As members of the faculty of the Jewish Studies Program at Stanford University, we express our outrage at the executive order issued by President Trump denying entry into the United States for the next 90 days to citizens of seven Muslim countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Although some aspects of the executive order have been stayed Saturday night, the executive order has arbitrarily thrown the lives of innocent people around the globe into disarray, among them at least one of Stanford’s students directly, and many others in a variety of ways. As scholars of Jewish history and culture we are well aware of the denial of entry into the United States to Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler, and are outraged that fellow human beings, refugees from Syria who are fleeing war and death, are not being welcomed here. The scandal to our democratic culture is heightened by the fact that President Trump signed these executive orders on a day that is internationally recognized as Holocaust Memorial Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We are shocked by proposals of a future religious test for entry into the United States. Along with colleagues around the country we demand that the United States government end this outrageous and potentially anti-constitutional policy immediately.

— Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, Director, Taube Center for Jewish Studies;

 Zachary Baker, Reinhard Family Curator of Judaica and Hebraica Collections;

Amir Eshel, Edward Clark Crossett Professor of Humanistic Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature;

Reviel Netz, Suppes Professor of Greek Mathematics and Astronomy;

Aron Rodrigue, Charles Michael Professor in Jewish History and Culture;

Gabriella Safran, Eva Chernov Lokey Professor in Jewish Studies and Professor, by courtesy, of German Studies;

Vered Shemtov, Eva Chernov Lokey Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Language and Literature;

Steven Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History