On the Nose

Latest Episodes:

The Other ADLs Oct 31, 2024

In 2003, a group of Indian Americans deeply involved in India's Hindu supremacist, or Hindutva, movement established the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an organization explicitly modeled on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Just as the ADL has long insisted that fighting American antisemitism requires bolstering support for Israel, the HAF committed itself to lobbying for Hindutva in the name of protecting Hindu Americans’ civil rights, an approach that helped the group's rightwing politics find a foothold in liberal, anti-racist circles. The HAF is not the only organization that has drawn inspiration from the ADL. In 2021, the Asian American Foundation (TAAF) was formed in direct partnership with the ADL as a way to address growing anti-Asian racism. While lacking connection to a single ethnonationalist movement, TAAF nevertheless drew on the ADL’s and HAF’s approaches in positioning anti-Asian racism as a unique problem requiring carceral solutions instead of solidaristic organizing. As such, TAAF debuted with ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt as the only non-Asian person on its board, and Hindu nationalist Sonal Shah as its founding president.

The HAF and TAAF’s use of the ADL model has thus far helped them achieve support and legitimacy. However, as the ADL itself faces an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy in the wake of October 7th, affiliation with it now risks becoming a liability. For instance, following members’ criticism over its ties to an increasingly repressive Greenblatt, TAAF removed him from his board this July (while still affirming its “strategic relationship” with the ADL). As dissent continues to grow in Asian and South Asian American communities—with reporters and activists questioning ties of anti-racist groups in the US to injustices abroad—it is not just ties to the ADL but the power of the ADL model of antiracism that stands to come into question. To discuss these developments, Jewish Currents news editor Aparna Gopalan spoke to associate editor Mari Cohen, New Yorker contributing writer E. Tammy Kim, and Savera coalition activist Prachi Patankar about the similarities and differences between the ADL, the HAF, and TAAF; their embrace of a “hate crimes” approach to anti-racism and what it leaves out; their ties to supremacist movements; and their shifting fortunes in the wake of the pressures over the past year.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

“How the ADL’s Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work,” Alex Kane and Jacob Hutt, Jewish Currents

“ADL Staffers Dissented After CEO Compared Palestinian Rights Groups to Right-Wing Extremists, Leaked Audio Reveals,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” Savera Coalition

“The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents

“The ADL of Asian America,” E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker

“The Asian American Foundation’s ADL partnership is a betrayal to Asian American communities,” Sharmin Hossain, Mondoweiss

What Ta-Nehisi Coates Saw Oct 17, 2024

Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the most celebrated American political writers of our time, devotes much of his new book, The Message, to a withering and deeply personal critique of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. On this bonus episode of On the Nose—a recording of an online event for Jewish Currents members, co-sponsored by the Beinart Notebook and the Foundation for Middle East Peace—editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with Coates about his time in Israel and the West Bank, the silencing of Palestinians in American media, and what it means when nationalism’s victims become its adherents.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

The Messageby Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our American Israelby Amy Kaplan

The Riot Report, directed by Michelle Ferrari

“The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic

“One Year of War in the Middle East,” Pod Save the World

The Yellow Windby David Grossman

“Obama on his criticism of Israeli settlements: ‘I’m basically a liberal Jew,’” Avery Anopol, The Hill

“US media talks a lot about Palestinians—just without Palestinians,” Maha Nassar, +972 Magazine

Ta-Nehisi Coates interview on CBS

Black Panther graphic novels by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Makdisi Street podcast

“Ta-Nehisi Coates: I Was Told Palestine Was Complicated. Visiting Revealed a Simple, Brutal Truth,” Democracy Now!

Palestinian Liberation After the Destruction of Gaza Oct 10, 2024

On this episode of On the Nose—recorded live at Jewish Currents’sdaylong event on September 15th—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with a panel of authors, scholars, and activists about the movement for Palestinian freedom in the wake of Israel’s genocide. Noura Erakat, Fadi Quran, Dana El Kurd, Amjad Iraqi, and Ahmed Moor discuss the challenge of Palestinian unity under Israel’s program of fragmentation, the resurgence of the two-state solution and decline of the coexistence paradigm, American Jews’ role in organizing their communities against Zionism, and the task of imagining a liberated future.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestineby Dana El Kurd

Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestineby Noura Erakat

After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine, edited by Anthony Loewenstein and Ahmed Moor

Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistanceby Tareq Baconi

Polling by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research

“Zionism Killed the Jewish-Muslim World,” Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Jacobin

Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions

1968 Palestinian National Charter

“How Durham, North Carolina, became the first US city to ban police exchanges with Israel,” Zaina Alsous and Sammy Hanf, Scalawag

"Between the Covers" Live: Dionne Brand and Adania Shibli Oct 02, 2024

For this live taping of the literary podcast Between the Covers—recorded at Jewish Currents’s daylong event on September 15th and presented in partnership with On the Nose—host David Naimon convened a conversation with renowned writers Dionne Brand and Adania Shibli about contesting colonial narratives. Rooted in their long-standing literary practice and in the demands of this moment of genocide, they discuss the vexed meanings of home, how to recover the everydayness of life erased by empire, and what it means to imagine togetherness beyond the nation-state.

This episode was produced by David Naimon, with music by Alicia Jo Rabins. Thanks also to Jesse Brenneman for additional editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Additional Resources:

Minor Detailby Adania Shibli

A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belongingby Dionne Brand

Civil Serviceby Claire Schwartz

The Blue Clerkby Dionne Brand

Adania Shibli in conversation with Hisham Matar at the 2024 Hay Festival

Adania Shibli in conversation with Madeleine Thien and Layli Long Soldier at the Barnard Center for Research on Women

“Writing Against Tyranny and Toward Liberation,” Dionne Brand

“Dionne Brand: Nomenclature — New and Collected Poems,” Between the Covers

“Adania Shibli: Minor Detail,” Between the Covers

“prologue for now - Gaza,” Dionne Brand, Jewish Currents

“Duty,” Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review of Books

“A Lesson in Arabic Grammar by Toni Morrison,” Adania Shibli, Jewish Currents

Inventory by Dionne Brand

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrativeby Isabella Hammad

“Isabella Hammad: Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative,” Between the Covers

Freud and the Non-Europeanby Edward Said

“The Horseman and the Lake of Constance,” Gustav Schwab

"The Dig" Live: Internationalism After Third Worldism Sep 26, 2024

In this live taping of Jacobin’spodcast The Dig—recorded at Jewish Currents’s recent daylong event and presented in partnership with On the Nose—host Daniel Denvir convened a conversation with scholars Aslı Bâli and Aziz Rana on the past and present of left internationalism. Placing the current eruption of solidarity with Palestine in the context of the rise and fall of Third Worldism, they discuss the history and legacy of that project, the lasting structures of neocolonialism, and the challenge of contesting empire from the heart of empire.

