Re: Professor to speak at Beth Sholom (Oct. 30)

Among the unexpected changes made to my article “Professor to speak at Beth Sholom on academic freedom” – about Professor Richard Landes’ talk on the spring of 2015 campus campaign against Connecticut College’s Dr. Andrew Pessin, and that campaign’s implications for academic freedom – The Jewish Voice omitted that Dr. Pessin, a member of the Rhode Island Jewish community, was falsely accused of expressing racist or genocidal ideas toward Palestinians.

In addition, among the unexpected changes made by “The Jewish Voice” to my subsequent article “Congregation Beth Sholom announces “CBS Speaks’ lecture series” (Nov. 13), Dr. Pessin’s name (and only his name) was dropped from the list of speakers.

I wish to reiterate that The Jewish Voice intentionally omitted or haphazardly dropped: Dr. Andrew Pessin – who, as David Bernstein of The Washington Post (among others) has reported in a series of investigative articles, was falsely accused in the spring of 2015 of expressing racist or genocidal ideas towards Palestinians – is one of the scholars giving talks at Congregation Beth Sholom as part of its new CBS Speaks lecture series.

I am proud that Congregation Beth Sholom not only remains eager to learn from this important scholar, but also stands by a wronged member of the Rhode Island Jewish community and tries to heed the lessons of his experience. It is unfortunate that the editorial team at The Jewish Voice seems unwilling to display a similar resolution

Shai Afsai

Providence