Supporting Jewish Communities

Antisemitism (prejudice, discrimination, bias against Jews) has a long and dangerous history in the United States and around the world. Understanding and countering it is essential to supporting the Jewish community and to our vision of an inclusive, welcoming campus community. 

Yet many may not easily recognize the multiple ways it can manifest. All of this makes naming and addressing the issue complicated and necessary. 

The resources below were compiled in partnership with students, faculty and staff from across the University for you to use in your exploration of this critical issue and the development of skills to combat antisemitism. Requests to add additional items can be sent to [email protected]. 

The resources below include off-campus resources that Columbia is neither affiliated with nor explicitly endorses. This list is intended only to inform students of resources available to them in the broader community.

BOOKS

The books listed below are only a small sample of books available from Columbia Libraries on this topic. Please consult with a Columbia reference librarian for additional resources.

Book cover for Antisemitism: Here and Now
Deborah Lipstadt is Joe Biden's nominee for Special Envoy on Antisemitism and is one of the world's experts on the topic. This book, framed as a dialogue, describes contemporary antisemitism, its precedents, and contexts. (Image courtesy of Schocken Press)
Antisemitism: Here and Now

by Deborah Lipstadt

Book cover for Anti-Semitism in America by Leonard Dinnerstein
Exactly one comprehensive scholarly history of American anti-Semitism exists and this is it. Dinnerstein chronicles all aspects of anti-Semitism in American history from the colonial period to the 1990s. He situates anti-Semitism within the context of Christian hostility toward Jews, and compares hatred of Jews with other forms of American animus. (Image courtesy of Oxford University Press)
Anti-Semitism in America

by Leonard Dinnerstein

Book cover for When General Grant Expelled the Jews by Jonathan D. Sarna
On December 17, 1862, just weeks before Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, General Grant issued what remains the most notorious anti-Jewish order by a government official in American history. Award-winning historian Jonathan D. Sarna gives us the first complete account of this little-known episode—including Grant's subsequent apology, his groundbreaking appointment of Jews to prominent positions in his administration, and his unprecedented visit to the land of Israel. Sarna sheds new light on one of our most enigmatic presidents, on the Jews of his day, and on the ongoing debate between ethnic loyalty and national loyalty that continues to roil American political and social discourse. (Image courtesy of Schocken Publishing)
When General Grant Expelled the Jews

by Jonathan D. Sarna

Book cover for Anti-Semitism Today by Kenneth S. Stern
On December 17, 1862, just weeks before Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, General Grant issued what remains the most notorious anti-Jewish order by a government official in American history. Award-winning historian Jonathan D. Sarna gives us the first complete account of this little-known episode—including Grant's subsequent apology, his groundbreaking appointment of Jews to prominent positions in his administration, and his unprecedented visit to the land of Israel. Sarna sheds new light on one of our most enigmatic presidents, on the Jews of his day, and on the ongoing debate between ethnic loyalty and national loyalty that continues to roil American political and social discourse. (Image courtesy of Amer Jewish Committee)
Anti-Semi­tism Today: How It Is the Same, How It Is Dif­fer­ent, and How to Fight It

by Kenneth S. Stern

Here is the unparalleled account of the most awesome and awful chapter in the moral history of humanity. Lucid, chilling and comprehensive, Lucy S. Dawidowicz's classic tells the complete story of the Nazi Holocaust--from the insidious evolution of German Anti-Semitism to the ultimate tragedy of the Final Solution.
The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945

by Lucy S. Dawidowicz

"This incisive history upends the complacency that confines anti-Judaism to the ideological extremes in the Western tradition. With deep learning and elegance, David Nirenberg shows how foundational anti-Judaism is to the history of the West"
Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition

By David Nirenberg

As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not." In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today an
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent

By Isabel Wilkerson

Published in association with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, this volume debunks a major propaganda source for justifying anti-Semitism from tsarist Russia to today's online conspiracy theorists.
Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

By Steven Leonard Jacobs and Mark Weitzman

Some pro-Palestinian students call supporters of Israel's right to exist racist, and disrupt their events. Some pro-Israel students label pro-Palestinian students terrorists, and the Jews among them traitors. Lawsuits are filed. Legislation is proposed. Faculty members are blacklisted and receive death threats. Academic freedom is compromised and the entire academic enterprise is threatened. How did we get here and what can be done?
The Conflict Over the Conflict: The Israel / Palestine Campus Debate

By Kenneth S. Stern

The competition for a spot in the Ivy League - widely considered the ticket to success - is fierce and getting fiercer. But the admissions policies of elite universities have long been both tightly controlled and shrouded in secrecy. In The Chosen, the Berkeley sociologist Jerome Karabel lifts the veil on a century of admission and exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. How did the policies of our elite schools evolve? Whom have they let in and why? And what do those policies say about America?
The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale and Princeton

By Jerome Karabel

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