This episode was produced by Alex Lewis and Jackson Roach, with music by Jeffrey Brodsky. Thanks also to Jesse Brenneman for additional editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire,” Aziz Rana, Dissent

“Reviving the Language of Empire,” Aziz Rana in conversation with Nora Caplan-Bricker, Jewish Currents

“The Disastrous Relationship Among Israel, Palestinians and the U.N.,” Aslı Bâli on The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times

Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah

“What We Did: How the Jewish Communist Left Failed the Palestinian Cause,” Dorothy M. Zellner, Jewish Currents

Empire As a Way of Lifeby William Appleman Williams

Discourse on Colonialismby Aimé Césaire

“From Minneapolis to Jerusalem,” Hannah Black, Jewish Currents

“Charging Israel with Genocide,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

Talking About Antisemitism Sep 05, 2024

Recently, far-right figures like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have hitched their anti-Israel politics to blatant antisemitism, platforming Holocaust denial and using decontextualized passages from religious texts like the Talmud to argue for the fundamental immorality of Judaism; in some cases their rhetoric has migrated beyond the right-wing echo chamber. Meanwhile, following a cheeky tweet by conspiracy-minded Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal that attributed the congressional losses of Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush to the “Zionist occupied government,” or “ZOG,” debates raged online about the supposed accuracy or usefulness of the term, which has clear origins in the neo-Nazi movement. In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel interviews Shane Burley and Ben Lorber, authors of the new book Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism,about these trends and how we confront them. They examine the real difficulties of talking about antisemitism—and assessing actual risk—in an alarmist environment where antisemitism is frequently weaponized against Palestinians and their allies, and discuss what it means to build principled movements rooted in mutual self-interest and collective liberation.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber

“The Right’s Anti-Israel Insurgents,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents

“Examining the ADL’s Antisemitism Audit,” Shane Burley and Jonah ben Avraham, Jewish Currents

The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance by Shaul Magid

Zioness event about campus antisemitism

“Jewish settlers stole my house. It’s not my fault they’re Jewish,” Mohammed El Kurd, Mondoweiss

Rafael Shimunov’s thread about talking about antisemitism on the left

“What Comes Next for the Palestinian Youth Movement,” Mohammed Nabulsi, Hammer & Hope

Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Study on the correlation between antisemitism and Israeli violence against Palestinians

"Are neo-Nazi terms really the only way to criticize U.S. support for Israel?," Mira Fox, The Forward

"Efforts to sell 'Anglo neighborhoods in Israel' at LA synagogue erupt in protests," Lois Beckett, The Guardian

“At Hunter’s ‘Israelism’ screening, the rabbi was rude, not the audience,” The Forward

“Brooklyn bookstore parts ways with worker who canceled event over pro-Israel rabbi as moderator,” Beth Harpaz and Louis Keene, The Forward

“Do American Jews Really Know What 'Zionist' Means?,” Mira Sucharov, Haaretz

The Killing of Ismail Haniyeh Aug 09, 2024

On July 31st, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, was killed in Iran. Haniyeh came to the capital city of Tehran for the presidential inauguration; an explosive device went off in the guest house where he was staying. Just hours before, Haniyeh had met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack, but they’re widely believed to be responsible—especially given their history of targeted political assassinations. Indeed, Haniyeh’s killing followed Israel assassination of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon one day earlier.

Haniyeh was killed in the middle of ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. With the death toll in Gaza nearing 40,000, and the family members of Israeli hostages desperately calling for a prisoner exchange, the pressure to come to an agreement has been mounting. But Haniyeh was a chief negotiator in those talks, and now, the chances of arriving at a deal seem further than ever.

Meanwhile, Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the attack on their soil. As of Thursday, August 8th, that hasn’t happened yet, but many now fear that tensions could lead to a wider regional war.

In this collaboration between Unsettled Podcast and On the Nose, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson interviews Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, to make sense of these developments and what Haniyeh’s assassination means for the future of the region.

This episode was produced by Ilana Levinson with Emily Bell. Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions. Thanks to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Further Reading:

“Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance,” Tareq Baconi

“Hamas: Gaza (Ep 3),” Unsettled Podcast

“Tareq Baconi: ‘There’s no going back,’” Unsettled Podcast

“Regional War: An Explainer,” Alex Kane and Jonathan Shamir, Jewish Currents

The Escalating Regional War Aug 07, 2024

Since October 7th, a low-grade regional war has played out across the Middle East, pitting Israel and its Western allies against various Iran-backed forces. The Yemeni Houthi faction has targeted ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, prompting a wave of US and British airstrikes on Yemen. Meanwhile, Iraqi militias have repeatedly fired rockets at US forces in their country. Hezbollah and Israel have also traded deadly fire on the Lebanon–Israel border, leading to mass displacement on both sides.

Now, with Israel’s recent assassinations of a senior Hezbollah commander in a Beirut suburb, and of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, these relatively-limited conflicts threaten to turn into a far-bloodier conflagration. On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane interviews regional expert Trita Parsi and scholar Karim Makdisi about these assassinations, the strategies and interests of Iran and Hezbollah, and the Biden administration’s response to the prospect of a full-scale regional war.

Thanks to guest producer Will Smith and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING

“Regional War: An Explainer,” Alex Kane and Jonathan Shamir, Jewish Currents

“The Middle East Is Inching Toward Another War,” Trita Parsi, TIME

“Biden Warns Netanyahu Against Escalation As Risk Of Regional War Grows,” Barak Ravid, Axios

“Bomb Smuggled Into Tehran Guesthouse Months Ago Killed Hamas Leader,” Ronen Bergman, Mark Mazzetti, and Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times

Chevruta: Voting Aug 01, 2024

Should leftists vote for the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election? Many have balked at supporting an administration that has funded and armed Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza: Some are refusing to vote outright, while others are conditioning their vote on a dramatic shift in policy. Although President Joe Biden has now dropped out of the race, and will almost certainly be replaced by his vice president, Kamala Harris, this question remains live for many.

