The Unintended Education

This is the story of a 'teachable moment' that wasn't intended to be one.

Shachar Rabinovitch is a 13-year-old girl living in Israel. She recently wrote to British academic Marsha Levine, who is reportedly an expert on horses that she was doing a school project and sent her a polite letter asking her for some information about the domestication and breeding of early horse species:

Hello!

My name is Shachar Rabinovitch and I'm from Israel.

I'm doing an assessment for school about horses, and it will be great if you can answer a few questions that I will ask.

1. What ancient horses breeds preserved and were a base to the breeds we know today?

2. How did the ancient humans created new breeds or kept the ones who already were existent?

3. What ancient horse breed the ancient humans used the most and what were those uses?

4. Where did the ancient horses breeds lived?

Thank you for reading my questions,

Shachar Rabinovitch

 


Levine, who is Jewish (at least genetically) and who still claims to be a researcher at Cambridge University although apparently she no longer is, replied :

Dear Shachar Rabinovich:

I'll answer your questions when there is peace and justice for Palestinians in Palestine.

I am a member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians. I support Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions. You might be a child, but if you are old enough to write to me, you are old enough to learn about Israeli history and how it has impacted on the lives of Palestinian people. Maybe your family has the same views as I do, but I doubt it. So, I suggest that you look at this link: (link to this hate site omitted by yours truly)

yours sincerely

Dr. Marsha Levine

Levine caught a little bit of flack even in the UK for this gratuitous nastiness. She defended herself for her response as “fair,” saying she didn’t want to boost the 13-year-old girl’s “ego or make her feel better about herself.” Per Britain's Jewish Chronicle:

“I made the decision that I have the choice not to waste my time on people who tread on the rights of other people. I didn’t do anything to her. I said that when there is justice for Palestine I will answer her – that’s a fair answer.

“I want this girl not to worry about horses. I don’t need people emailing me… I don’t see any obligation to further her ego or make her feel better about herself.”

In other words, she decided to boost her own ego by shaming a 13-year-old girl who did nothing to her but ask a few polite questions about a subject Dr. Levine is supposedly a known expert on. And of course, to let her know that as a Jew living in a country Dr. Levine considers a pariah, she wasn't entitled to even basic civility, let alone any education.

A number of people have commented on the cruelty of Marsha Levine's response to a 13-year old girl, but I actually see Marsha Levine's action in a positive light. While her intent wasn't to teach Shachar anything, I think she did, and she even might have imparted something to more than a few discerning Jews victimized by what I refer to as the Jewish Stockholm Syndrome.

You see, Ms. Levine has now given young Shachar some important lessons - that Jew hatred and its modern mask 'anti-Zionism' is a psychosis which no appeasement, actions or 'dialogue' can alleviate or end, and that all too many Jews eagerly participate in it with extraordinary zeal. She also now understands that there is no consideration or quarter given for age or sex and most importantly, that a strong and powerful Israel is an absolute necessity.

She has also learned exactly what kind of 'human beings' populate BDS ranks.

These are valuable lessons a lot of Jews, especially in the diaspora have yet to learn. So Marsha Levine was actually teaching in spite of herself...just not what she expected to teach.

Speaking of which, various other academics who are experts on horses were revolted by Marsha Levine, and are helping Shachar with the information she was seeking. As one of them, Professor James Russell of Harvard put it,“Prof. Levine’s conduct is unprofessional and beneath human contempt. It makes one ashamed to be a member of the same academic profession. But it does reflect very accurately the character of the BDS movement and of those who support it.”

Indeed it does. Unintended education can sometimes be the most valuable of all.