Author of how to fight antisemitism. With those systems and the communities and respect diversity of culture and identity. Those that are on display this evening the respect for diversity of culture and identity and opinion more than ever. In the amazing turnout with important conversation. At the back of the stage after the discussion personalized books are available. Thank you for visiting our campus this evening please welcome to the stage to say a few remarks. Thank you for that introduction. As some of you may recall we were gathered together in this chapel for a similar purpose and then a holocaust survivor came to share the moving story. And it made sense and then inspired by the determination and we decided we should meet that we are stronger than hate so i got the call last month from the Jewish Community center asking if he would host tonights event i jumped at the opportunity to bring together the community and the friends across pittsburgh and its my honor to introduce her to special guests starting with a staff writer and editor for the opinion section of the New York Times her first book is called how to fight antisemitism. Before joining the times working for the wall street journal and was a Senior Editor of ideas and politics and culture she appears on the shows and a graduate of columbia also the winner of the recent Foundation Prize which annually honors writers who best demonstrate the importance of freedom originality and vanity fair basically recognize bari to name her the seventh most influential jew in the world. [applause] her parents wanted to know who the other six were. She is a proud member of the chatham family her mother, aunt and sister are all chatham graduates and she grew up with chatham as her backyard. [applause] our other guest this evening is mark who joined the university of pittsburgh as a visiting assistant professor at the school of law over 40 years ago and has never left. [laughter] he had the honor to serve as dean as chancellor of the universe along with his partner the revolution. And then to receive many important honors including the person of the year and a history maker and the forum on Foreign Policy and the small independent committee by the Jewish Federation in the after of life synagogue actively engaged to lead new antihate initiatives. Please join me to welcome them to our discussion this evening. [applause] is like my bat mitzvah. [laughter] i see my teacher in the second row. [laughter] do you want to get her up on stage . [laughter] what a great crowd its so nice that you are here tonight thank you the president feingold and the entire Chatham University community for inviting us to be here on what has to be one of the most beautiful campuses in the world and chatham is a special place in every sense we are grateful for the Hospitality University is experiencing. And with that peace and calm and the constructive power of Youthful Energy but we all know over a year ago were not very far from here at the tree of life synagogue worshipers from three congregations with the tree of life were brutally attacked by anti semites by automatic weapons work im not sure any event as the impact and on behalf of david and bari that we dedicate this program tonight to the victims of that attack into the victims of the antisemitism wherever they may be. And we each take a moment to think about how it is we might contribute to the fight she has described in her very important book. This as a capacity crowd tonight and generated a waiting list within a few days. It is the opportunity to welcome bari back home and to learn more about the fight against antisemitism of the wellwritten and thoughtprovoking bestselling book of that title. It is now ranked by amazon as the topselling book in its category of discrimination in constitutional law. I will claim most of her time for myself. [laughter] we will pick up audience question cards will make sure we try to leave enough time to answer quashed on questions posed by the audience. Cspan is filming this program tonight and will be shown as part of their book tv program at a later date so behave yourself. [laughter] do not create a bad impression of pittsburgh for the rest of the country. So to begin with a different question it is not out of bounds. With the ranking of the jerusalem hoax that listed you the seventh most influential jew in the world in 2019. [laughter] and for those of you who did not see the article i want to add a little bit of context. Only one american was higher and that was the ambassador to israel. [laughter] and to provide more color even longer trump and kushner were ranked as a pair at 14 even Stephen Breyer and notorious rvg were ranked 18 collectively and Facebook Mark zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg as a pair number 35. [laughter] so my question is it a blessing or a burden when your parents look at that list and say thats great but you should have ranked higher. [laughter] i would like to thank my tiger mother who did everything in my dad who has been almost like a father to me. [laughter] of course. My entire life is a blessing. My entire life would have been unimaginable to my greatgrandparents or my grandmother sitting in the front row to whom this book is dedicated. Hi grandma. My inheritance was unbelievable but i was born in this country and the golden age for American Jewelry and after the feminist broke down the barriers that were the obstacle between my grandmother and her dreams i think about what she would have been if born in my era another part of my inheritance is that i was born in a country of founders and the jewish story. Those new israelites and acting that modern day exodus then there was the fact my grandparents generation that you had to change her name in order to get a good job you were not accepted at certain law firms you had to build your own law firm so that was the world i was born into. In that sense my whole life is a blessing. With the jewish