American leftists have long debated our relationship to electoral politics, and to the Democratic Party in particular. Do we choose the lesser of two evils, hold our nose, and “vote blue no matter who” in order to avert the catastrophes that would result from a Republican presidency? Or are there acts that are too morally outrageous to permit such a utilitarian calculus? And regardless of what we choose, are there ways to think about the meaning of voting that go beyond the pieties of mainstream liberal discourse?

In this episode, Jewish Currents contributing writer Raphael Magarik explores these questions with Rania Batrice, a first-generation Palestinian American and political strategist who has devoted her career to electoral work, including as Bernie Sanders’s 2016 deputy campaign manager. The conversation—recorded while Biden was still running—examines a legal responsum by Rabbi Menashe Klein, the spiritual leader of the Ungvar Hasidic community in Brooklyn, about whether one is responsible for the actions of a candidate one votes for. Through engagement with Klein’s responsum, Magarik and Batrice turn over their own ambivalences, grappling with competing ways of thinking about voting.

This podcast is part of our chevruta column, named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents matches leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar leads them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column includes a written conversation, podcast, and study guide. You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.

Thanks to Ilana Levinson for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

J.D. Vance’s Foreign Policy Vision Jul 25, 2024

Donald Trump’s decision to tap Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate marks the culmination of a Republican foreign policy transformation. While some aspects of Trump’s foreign policy choices in his first term alienated neoconservatives, other elements aligned with their views—and his previous vice presidential pick, Mike Pence, hailed from the interventionist wing of the party. By contrast, Vance has stridently denounced the Iraq War and criticized US funding for Ukraine. His selection suggests that a second Trump term could represent a sharper break from GOP orthodoxy on foreign policy and heralds the rise of a realist nationalist vision for how the US should conduct itself around the world.

On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane speaks with historian Suzanne Schneider and political analyst Matt Duss about the ideology driving Vance’s agenda, his argument that “America First” foreign policy must include US support for Israel, and how a second Trump administration would differ from the Biden administration on international affairs.

Thanks to guest producer Will Smith and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Light Among The Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents

“Vance on Iran: ‘If You’re Going to Punch the Iranians, You Punch Them Hard,’” Matthew Kassel, Jewish Insider

Vance’s Keynote Speech at Quincy Institute/The American Conservative Conference

“Trump taps Vance as Running Mate, Anointing Ideological Successor,” Matthew Kassel, Jewish Insider

"Leaked Memo Shows J.D. Vance's Anti-Woke Ideology on Foreign Affairs," John Hudson, The Washington Post

“Harris Candidacy Gives Democrats a Chance to Pivot on Gaza,” Matt Duss, Foreign Policy

The Fraught Promise of Arab-Jewish Identity Jul 10, 2024

Until 1948, around 800,000 Jews lived as an organic and inseparable part of the Arab Middle East and North Africa. But political shifts in the mid-20th century upended this reality. The violent creation of the State of Israel, and the rise of an increasingly exclusivist Arab nationalism, fueled anti-Jewish hostility that led to the exodus of all but a few thousand Jews from the region. The rich Arab-Jewish life that had characterized prior centuries was lost, and the vast majority of Arab Jews ended up in Israel, becoming active participants in the country’s regime of domination over Palestinians. But neither Mizrahi Jews’ enthusiastic embrace of Zionism nor the collapse of Jewish life in the broader Middle East were historical inevitabilities—and these processes did not go unchallenged. Instead, Arab-Jewish thinkers throughout the 20th century drew on their own experiences to offer alternatives to Zionism as well as other kinds of ethnonationalism.

In June, Jewish Currents fellow Jonathan Shamir attended a first-of-its-kind retreat for Arab Jews organized by activist Hadar Cohen and historian Avi Shlaim, where contemporary thinkers came together to figure out how to build on these past efforts. In the latest episode of On the Nose, Shamir speaks with three scholars from the retreat—Hana Morgenstern, a professor of Middle Eastern literature; Yaël Mizrahi-Arnaud, a co-founder of the diaspora anti-Zionist group Shoresh; and Moshe Behar, a senior lecturer in Israel/Palestine studies and co-founder of the Mizrahi Civic Collective—about the history of Arab-Jewish political thought and organizing, and its possibilities and limits for our time.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading and Listening:

On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements: Selected Writings by Ella Shohat

The Arab Jews: A Postcolonial Reading of Nationalism, Religion, and Ethnicity by Yehouda Shenhav

Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Politics, & Culture, 1893-1958, edited by Moshe Behar and Zvi Ben-Dor Benite

Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim

Iraqi Jewish Writers (Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature), Shimon Ballas, Sami Michael, Samir Naqqash, et al.

"An Archive of Literary Reconstruction after the Palestinian Nakba," Hana Morgenstern, MERIP

“Were There—and Can There Be—Arab Jews? (With Afterthoughts on the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism and Palestinian Jews),” Moshe Behar

“Weeping for Babylon,” Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Avi Shlaim, Jewish Currents

“Toward a Democratic State in Palestine,” Palestine National Liberation Movement

"The 'Friends of the IDF' Gala Was Like a Rich Kid’s Bar Mitzvah—Until the Protest Started," Sophie Hurwitz, The Nation

“A Democratic Mizrahi Vision,” the Mizrahi Civic Collective

Jamaal Bowman’s Primary Loss Jul 05, 2024

On June 25th, New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman lost his primary election to George Latimer, a longtime Democratic Westchester County politician. The race attracted national attention because of the unprecedented role played by the Israel-advocacy group AIPAC: The lobby’s super PAC spent $14.5 million on television ads attacking Bowman, while AIPAC donors contributed about $2.5 million to Latimer’s campaign. Bowman’s loss marked a blow for the project of electing leftists to federal office, and the result particularly stung for the pro-Palestine movement; one of the most outspoken Democratic critics of Israel’s war on Gaza will now be replaced by someone who won’t even rebuke Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which puts him well to the right of Joe Biden.

