Why I Walked Out on My Graduation

Morin Zaray was as proud as anyone could be walking into her master’s graduation from Hebrew Union College at the Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles. When commencement speaker Michael Chabon took the stage, however, Zaray’s attitude quickly changed.

Condemning Israel’s security wall and demonizing the Israeli Jews in Hebron, Chabon carried on about what he viewed as the atrocities committed in Israel. Having grown up in Israel herself, Zaray described his views on Israel as existing only in “black-and-white,” terms.

Zaray left her seat in the front row, walked to her family and asked her mother if not seeing her graduate would be a disappointment. Her mother’s response: “That she would feel ashamed to see me walk on that stage after what had been said.”

In June, Zaray began her career in the Jewish nonprofit field remembering the danger that black-and-white approaches to Israel, like Chabon’s.

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