The Continued Scourge of Book Banning

I recently watched The Librarians, the documentary directed by Kim A. Snyder about the ongoing book-banning fiasco.

Around the same time, I attended a zoom session on the topic, hosted by the Hadassah Educators Council where several librarians provided an accounting of their own harrowing experiences in school and public libraries. I’m not talking years ago either. I’m talking about the current day and age.

I’ll be honest. Parts of this documentary and the testimony of the librarians made me sick to my stomach. (But so many things these days do.)

The documentary links book banning efforts to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare and to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels’ burning books by Jewish authors. Goebbels, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, was “an unconditional follower of Hitler and a radical antisemite.” He held many positions in the Nazi party, including Reich Minister for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment. It wasn’t difficult to get the point that history is repeating itself and that many people aren’t learning lessons from the past.

I also attribute the efforts of banning books to our current political climate. Today we seem to be more divisive than ever, and book banning is just another issue to argue over. I’m not talking a healthy debate either. Librarians are subject to disparaging comments and threats of violence at meetings and in public. Some have feared for their lives. We are speaking about librarians — those studious, often quiet, community workers who seek to provide people with varied resources and informational materials.

As is the case with most of the current divisive political issues, book banning proponents seem to have only one mindset: their refusal to open their minds and listen to professionals in the field. In The Librarians, there was plenty of testimony from Moms for Liberty, as well as the Governor of Texas and others who want books removed from the libraries, rather than just designated for the appropriate age groups.

In my own state of Maryland, Harford County Public Schools is fighting over the book Flamers, which was first removed from the shelves and then put back. This fight has now been taken to the courts and the state government.

Just as I was putting the final touches on this article, I read in the March 7 issue of the Baltimore Sun that to order new books in the Carroll County, Maryland Public School System, media specialists and librarians must now complete and sign the Library Media Supplemental Material Verification Form, a document used by school districts to vet and verify materials added to library collections.

This document requires media specialists to complete extensive documentation for new items, ensuring that they adhere to selection, evaluation and, if applicable, sensitive content policies. This inherently requires these specialists to read every book they are ordering (an impossible human task) and holds them accountable for each book they add to their libraries, making them fearful that they will be vulnerable to retribution in the future.

According to the February 20, 2026 issue of the Baltimore Jewish Times (page 22), Texas has decided to pivot 180 degrees and seek control in a different way: by creating a mandatory reading list for 5.5 million children in their school system.

Among the books they are attempting to add are Elie Wiesel’s Night, Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars and the original edition of Anne Frank’s diary. Still in the proposal stage, it is unclear at this point what support teachers will receive as they teach the delicate and sensitive subject of the Holocaust and on what grade levels these texts will be used.

While it may sound beneficial to ensure that our students read these books and are educated about the Holocaust, you should know that also on the required reading list are selections from the Bible — the Old Testament AND the New Testament.

The question really boils down to “How do we stop this overreaching control and repression?” This isn’t just a book banning issue. We need to prevent the extremists in our country from completely censoring what the entire public reads, hears and is informed about. I doubt that most Americans want to see their civil liberties vanish as this censorship takes hold. Everyone must get on board to fight this oppression!

Diane is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Hadassah members are proud of their Zionist mission and their role as keepers of the flame of Jewish values, traditions and beliefs as well as advocating for women’s empowerment and health equity for all. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 800 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested in writing? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.