On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane is joined by Intercept DC bureau chief Ryan Grim and former Justice Democrats spokesperson Waleed Shahid to discuss the meaning of Bowman’s loss, AIPAC’s electoral strategy, and the future of the movement to elect leftist Democrats.

Thanks to guest producer Will Smith and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“The Road Not Taken: Hard Truths about Jamaal Bowman’s Loss,” Micah Sifry, The Connector

“What the Left Can Learn From Jamaal Bowman’s Loss,” Waleed Shahid, The Nation

“A Trip to Israel Changed Jamaal Bowman’s Worldview—And Could Cost Him His Re-election,” Calder McHugh, Politico

“Beyond the Capacity of English to See” Jun 20, 2024

In May 2021, Palestinian American poet, physician, translator, and essayist Fady Joudah wrote two poems engaged with the violence of Israeli apartheid. Reflecting on the conundrum of where and how to publish them, he explained: “I’ve long been aware of the crushing weight that reduces Palestine in English to a product with limited features . . . This sickening delimitation mimics physical entrapment. The silken compassion toward Palestinians in mainstream English thinks the language of the oppressed is brilliant mostly when it teaches us about surviving massacres and enduring the degradation of checkpoints.” His sixth collection of poetry, [...]—written in the first three months of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and published in March—indicts precisely such forms of entrapment. In these lucid yet idiosyncratic poems, Joudah turns his attention to that which exceeds the narrow place of the Western gaze, spurning the market forces that reward the performance of perpetual Palestinian victimhood.

On this episode of On the Nose, culture editor Claire Schwartz speaks with Joudah about publishing [...] in this long moment of anti-Palestinian racism, the dangerous desires of denying our own not-knowing, and the generative capacities of silence.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned, and Further Reading and Listening:

“My Palestinian Poem that ‘The New Yorker’ Wouldn’t Publish,” Fady Joudah, Los Angeles Review of Books

“A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation,” Fady Joudah, Lit Hub

“Fady Joudah: The poet on how the war in Gaza changed his work,” Aria Aber, The Yale Review

“‘Unspeakable’: Dr. Fady Joudah Grieves 50+ Family Members Killed in Gaza & Slams U.S. Media Coverage,” Democracy Now!

“Aesthetics of Return: Palestinian Poetry with Fady Joudah,” Jadaliyya

“Habibi Yamma,” Fady Joudah, Protean

“Dear [...],” Fady Joudah, Prairie Schooner

“[...],” Fady Joudah, Lit Hub

“[...],” Fady Joudah, Jewish Currents

“Maqam for a Green Silence,” Fady Joudah, Jewish Currents

Synagogue Struggles Jun 13, 2024

Since October 7th, American Jews have been sharply divided over Israel’s war on Gaza—a fracture that has been manifest within all manner of institutions, including synagogues. Many leftist Jews do not participate in synagogue life at all, in part because most congregations are explicitly or tacitly Zionist. But for those who are affiliated with a synagogue community that doesn’t completely align with their politics, this moment has raised or reasserted pressing and difficult questions: Should we do political work within these institutions, and if so, how? What is gained and lost by organizing in these spaces, or by withdrawing from them? What kinds of communities can we ethically be part of? On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, managing director Cynthia Friedman, contributing writer Raphael Magarik, and contributor Devin E. Naar discuss their varying approaches to synagogue life in this moment.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Jewish Americans in 2020,” Pew Research Center

“Statement on Israel/Palestine by Scholars of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies” from 2021

“How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism Has Been Weaponized Against Israel’s Critics,” Jonathan Hafetz and Sahar Aziz, The Nation

Making Mensches

“Ale Brider,” Yiddish folk song

“Hayim Katsman’s Vision of Struggle,” Hayim Katsman, Jewish Currents

Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early 20th Century Palestine by Michelle U. Campos

Oriental Neighbors: Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine by Abigail Jacobson and Moshe Naor

“A Democratic Mizrahi Vision,” the Mizrahi Civic Collective

Religion, Secularism, and the Jewish Left Jun 06, 2024

On March 29th, Jewish Currents began publishing a short commentary on the parshah—the portion of the Torah that Jews traditionally read each week—in the Shabbat Reading List newsletter. A note introducing this new feature situated it in the context of mainstream Jewish communal support for Israel’s war on Gaza: “While it might seem strange for a historically secular magazine to embark on such a project . . . we are trying this now because many in our community have expressed an unprecedented alienation from most Jewish institutions, alongside an urgent need for spiritual fortification.” While many readers have written in to express their gratitude and enthusiasm for the series, some people with long histories of close involvement with Jewish Currents have been upset by the inclusion of religious content. The range of reactions highlights an enduring dispute over the place of religion at Jewish Currents. The magazine was founded by a stridently secularist American Jewish left, which was forged in opposition to the reactionary constraints of religion and in alignment with the Communist Party. But this has given way to a movement that’s more interested in religious texts and ritual as generative elements of Jewish identity, and as politically meaningful tools.

On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, JC councilmember Judee Rosenbaum, and contributing writer Mitch Abidor argue about the parshah commentaries, the meaning of secularism at Jewish Currents, and the evolving role of religion on the Jewish left.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Complex Inheritances,” Joy Ladin, Jewish Currents

“Yiddish Anarchists’ Break Over Palestine,” introduced and translated by Eyshe Beirich, Jewish Currents

“Camp Kinderland at 100,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Zhitlovsky: Philosopher of Jewish Secularism,” Max Rosenfeld, Cultural and Secular Jewish Organization (previously in Jewish Currents)

“Secularism,” Daniel May, Sources

Letter to the editor on religious coverage at Jewish Currents, with editors’ response

“Secular Jewish Education, A Critique,” Bennett Muraskin, Jewish Currents

“Why I’m Not a Jewish Secularist,” Mitch Abidor, Jewish Currents

“Why I’m Not a Jewish Secularist: A Response to the Responses,” Mitch Abidor, Jewish Currents

“The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude,” Étienne de la Boétie

The End of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" May 23, 2024

On April 7th, Larry David’s sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm—which debuted in 2000 and ran on and off for 24 years—concluded its twelfth and final season. For many critics, the finale marked not only the completion of a beloved show that sometimes seemed like it would run forever, but also the end of an era of American Jewish comedy, embodied by David and other comics of his generation. Curb follows the everyday antics of a fictionalized version of David, living a posh life in Los Angeles following the success of the iconic ’90s sitcom Seinfeld, which he co-created with Jerry Seinfeld. David’s avatar is an over-the-top archetype of a Brooklyn Jew raised in the mid-century, and the show is animated by the character’s dry affect and hyperbolic intransigence, which often put him at odds with reigning social mores, fueling absurd interactions with strangers, friends, and foes. Over the course of Curb’s long run, it’s had a profound impact on the shape of modern American comedy, while the caricature at its core has emerged as one of the defining representations of American Jewishness.

