Mako reporter, Racheli Rottner, called Yale University’s president’s office to call out the University for its appropriation of Jewish culture, specifically the Hebrew in its logo. She posted an animated video to her Twitter illustrating the phone call.
This time I called Yale Universityhttps://t.co/6mHWf7Lyp7
— Racheli Rottner (@racheli82) December 22, 2023
Last week, Yale University was called out in a viral tweet for renaming a dish originally called “Israeli couscous salad with spinach and tomatoes” to remove the word “Israeli.”
This occurred against the backdrop of the massive pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country calling, among other things, to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel. Yale University has also witnessed these protests on its campus. This phone call is in response to this act.
The phone call begins with a character “Sarit” from “The Office of Jewish Culture in Israel.” Sarit brings up the Israeli couscous incident, and says, “Your spokesman said it was because the authenticity of the food and naming of the recipe has been a concern to your students, and we understand that cultural appropriation is something that is very important to you.”
She continues, “Cultural appropriation is important to us too, and we’ve noticed that the logo of your university has Hebrew letters that assemble the Hebrew phrase ‘Urim VeTumim’ from our Torah. Now our question is, are you a Hebrew institution?”
The Yale representative remains on the phone line, confused and baffled by Sarit.
Explanation of the significance of 'Urim VeTumim'
Sarit continues by saying “Hebrew is the cultural asset of the Jewish people and the state of Israel and we never gave permission to use it.” She then threatens to sue Yale University for copyrights as well as cultural harassment if the words are not removed from the logo.
Sarit continues to describe the cultural significance of the phrase “Urim VeTumim,” which means light and innocence because “the innocent are light, a light that lights the world.”
She says, “We have, in Israel, official descendants of the high priests of the Beit Hamikdash that used to wear a choshen, and on the choshen was the ‘Urim VeTumim’ and they are very offended you use the ‘Urim VeTumim on your logo.”
Sarit then offers several alternative phrases in Hebrew they are permitted to use in the logo, including:
“Lechem Havita,” meaning omelet bread.
“Shlufim,” which are tiny notes for cheating on tests.
“Anachnu Universita Tipsha,” meaning we are a stupid university.
Sarit concludes, “I think it's time the Jewish people take back the cultural assets the rest of the world took from them.”
At the end of the video, the logo of Yale University is shown, instead of reading “tachat veplutzim,” translating to “Butt and Farts.”
This same reporter, in November, called Harvard University to ask them if they would accept terrorists for admission. Harvard's president has come under sharp criticism, as well as the presidents of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, for being unable to say that calls for genocide against Jewish students on their campuses are against their universities' codes of conduct.