Harvard grad Shabbos Kestenbaum faced harassment, filed antisemitism lawsuit

Throughout his grad school career at Harvard, Kestenbaum has spearheaded a very public campaign turned lawsuit against campus antisemitism.

Courtesy Shabbos Kestenbaum

I did not abandon the (Democratic) party, the party abandoned me. I want to fight from within my party to fix it”

Shabbos Kestenbaum

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Riverdale native, graduated from Harvard Divinity School this spring after a journey marked by more turmoil than the average grad-school experience. 

Earlier this year, after taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, to denounce the defacement of campus posters that depicted Israeli hostages, Kestenbaum faced repeated harassment via email and online from Gustavo Espada — a Harvard staff member from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations — previously unknown to him. 

On Jan. 25, Espada first challenged Kestenbaum to a debate, and later posted a TikTok video of himself wielding a plastic machete, saying in Spanish “We’re ready to fight,” accompanied by images of Harvard’s Jewish community and a screenshot from Kestenbaum’s Twitter.

Kestenbaum reported Espada to both the campus and city police and was advised to file a restraining order. 

A few months later, according to Harvard’s student newspaper, The Crimson, Espada was terminated from his position after 26 years with the University. 

Although Kestenbaum considered leaving Harvard, he decided to complete his degree.

“There’s nothing our ideological adversaries would like more than for Zionists to leave campus,” he said.

However, Kestenbaum said he was frustrated with what he said was Harvard’s unwillingness to engage in open dialogue with him. In January, he filed a lawsuit against the university alongside six other students to hold Harvard accountable for alleged acts of “systemic and pervasive” antisemitism experienced by Jewish students on campus.

Months later, Kestenbaum said, the university has not responded to him personally and is arguing in court the lawsuit should be dismissed.

Around the time the lawsuit was filed, U.S. Rep. Richie Torres penned a letter to Harvard interim president Alan Garber in support of Kestenbaum’s lawsuit, asking the school to better address antisemitism.

Benny Stanislawski a spokesman for Torres, said there has been no response from Harvard to the representative’s letter.

Three weeks before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, former president Donald Trump’s campaign reached out to Kestenbaum to share his story.

Although Kestenbaum is a registered Democrat, he said he has received support from many Republicans who align with his views on Israel. He accepted the invitation.

Kestenbaum said he would also be more than happy to also speak at the Democratic National Convention, or anywhere that would allow him to raise awareness of his core issues.

“I did not abandon the (Democratic) party, the party abandoned me,” Kestenbaum said. “I want to fight from within my party to fix it.”

After his speech at the RNC, Kestenbaum said, the response from inside the convention was nothing but “warmth, love and enthusiasm.” Dozens of attendees and delegates hugged him and said they were praying for the state of Israel and the safe return of its hostages.

But elsewhere within the Jewish community, Kestenbaum’s speech was not received as positively. Some have made assumptions about his politics and values Kestenbaum said are unfair.

Last week, Zev Mishell, a fellow classmate at Harvard Divinity School, published an op-ed in Jewish newspaper The Forward, saying Kestenbaum’s views do not speak for the larger HDS Jewish community. As a Zionist, Mishell wrote, Kestenbaum ignores more pluralistic Jewish organizations, which “challenge narratives that conflate pro-Palestinian campus activism with antisemitism, a protest movement that, at Harvard, includes many Jews.”

Kestenbaum said, whether they are explicitly on his side, he believes the majority of the Jewish community at Harvard feels antisemitism is a problem at the university and that it is not being dealt with appropriately.

Although Kestenbaum said free speech is not the core issue in his dispute with Harvard, the school was ranked 248th out of 248 schools in annual free speech rankings from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions, a nonprofit, nonpartisan civil liberties organization.

“This is a university that has never once taken the concerns of free speech seriously,” Kestenbaum said, “unless, of course, it has to do with free speech that amplifies Jew hatred, then they’re very concerned with protecting it.”

To Kestenbaum, the solution for Harvard is a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism similar to those for racism, sexism and homophobia; the disciplining of antisemitic students and professors; divestment from funds the university receives from antisemitic countries; and mandatory Title IX training against antisemitism “in the same way there is mandatory Title IX training for other forms of bigotry.”

Following his education, Kestenbaum said he intends to continue advocating for his community and pursuing a career in public policy or any field that allows him to be a voice of change.

Attempts to reach Harvard for comment were unsuccessful at press time.