On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, contributing editor Ari M. Brostoff, and contributing writer Rebecca Pierce discuss Curb’s depictions of Jewishness, Blackness—and, in one famous episode, Palestinianness—and share their thoughts on the show’s final season and David’s comedic legacy.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles, Episodes, and Films Mentioned:

“The Ski Lift,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“The End,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“American Jewish Comedy Sings a Swan Song,” P.E. Moskowitz, Vulture

“Meet the Blacks,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

“Atlanta,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“The Lawn Jockey,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“The N Word,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“Palestinian Chicken,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“No Lessons Learned,” Curb Your Enthusiasm

“The Finale,” Seinfeld

“Jerry Seinfeld Admits He ‘Sometimes’ Regrets the Seinfeld Finale,” Corinna Burford, Vulture

On Zionism and Anti-Zionism May 16, 2024

The recent wave of anti-Zionist Gaza solidarity protest encampments on college campuses has reignited a longstanding public debate over how to define “Zionist.” On May 8th, a week after the Columbia University encampment was dismantled by the NYPD, more than 500 Jewish students at the school who identify as Zionists published an open letter in which they laid out their perspective. “A large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and consequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People,” they argued, positing that Zionism and Judaism are fundamentally intertwined. The claims echoed a common mainstream Jewish talking point, that the student movement’s stance against Zionism and its adherents is a de facto rejection of Jews—a discourse that plays out against the backdrop of a yearslong Israel advocacy effort to redefine Zionism not as a political ideology but as a protected ethnic identity under US civil rights law. Yet anti-Zionists, Jewish and otherwise, maintain that their position is simply a rejection of the political structure of Jewish supremacy that undergirds the State of Israel.

On this episode, Jewish Currents staff membersdiscuss how they describe their politics in relation to the term “Zionist” and why. They reflect on the comparative advantages and limits of using the labels “anti-Zionist,” “non-Zionist,” and “cultural Zionist” to articulate opposition to a state project of Jewish supremacy and support of Palestinian liberation and right of return, and consider how those identifications impact relationships within the Jewish community and with the broader solidarity movement.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

BOOKS AND ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:

Excerpt from “Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims,” Edward Said

2021 Study of Jewish LA

“How ‘Zionist’ became a slur on the US left,” Jonathan Guyer, The Guardian

“A plan to save Israel — by getting rid of Zionism,” Emily Tamkin, The Forward, on Shaul Magid’s new book exploring a “counter-Zionist” future

Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, Omri Boehm

Address by Max Nordau at the First Zionist Congress, 1897

“The Suppressed Lineage of American Jewish Dissent on Zionism,” Emma Saltzberg, Jewish Currents, on the historical evolution of the meaning of the term “Zionism”

Controversy at the Contemporary Jewish Museum May 02, 2024

Last fall, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco put out an open call for artists to apply for the California Jewish Open. Some of the artists that were accepted into the show identified themselves openly in the application as anti-Zionist, and submitted work that contained content that straightforwardly advocated for Palestinian liberation.

But in April, seven of the artists withdrew from the show. A statement released by a group calling themselves California Artists for Palestine cited an “inability to meet artists’ demands, including transparency around funding and a commitment to BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions].” The artists demanded to be able to have final say on wall text about the works, and to be able to pull or alter their works at any time. They were also concerned about potential “curatorial both-sidesism,” referring to an email they received on March 22nd which asked artists to sign off on the fact that their work would be “presented in proximity to artwork(s) by other Jewish artists which may convey views and beliefs that conflict with [their] own.” The museum has decided to leave blank the wall space designated for this work, “to honor the perspective that would have been shared through these works, and to authentically reflect the struggle for dialogue that is illustrated by the artists’ decisions to withdraw.”

This week, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks to two anti-Zionist multidisciplinary artists who made divergent decisions about whether to stay in the group show: Amy Trachtenberg, who opted to remain, and Liat Berdugo, who has pulled out. The trio discuss the perils and possibility of Jewish institutional life—in the art world and beyond—at this moment, the applicability of BDS in this case, and the uses and limitations of “dialogue.”

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:

“Jewish Anti-Zionist Artists Withdraw From Contemporary Jewish Museum Show,” Matt Stromberg, Hyperallergic

“Anti-Zionist Jewish artists pull out of CJM exhibit when demands are not met,” Andrew Esensten, J Weekly

“CJM visitors wonder: Does the Palestinian flag belong on the museum’s walls?,” Andrew Esensten, J Weekly

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) guidelines

“Campus Politics Takes the Stage in The Ally,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

Jewish Voice for Peace/IfNotNow Passover Campaign

“Biting the Hand,” The Editors, e-flux

“Seeing It for the Trees” by Liat Berdugo

LABA Bay Area and the New Jewish Culture Fellowship

Chevruta: Understanding Aaron Bushnell’s Sacrifice Apr 26, 2024

Chevruta is a column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will include a column, podcast, and study guide.

On February 25th, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said in a livestreamed video, broadcasting what he declared an “an extreme act of protest”—though, he added, “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.” Bushnell, who was dressed in his army uniform, then doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire, shouting “Free Palestine” until he collapsed. He died later that day. While some were quick to dismiss Bushnell’s action as a manifestation of mental illness, many on the left expressed admiration for his sacrifice—which, as intended, drew global attention to US complicity in Israel’s brutal, ongoing assault on Gaza.

In this chevruta, Rabbi Lexi Botzum and Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel engage with Jewish texts that examine the concepts of martyrdom, sacrifice, and public spectacle, considering how our tradition might help us to engage with Aaron Bushnell’s act, and the question of how much we must sacrifice for justice.

