It is with deep sorrow that we acknowledge our dismay and express our concern with the recent appointment of Mr. Elliott Abrams as Chairman of the Board at the Tikvah Fund. Mr. Abrams’ actions in the highest seats of government in this country, from the halls of the White House to the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives, reflects a commitment neither to graciousness and mercy, nor to justice and beneficence. His conviction for bearing false testimony to Congress under oath - a crime for which felony charges were prepared - led to his being sanctioned by his own former colleagues in the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. More grievously, however, we believe his violation of the ninth of the Ten Commandments in public, as one of the most powerful Jews in the country, represents nothing less than a desecration of God’s name. 

As Jews, we believe in the concept of teshuvah, repentance, which according to Maimonides allows a person to completely reinvent their behavioral patterns and start anew. Had Mr. Abrams taken steps to reform his behavior, or to otherwise express regret for his past mistakes, we would have welcomed his leadership. Yet unfortunately, his role in American interventions in foreign countries, from Iran and Nicaragua to Guatemala and El Salvador, tells us otherwise. Mr. Abrams was directly involved in, and in some cases was the primary orchestrator of, the support of dictators and armed forces later convicted of genocide and mass murder of civilians, and yet he has refused to take responsibility for these horrific consequences of his actions. In fact, he has spoken on the record speaking highly of these interventions as “fantastic accomplishments.” Most recently, in February of 2019, in testimony to Congress as special representative to Venezuela, Mr. Abrams continued to maintain his innocence and decline to acknowledge his responsibility in the torture and death of innocent civilians.

As of June 2021, Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah, an Orthodox Jewish high school for boys in Teaneck, NJ, offers curricula in History and English literature curated and sponsored by the Tikvah Fund to its students. We believe it is inappropriate for Bnei Torah and Yirei Shamayim, such as those who study at this excellent Yeshiva, to be benefiting from funds from an organization led by someone like Mr. Abrams, regardless of whatever good comes out of the project. Mr. Abrams not only does not recognize the Tzelem Elokim of the innocent people whose deaths he is responsible for; he is unrepentant about it. He has also violated one of the Aseres Hadibros in public. We strongly believe it does not send a good message to students about the values of Bein Adam L'Chaveiro to be associated with an organization that has Mr. Abrams at the helm. We therefore respectfully ask the administration of the Yeshiva to remove the Tikvah name from their humanities curricula.