A Retraction and Apology From the Editorial Board

In the Interest of Not Doing Jew-on-Jew Crime

The Editorial Board of Caput in Arena hereby retracts the community notice reproduced above. The notice, published earlier this week in the form of a missing person bulletin, implied that Professor Feldman was absent from Jewish life at Harvard.

Members of the Harvard Jewish community have since informed the Editorial Board that Professor Feldman is in fact present, engaged, and doing real work. He meets regularly with campus Jewish leadership. He teaches a weekly Jewish philosophy class at the Law School. He is organizing a major conference on antisemitism. He directs one of the only programs at Harvard with the word Israel in its title.

The Editorial Board accepts the correction. The Editorial Board got it wrong.

The Sincere Apology

The Editorial Board was wrong to suggest that Professor Feldman is absent from Jewish life at Harvard. He is not. He meets regularly with campus Jewish leadership. He teaches weekly. He directs a program on Israel. He is organizing a major conference on antisemitism. He is engaged, and he is doing real work, and Caput should have known that before publishing. The Editorial Board apologizes to Professor Feldman. The Editorial Board apologizes to the members of the Jewish community who were right to call out the error.

The Editorial Board further acknowledges that a Harvard alumni publication punching sideways at a fellow Jewish alum is, at the present moment, not what the community needs from this publication. Caput overreached. Caput got it wrong. Caput is sorry.

The Insincere Apology

The Editorial Board extends a fuller apology to Professor Feldman.

Caput was wrong to suggest Professor Feldman was unaware of the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance. Of course he was aware of it. By all accounts he is deeply engaged with the Jewish community at Harvard, and a man of his engagement could hardly have missed an alumni organization with 3,000 members that has been active for two years. Professor Feldman knew exactly who HJAA is. He simply chose, when speaking to a national publication, to say he did not. His purpose, presumably, was to discredit the work and disrespect its constituents. That was his decision to make. Caput should have respected it. Caput apologizes.

The Editorial Board further apologizes for suggesting Professor Feldman had not observed antisemitism at Harvard. He has observed it. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has observed it. The Department of Justice has observed it. Harvard’s former President’s Antisemitism Advisory Group observed it. Harvard’s current President’s task force on antisemitism and Israel bias observed it. Harvard itself entered into a voluntary resolution agreement with the Biden Department of Education affirming the same, which Professor Feldman has presumably read. Professor Feldman was asked whether he had observed antisemitism at Harvard. He said no. Caput should not have suggested this was an oversight. It was a position. The Editorial Board apologizes for failing to characterize it as such.

The Editorial Board further apologizes for characterizing Professor Feldman’s assessment of “A Narrowing Gate” as dismissive. Professor Feldman did not dismiss the report. Professor Feldman reviewed the report, or possibly did not, and concluded that he was dubious of it. The report had been vetted by a Wharton statistician and by the head researcher at the Anti-Defamation League. Professor Feldman, without identifying a single methodological concern, found himself dubious anyway. The Editorial Board apologizes for suggesting that dubiousness in the absence of specifics is not a rigorous scholarly posture. It is the posture Professor Feldman selected. Caput should have respected the selection.

He is present. He just isn’t present.

Finally, and most importantly, the Editorial Board apologizes to Professor Feldman for inadvertently offering, in the retracted notice, an invitation to his annual black tie Christmas party as a reward for his safe return. This was not the Editorial Board’s to offer. The party is Professor Feldman’s. The guest list is Professor Feldman’s. The invitations are Professor Feldman’s. Caput had no standing to extend, imply, or appear to extend, an invitation on his behalf.

The Editorial Board has been in touch with the Feldman household to confirm that the invitation was not authorized. It was not. Anyone who contacted the Editorial Board this week with sightings of Professor Feldman, in hopes of attending, should be aware that their names have not been added to any list. They will not be seated. They will not be photographed. They will not receive a gift bag. The Editorial Board apologizes for any inconvenience.

To summarize: Professor Feldman knew, observed, and read. His answers, in each case, were the ones he gave. These were choices. Caput apologizes for treating them as anything else.

But don’t we have enough other problems as Jews at the moment?

A Final Note

All seven of Caput’s readers are encouraged to click back to the retracted notice above and reread it with their new and more complete understanding of the facts. The document remains in place for precisely this purpose. The Editorial Board trusts that the seven will be better informed, and, in due course, slightly less amused than they were the first time.