You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned:

All Jewish sources are cited in the study guide, linked above

“Aaron Bushnell’s Act of Political Despair,” Masha Gessen, The New Yorker

“The Work of the Witness,” Sarah Aziza, Jewish Currents

“The Nature of Mass Demonstrations,” John Berger, International Socialism

“Burnt Offerings,” Erik Baker, n+1

Jewish Organizing at Columbia’s Encampment Apr 25, 2024

Last week, the NYPD—called in by Columbia University president Minouche Shafik—arrested 108 Columbia and Barnard students, who had set up a Gaza solidarity encampment on a lawn in the center of campus. The group of students was subsequently suspended, and those at Barnard were evicted from campus housing. Over the following days, others reestablished the encampment—continuing the call for the university to disclose their investments and divest from Israeli companies, to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and to keep cops off campus, among other demands.

In the week since the encampment was established—as the tactic spreads to campuses around the country—the movement has been maligned as a threat to Jewish students, and lawmakers like Sens. Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley as well as Jewish communal leaders like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt have called for bringing in the National Guard. Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke to three Jewish student organizers arrested at the original encampments—Izzy Lapidus, Sarah Borus, and Lea Salim—about their experiences over the past week and what Palestine solidarity organizing has looked like on their campuses since October 7th.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Further Reading:

"Evidence of torture as nearly 400 bodies found in Gaza mass graves," Al Jazeera

“Statement on Columbia’s Gaza Solidarity Protest Community Values,” Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)

“Republican Senators Demand Biden Use National Guard to Suppress Columbia Protests,” Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone

Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL calling for NYPD and the National Guard to be brought onto campus on X

Passover seder at the Columbia encampment

"NYPD Investigating 'Skunk' Chemical Attack at Columbia U," Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed

“Republicans Wanted a Crackdown on Israel’s Critics. Columbia Obliged,” Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times

Unpacking the Campus Antisemitism Narrative Apr 11, 2024

In recent months, a buzzy new pair of articles on the specter of rising “Israel-related” antisemitism have arrived in The Atlantic. One, by Franklin Foer, heralds the end of the “golden age of American Jews,” while another, by Theo Baker, details the current climate on Stanford’s campus. Though similar stories have circulated in Jewish communal outlets for years, these two longform pieces demonstrate how the subject has also taken center-stage in liberal media since October 7th, against a backdrop of increased scrutiny on college campuses. The media handwringing has been accompanied by political and legal crackdowns: The ADL and the Brandeis Center have filed a lawsuit against Ohio State, the House Committee on Education has launched an investigation into Columbia, and Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill have both been pushed out of their positions due to their handling of tensions around campus antisemitism. But is this really all about antisemitism? What do these narratives leave out of frame?

In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, associate editor Mari Cohen, and publisher Daniel May dissect the common features of these campus antisemitism narratives—and consider what ends they serve. They discuss the difference between antisemitism and political ostracism, the need for more accurate reporting on campus dynamics, the confluence between the anti-antisemitism and the anti-DEI crusade, and the ways that the campus antisemitism panic can result in crackdowns on—rather than protection of—liberal freedoms.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending,” Franklin Foer, The Atlantic

“The War at Stanford,” Theo Baker, The Atlantic

“The New Antisemitism,” Noah Feldman, Time Magazine

“‘Pro-Israel’ Pundits Don’t Talk About Israel,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents

“Toward a Sober Assessment of Campus Antisemitism,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents

“Homeland Violence and Diaspora Insecurity: An Analysis of Israel and American Jewry,” Ayal Feinberg, Politics and Religion (and similar studies from Belgium and Australia)

“U.S. College Students and the War in Israel: Jewish Engagement and Social Tension on Campus,” 2024 study by Eitan Hersh

“Jewish College Students in America,” 2022 study by Eitan Hersh

“The Push to ‘Deactivate’ Students for Justice in Palestine,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

“The Campaign Against D.E.I.,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker

“Campus Wars,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Navigating Intersectional Landscapes,” 2019 report by the Reut Group (via Wayback Machine)

“November 2023 National Survey of Jewish Voters,” Jewish Electorate Institute

“Muslim student struck in Stanford hit-and-run calls for love, compassion, from hospital bed,” Camila Bernal and Chris Boyette, CNN

“NYPD Investigating ‘Skunk’ Chemical Attack at Columbia U,” Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed

Campus Politics Takes the Stage in "The Ally" Mar 28, 2024

In The Ally—a new play at the Public Theater by Itamar Moses—an Israeli American adjunct professor is forced to confront the limits of his solidarity when his decision to support a Black student seeking justice for the police murder of a cousin becomes entangled with questions of Israel and Palestine. Though set before October 7th, the play is undoubtedly “ripped from the headlines,” taking up questions of campus antisemitism and liberal Jewish discomfort with left politics, and giving every “side” in the argument—hardline Zionists, Palestinians, young Jewish leftists, Black activists, and Jewish liberals—a chance to state its case. But does the play actually push liberal audiences beyond their preconceived biases, or does it allow them to remain in a state of comfortable ambivalence? In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing writer Alisa Solomon, and artist-in-residence Fargo Nissim Tbakhi discuss what The Ally reveals about liberal America’s view of the left, and the opportunities and limitations of theater in spurring action.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Plays Mentioned and Further Reading:

The Ally by Itamar Moses at The Public Theater

Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar

“Who Is Tom Stoppard’s “Jewish Play” For?,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Jewish Groups Condemn Black Lives Matter Platform for Accusing ‘Apartheid’ Israel of ‘Genocide,’” Sam Kestenbaum, Haaretz

Language, the Media, and Palestine Mar 14, 2024

In the public sphere, the discursive battle over Israel and Palestine often comes down to language, with one’s willingness to use individual words and phrases like “apartheid” and “settler colonialism,” or “the right to exist” and “human shields,” usually offering a pretty reliable indication of their worldview. Since October 7th, mainstream and independent media alike have been faced with endless choices about how to represent the unfolding events: Which words are used to describe the Hamas attacks and which ones are used to describe those of the Israeli military, for example, and what does it say about the perceived humanity of each group of victims? What should reporters do with words like “genocide” or “war crimes,” which will take some time to adjudicate legally, but which also serve a function in naming unfolding events? This isn’t just a question about words, but also grammar and syntax: In a pattern reminiscent of reporting on police attacks on Black Americans, headlines often employ the passive voice when dealing with Israeli military action, obscuring the culpability of those responsible for attacks on Palestinians.