role model and in judaism that you wear the yarmulke on your head so that you live up to the obligations of what that means so you model the behavior that is worthy to be a jew in the world i dont wear one on my head but i feel i have the biggest one in the world stapled to my head all the time that cannot come off. [laughter] i think it has made me more conscientious and a better person because im very aware people are looking to me what does a jew mean in this day and age . And that obligation and that blessing i take seriously. In terms of ray reeve rave reviews or high rankings i am an american but a zionist in a proud daughter of pittsburgh. But in terms of the personal reactions to the attack of which we have referred and developing a sense of what it means to be a jew and 21st century america. And i didnt realize it until i left i thought it was normal that my parents belong to five different synagogues. But it was normal for us to have a shabbat dinner with a very political and religiously Diverse Group of people than normal to go to a conservative synagogue when we were the youngest torah readers and then to a family thats much more religious for lunch and then go to the jcc to play basketball that was normal for me. Because i think pittsburgh is small enough and the values are such we dont say on those lanes that we find ourselves in we reach out from those barriers. Only when it came to college in new york and even after the massacre at the tree of life and the reaction the crossing of barriers didnt just exist inside the Jewish Community but far beyond that. Of what solidarity looks like and so on and if you go down the line there is a real sense of unity and an attack on the Jewish Community with the attack on everyone and that solidarity is a model not just for america but the rest of the world. And to be inculcated of the values of Mister Rogers neighborhood that i realized after i left how special that was. Everything on that show i feel was not just a theory but a lived reality where i grew up. Not to say there were exceptions i write about waiting for the school bus with my sister i will never forget the Catholic School bus driving by kids screaming out the window dirty jews and i was told to pick up a penny because there was a jew. These are footnotes and then it with those vestiges from the old world and not at all the norm im very grateful for those that live up to those that wrote about us and the fact is a testament to so many leaders and to see so many faces to put in the effort that doesnt come out of nowhere. That is a result of incredibly hard work and thats what i am indebted to and grateful for. With the idea your life has been a Blessing Comes through very clearly in the book as you describe your own experience and the lessons from your grandparents and parents. And to hear the ability to listen to the english language that are memorable. In some sense looking at the big picture you view your life as a holiday from history. What did you mean by that . It sounds depressing to put it this way but i think its true but the reality we have returned to an aftermath not just on tree of life but six months later in poway but today at 27 old was arrested in colorado a white supremacist by the fbi attempting to blow up a synagogue there. That reality is a retort a return to the norm of jewish history. And thats the norm for us to think about the norm would be should we walk around with the visible side of the jewishness . That is the norm of jewish history only to say i never thought about those things when i was growing up and that in itself was an unbelievable departure that says something unique about what america could be at its very best. What we are living through now is a disoriented and nauseating feeling to be inherited and that my parents have spent their life living no longer the world for the rest of our lives not just with the jewishamerican experience where the country is at this moment that is deeply interconnected. You said something that had an ominous ring to it to express the fear that during this holiday from history shared by many other people that American Jews may have lost their instinct for danger. I mean the jews of europe have not ever been so lucky they were always aware of the we have to be incredibly conscious of and the kinds of conversations about our synagogues and do we have armed guards with jewish schools it is a major departure but that instinct for danger is a double edged sword on the one hand it is horrible thinking about your safety but a constant reminder of who you are and what you are fighting for. There is a sense the american Jewish Community because we have been so accepted that continues to be that way even after trump selection in the attack of the past two years we are the luckiest diaspora in history that may or may not change if we have to see what has to happen but part of the blessings a complacency because we have been so accepted we have had the privilege to forget who we are. And part of what is happening right now we are besieged in a way we never have been it is scary because its a reminder of our difference but to dig deeper what that is about. Who are we and what are we fighting for . That said deeper thing behind this book i naively thought isnt that obvious because my jewish identity is the forefront of who i am but one of the things im toying with the book that the past year has been a reawakening for people that all my god when any minority is attacked any part of your identity your ideas there is a sense of wanting to punch back and then why are they attacking me . Do i want to cut off that part of myself to be accepted or dig deeper into who i am as a reaction . If anything good comes from this uncertain moment not but for jews but for all minorities in the uncomfortable position to fundamentally attack decency to use that as an opportunity to understand your difference that only your own life but to this country. Certainly