Shabbos Kestenbaum, 26, an Orthodox Harvard Divinity graduate, was pursuing his Master’s degree when he filed a lawsuit against Harvard last year for failing to protect Jewish students from the onslaught of antisemitism on campus after October 7. Kestenbaum gave a powerful speech at the Republican National Convention, where he described Harvard as having “a culture that is anti-Western, that is anti-American, and that is antisemitic.”
Kestenbaum, who graduated in 2019 from a two-year Jerusalem based program at the educational organization Aish, where he studied Talmudic law, Jewish philosophy and law, and the Hebrew Bible, is featured in Aish’s new documentary, Frontline Warriors: The Fight Against Antisemitism on Campus, alongside UCLA student Eli Tsives and Eden Yadegar, a Columbia University undergraduate. Released on March 10, the film shows the frightening atmosphere on college campuses that Jewish students have been subjected to since October 7, where masked protestors call to globalize the intifada while accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing. Some of these incidents have escalated into violence.
On March 27, The Harvard Crimson reported that the university had issued a subpoena to Kestenbaum for his communications with media and politicians. Three weeks later, Harvard issued a subpoena to Aish for their communications with Kestenbaum. Harvard also initiated litigation against the Trump administration over its attempt to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism last month.
Kestenbaum called Harvard’s subpoena of his communications with Aish a “scare tactic” and maintains that he has nothing to hide. “It’s Harvard who’s in the wrong here and that’s why they are really dragging their feet with discovery,” said. “Harvard is trying to evade their own disastrous track record of antisemitism, and it’s a pretty low bar for them to stoop to start subpoenaing the yeshiva I went to [Aish], and a documentary I made, of which I’m very proud of and stand by it.”
Jonathan Koevary, an attorney representing Aish, agreed with Kestenbaum’s assessment that Harvard’s subpoena is a scare and intimidation tactic. He explained that it demands all correspondences between Kestenbaum and Aish about allegations of antisemitism at Harvard and about Kestenbaum’s participation in the movie, including recordings that didn’t make the final cut. Koevary called the subpoena “overreach” and said the 999-page document is “ginormous for a subpoena.” He said that Aish plans to contest it.
Aish CEO Rabbi Steven Burg said that Harvard is trying to “paint Shabbos as profiting off his relationship with Jewish organizations, which of course he isn’t.” He continued, “We’ve never paid him a penny…Everything he’s done with us has been for free because he’s one of our students.”
Rabbi Burg spoke in the film about the sickening reaction of faculty members to antisemitism. He forebodingly warned, “We’re heading to a point where Jewish students will not be able to attend universities on campus. This happened in the 30s in Germany… Unless something dramatic happens, our students are going to no longer be welcome on campus in the United States of America.”
The film shows Kestenbaum being escorted by police as he is blocked by an angry mob of pro-Palestinian protestors. He said that a staff member who defaced hostage posters “taunted me with a machete.” Kestenbaum referenced the physical assault of a Jewish Harvard Business School student and said that a Jewish student wearing a kippah was spat on. He also described how a professor asked an Israeli student to leave the class because her nationality made others uncomfortable.
He also exposed how his classes at Harvard taught about “settler colonialism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing in the context of Israel-Palestine.” He emphasized that students were taught “as fact that Jews have internalized the ways of Nazi Germany, that the Holocaust is analogous to the experience of Palestinians under the Israeli occupying forces.”
While en route to the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum in Missouri for a screening of Frontline Warriors, Kestenbaum told The Jewish Press that he was just in Arizona for The Butterfly Wonderland’s screening of the film in Scottsdale. The film has also been shown in Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He said that staying in touch with students who ask him for advice during the Q&As is the most rewarding part of this experience.
In the documentary, Kestenbaum explains that the lawsuit he filed against Harvard is “the first case in American history pertaining to the civil rights violations of Jewish students on a college campus that’s actually going to trial.” He told The Jewish Press that he filed the lawsuit with Students Against Antisemitism, and they agreed to a settlement, but he filed a motion to continue to take legal action against Harvard. Kestenbaum alleged that the main basis of the lawsuit is Harvard’s violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin at institutions that receive federal financial funding, such as universities.
Rabbi Burg expressed his dismay regarding Harvard’s lack of remorse about the treatment of Jews on campus. “It’s all clearly documented,” he stated, “They had a president who literally got up in Congress and said it’s okay to call for the genocide the Jews…Instead of just apologizing, they’re coming after Jewish organizations…people that have called them out and embarrassed them… They’re just going aggressive after the victims.” He added, “Literally, all you get back from Harvard is arrogance.”
Indeed, Harvard issued a statement thanking former President of Harvard Claudine Gay after she resigned for her “deep and unwavering commitment to Harvard and to the pursuit of excellence.” Gay is currently a professor at Harvard, and multiple sources report that she has been accused of plagiarism. According to The Jewish Chronicle, she her salary was nearly $900,000.
Harvard’s legal and media departments did not reply to a request for comment.
Frontline Warriors: The Fight Against Antisemitism on Campus can be viewed here: https://frontlinewarriorsfilm.com/?playlist=f16a0fb&video=b5d6f58.