In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel talks to Intercept senior editor Ali Gharib, independent journalist Dalia Hatuqa, and former New York Times Magazine writer Jazmine Hughes about the decisions that newsrooms are making regarding the language they use to discuss Israel/Palestine, and what these decisions mean about the state of journalism today.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Coverage of Gaza War in the New York Times and Other Major Newspapers Heavily Favored Israel, Analysis Shows,” Adam Johnson and Othman Ali, The Intercept

“CNN Runs Gaza Coverage Past Jerusalem Team Operating Under Shadow of IDF Censor,” Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept

“Between the Hammer and the Anvil: The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept

“In Internal Meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About ‘Double Standards’ on Israel Coverage,” Daniel Boguslaw and Prem Thakker, The Intercept

“This War Did Not Start a Month Ago,” Dalia Hatuqa, The New York Times

Jazmine Hughes on Democracy Now

“‘There Has Never Been Less Tolerance for This’: Inside a New York Times Magazine Writer’s Exit Over Gaza Letter,” Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair

Words About War guide

“A Poetry of Proximity,” Solmaz Sharif, Kenyon Review

“Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide,” Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, Protean Magazine

Hindu Nationalism’s New Temple Feb 22, 2024

On January 22nd, India’s far-right prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram Mandir, a gargantuan new temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram, in an event that marked the most consequential victory for the Hindu nationalist movement in its 100-year history. The temple has been erected in the exact spot where a centuries-old mosque, the Babri Masjid, stood until Hindutva supporters violently destroyed it in 1992. The attack on the Masjid catalyzed anti-Muslim mass violence across the country, and in the years since, Hindu nationalist, or Hindutva, groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—a Nazi-inspired paramilitary of which Modi is a member—have used the campaign to construct a new temple on the site of the demolished mosque as a rallying cry in their efforts to transform India from a secular democracy to a Hindu supremacist nation. That ambition appeared to have been fulfilled at the Ram Mandir opening ceremony, with Modi declaring that “this temple is not just a temple to a god. This is a temple of India’s vision . . . Ram is the faith of India.”

The temple’s inauguration comes months before national elections in which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears certain to emerge victorious. Over the course of its two terms in office, the BJP has already entrenched India’s annexation of the Muslim-majority of Kashmir, presided over anti-minority riots across India, and ratcheted up state-sponsored Islamophobia to such a pitch that experts warn that India’s 200 million Muslims are at risk of facing a genocide. With the completion of the Ram Mandir, this anti-minority fervor seems set only to intensify further. On this episode of On the Nose, news editor Aparna Gopalan speaks to writer Siddhartha Deb, scholar Angana Chatterji, and activist Safa Ahmed about the Hindutva movement’s epochal win, how it was achieved, and what comes next for India’s minorities.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“The Idol and the Mosque,” Siddhartha Deb, Tablet

“Ayodhya: Once There Was A Mosque,” The Wire

“Recasting Ram,” Sagar, The Caravan

“Bulldozer Injustice in India,” Amnesty International

“How the Hindu Right Triumphed in India,” Isaac Chotinerand Mukul Kesavan, The New Yorker

“India’s Ayodhya Temple Is a Huge Monument to Hindu Supremacy,” Audrey Truschke, Time

Israel’s Emerging Religious Left Feb 08, 2024

In recent years, religious Jewish communities around the world have turned increasingly toward the right. In Israel, the overwhelmingly right-wing ideology of Religious Zionism is on the rise, and it’s often seen as unusual to be both religious and left-wing. But there's also a growing movement of observant Jews offering an alternative vision for religious life that centers Jewish values of justice, compassion, and freedom.

In this episode of On the Nose, Israel/Palestine fellow Maya Rosen speaks with Mikhael Manekin, Nechumi Yaffe, and Dvir Warshavsky, three activists with the new Israeli religious left-wing group Smol HaEmuni (the Faithful Left), about the experience of the religious left in Israel after October 7th, their work in the West Bank city of Hebron, and the movement's future.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

End of Days: Ethics, Tradition, and Power in Israelby Mikhael Manekin

“Can religious Zionism overcome its addiction to state power?,” Shaul Magid, +972 Magazine

“The far right is ‘taking over’ the Israeli army—with leftists in its crosshairs,” Oren Ziv, +972 Magazine

“‘Not Our Judaism’: Israel’s Religious Left Takes a Stand Against Netanyahu Government,” Judy Maltz, Haaretz

“There Are No Lights in War: We Need a Different Religious Language,” Ariel Schwartz, The Lehrhaus

Charging Israel with Genocide Feb 01, 2024

On January 26th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim ruling on South Africa’s charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The ICJ found South Africa’s argument to be “plausible”—meaning it will allow the case to go forward and will fully examine the merits of South Africa’s case. While the court’s final ruling may take years, it ordered a series of immediate provisional measures, including that Israel must prevent violations of the Genocide Convention and punish incitement to genocide, though it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.

On this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen speaks to human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat, legal scholar Darryl Li, and journalist Tony Karon about the meaning of the ICJ’s ruling.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Further Reading and Resources:

“The Charge of Genocide,” Darryl Li, Dissent

“South Africa’s ICJ Case Against Israel Is a Call to Break Free From the Imperial West,” Tony Karon, The Nation

“South Africa’s Genocide Case Is a Devastating Indictment of Israel’s War on Gaza,” Noura Erakat and John Reynolds, Jacobin

“Quick thoughts on ICJ decision,” Noura Erakat, Instagram

Labor’s Palestine Paradox Jan 03, 2024

The US labor movement has had an exciting few years. Labor unions are gaining popularity among the general public as workers organize at new shops from Amazon to Starbucks to Harvard. Perhaps most critically, legacy unions are experiencing a democratic upsurge, with both the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers (UAW) recently electing militant leaders. This revival has also been expanding labor’s purview, with unions increasingly taking on demands that exceed “bread-and-butter” concerns about wages and benefits.

