This responds to a recent Wednesday Journal letter urging OPRF High School to address the antisemitism complaint brought against OPRF and three OPRF teachers [Viewpoints, July 17]. The letter’s author mentions harm done to “Jewish students,” “Jewish families,” and “Oak Park and River Forest’s Jewish community,” as if these are monolithic groups all having the same opinions.
As a Jew, I can assure the author of the letter, and anyone else reading this letter, that there is no single group of Jewish students or Jewish families, and there is no single Oak Park and River Forest Jewish community in which everyone has the same opinions. Jews are like everyone else who have similar religious ethnic, cultural, racial, and/or gendered traits — not all Jews think and feel the same.
Some Jews, such as the letter’s author, might consider the acts alleged in the complaint to be antisemitic. However I, and other Jews who I know, do not hold that same sweeping opinion. For us, acts or statements that do not actually disparage Jews are not antisemitic, even if they make us uncomfortable or even offended.
In the future, please keep in mind that the there is no such thing as a “Jewish community.” If you label conduct or words as antisemitic, please speak only for yourself and for those who you are sure actually share your opinion.
Please do not claim to speak for everyone because to do so is wrongly presumptive and misleading.
Jim Poznak
Oak Park