him in front of a classroom full of students. And I’m not sure what I’d accomplish if I stepped in, anyway.

What is the most practical way of dealing with this situation?

PS- I know my posts have been kind of heavy lately. I promise to go back to posting about sex soon.