in pittsburgh a year of reflection and resolve and its interesting to hear you say you are found in many other parts of the country as you have been on this book two were that we need to know who we are and you also say we need to know what we are fighting against. And you make an earlier reference to anti jewish president non precedents that you mentioned you had experience here as a child in pittsburgh and you clearly experienced it as a young adult when you left pittsburgh. How do you distinguish between anti jewish prejudice and antisemitism . I draw a distinction between anti jewish prejudice it is inconvenient but it doesnt fundamentally seek the erasure of the jewish civilization. I wanted jewish couple nextdoo nextdoor. People think its appalling but that doesnt threaten the lives of jews or jewish civilization but antisemitism is the oldest Conspiracy Theory to single out a quality in any given society or civilization. The jews are the ultimate race contaminate hers and they are the arch capitalism and on the white supremacist far right the jews are the people that appear to be right but thats the biggest trick the devil has ever played but the black and the brown and the muslims they want to bring into this country into White Christian america thats what the attacker of the tree of life believed. And on the far left is the most loathsome quality is jewish power and that is why israel which is the main expression of jewish power in the world today needs to be disavowed and thats what the left asks. Also with antisemitism we will never defeat it. Newsflash its never going away but to keep it at bay. Antisemitism functions like a virus in a way we have tens of thousands of viruses in our body at any moment but as long as we are physically healthy they dont express themselves and we can act as Healthy People of the world. It is very analogous to a society that has a healthy and social system where antisemitism and other bigotry and misogyny is kept at bay but a society that it is weekend and right now in america and other parts of the world it is incredibly weekend it becomes more normative for those expressions of anti immigrant bigotry and all the rest. You have the language in your book that is amazing talking about an ever morphing Conspiracy Theory. And there are those of us who worry that conspiracy theories are replacing reality in a lot of corners of American Life today. Is that a sign that the immune system is at risk with antisemitism and these other problems are on the rise . That is a huge symptom because it is the ultimate Conspiracy Theory and is a problem with people who paddle in conspiracy theories. Especially in this white house. I dont think its possible to have this conversation without talking about the president and someone smarter than me wrote hes an anti semite without the jew but that the president traffics in conspiracy theories such as who is to blame for the problems of the working men and women of america the elitis elitist, immigrants, the scapegoat politics that we are all too familiar with it it doesnt even mean to signal us out to be a siren song it is not a coincidence that white supremacist like Richard Spencer he played the major course for people who already believed in the Conspiracy Theory about the world there is a secret hand controlling the world and that is the jew when that person hears the globalist and george soros they hear jew, je jew, jew, jew, thats why its so important to be very attuned to that kind of language especially coming from places like the white house and members of congress as well. In your book you talk about three strands of anti semitism for go the far right, the far left, and the problems with radical islam. Just to be clear talking about far right white supremacist. Right now. I could go on for a while about this. Antisemitism by the right is a dangerous threat. God for bid somebody would walk in this room, all of my money is on the bet is a white supremacist. Twenty years ago i would not have said that i wouldve said jihadist but that has changed maybe that will change again for cobra right now in this moment that is the reality and i fear for my own physical safety that is who i most fear. Look at the statistics from any alphabet soup Jewish Organization that is the reality. Now what it does is that it announces itself. When the killer walked into tree of life he said what he wanted to do. All jews must die and then tried to kill as many as he possibly could. The one thing that is helpful it is extremely blunt and announces itself in language we dont have to have a debate we can all acknowledge that is what appears to be and all of us know from the experience in europe what that can lead to. Antisemitism from the left is different and i have said publicly it is more insidious not that it is a greater danger but more insidious but it is smuggled into the mainstream. Where antisemitism for the far right announces itself the far left comes cloaked in language that is very familiar to American Jewish tongue and all the liberal and progressives. Its as we want social justice. Universal brotherhood of man. On the far left requires jewish zombies. It says to the jew you can live in a jewish body all that is required of you is that you need to publicly disavow jewish culture, jewish ideas, ideas, power, jewish statehood and whatever the new line is and is constantly moving. It looks like the spanish inquisition jews have to convert to catholicism. The soviet union looks like disavowing their god and ritual practice not to circumcise your son. And what it looks like today is people across the pond the labour party in Great Britain you can be a jew you just have to convert to disavowed the jewish state and the movement for jewish liberation and selfdetermination. So again it is in seeking those jews but less of a threat. And is much more institutional. Thank god is not someone Walking Around with a gun, at least not yet. That the jews will n