But the renaissance in labor is now being tested, as rank-and-file workers begin to demand that their unions break long-standing ties with Israel and materially support Palestinian liberation. This challenge is particularly stark in unions like the UAW, which represent workers producing the weapons being used to kill Palestinians. On this episode of On The Nose, news editor Aparna Gopalan speaks to historian Jeff Schuhrke, organizer Zaina Alsous, and journalist Alex Press about the labor movement’s deep imbrication in Zionism and militarism, the rank-and-file efforts that have challenged this status quo over the decades, and what’s at stake in labor embracing an anti-imperialist politics.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading

“The Problem of the Unionized War Machine,” Jeff Schuhrke, Jewish Currents

“US Labor Has Long Been a Stalwart Backer of Israel. That’s Starting to Change,” Jeff Schuhrke, Jacobin

“The UAW Has Had a Big Year. They’re Preparing for an Even Bigger One,” Alex Press, Jacobin

“A Night at the Movies With Brandon Mancilla,” Alex Press, The Nation

“A Working-Class Foreign Policy Is Coming,” Spencer Ackerman, The Nation

“Thousands of Palestinian Workers Have Gone Missing in Israel,” Taj Ali, Jacobin

“This Union Is Famous for Opposing South African Apartheid. Now It’s Standing With Gaza,” Sarah Lazare, The Nation

“Respecting the BDS Picket Line,” Labor for Palestine

“Stop Arming Israel. End All Complicity,” Workers in Palestine

Bonus Episode: Mailbag Dec 28, 2023

Many months ago, we solicited questions from you, our listeners, for our first-ever mailbag episode. The result was a wide-ranging conversation that wandered from the serious (Torah study) to the relatively frivolous (HBO’s Girls). We planned to release the episode in early October, but shelved it in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel and amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. We’re sharing it now as a piece of bonus holiday content because many of your questions still feel relevant—even if we might have answered them differently from within this moment. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, managing editor Nathan Goldman, and associate editor Mari Cohen discuss, among other things, how to deal with right-wing family members and what we say when people ask us why we care about Jewishness.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” And many thanks to everyone who sent us such thoughtful questions.

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

JewBus

Daf Yomi

“A ufologist claims to show 2 alien corpses to Mexico's Congress,” Eyder Peralta, NPR

“In the sky! A bird? A plane? A ... UFO?,” Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune

“Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready,” Aaron Reich, The Jerusalem Post

HBO’s Girls

“Old Loves (feat. Rebecca Alter),” Girls Room

“On Loving Jews,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents

Hora Haslama!, Habiluim

Hamas: Past, Present, and Future Dec 21, 2023

In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with two political analysts from Gaza living abroad, Khalil Sayegh and Muhammad Shehada. Sayegh and Shehada discuss what it was like growing up under Hamas rule, how Hamas governs, the motivations behind the October 7th attack, and what’s next for Hamas in Palestinian politics.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Links and Further Reading:

Khalil Sayegh and Muhammad Shehada on X

The Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research poll

Talking to Our Families Dec 08, 2023

In late October, we received a letter: “In almost every conversation I have with young Jews on the left, I find that we are all currently struggling with the same question: What do we do with our families? How do we relate to our parents and grandparents or relatives who are supportive of and complicit in pogroms and genocide? These conversations are feeling fruitless. I’m going home this weekend to visit my family and don’t know what I’ll do.”

Around Thanksgiving, we asked listeners to call in and tell us about how they’re navigating conversations with their families, friends, and communities in this moment. What has worked in getting through to loved ones who are attached to a destructive Zionist politics, and what hasn’t? We wanted to know how people are managing these relationships or coping with their feelings about them.

On this episode—a collaboration between On the Nose and Unsettled—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, associate editor Mari Cohen, and Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson listen to clips from callers describing the ruptures in their families, their attempts to repair relationships while sticking to their values, and their strategies for getting through to stubborn loved ones. We explore questions of when it is our obligation to keep arguing, and when it’s better to take a break—or give up completely. And we zoom out to think about what this moment says about the future of Jewish American institutional life.

Thanks to Max Freedman, Ilana Levinson, and Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Naomi Klein on Israel’s “Doppelganger Politics” Nov 16, 2023

In her new book, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, leftist public intellectual Naomi Klein argues that the phenomenon of “doubling”—of the self or a collective, whether adopted or imposed—shapes the politics of our time. Klein’s frequent confusion with the feminist-writer-turned-Covid-conspiracy-theorist Naomi Wolf provides the jumping-off point for a journey through internet culture, vaccine conspiracism, the wellness world, eugenics, and contemporary dynamics around settler colonial denialism, as she explores the way that “doubling” structures what we see and don’t want to see, what we project and what we hide. The book culminates in an extended discussion of Israel/Palestine, which Klein reveals to be a potent site of such “doppelganger politics,” as the scholar Caroline Rooney has put it, in which Israel has created its own “double” of the European nationalism that has oppressed so many Jews, and which allows it to project everything it cannot bear to see about itself onto the Palestinian Other.

In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Klein about her book and its relation to the present crisis: How can the figure of the doppelganger help us understand the long history that is erupting in the present—both the Holocaust and the Nakba—in ways that can move us toward justice and solidarity? And how can the left adequately respond to this moment—on campus, on the page, and in the streets?

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

To leave a voicemail for our upcoming episode about talking to your families in this moment, please call 347-878-1359.

Books, Films, and Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire

They Do Not Exist,1974 film by Mustafa Abu Ali

Repression of Students for Justice in Palestine at Brandeis and Columbia and in the state of Florida

“Light Among the Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents

Cori Bush’s Ceasefire Plea Nov 09, 2023

Since October 7th, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israel began its ongoing bombardment of Gaza, almost every member of Congress has denounced the killings of Israelis and proclaimed support for Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Far fewer have expressed sorrow for the more than 10,500 Palestinians killed in the bombing, and only 23 have called for a ceasefire and an end to the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza. Among the few dissenting voices in Washington is Cori Bush, the representative for Missouri’s 1st congressional district, which spans the cities of St. Louis and Ferguson and some of their suburbs. Bush responded to the events of October 7th by mourning the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost that day and calling for an immediate ceasefire. She also urged the US government to “do our part to stop this violence and trauma” by ending US support for Israeli apartheid. Nine days later, Bush—alongside Reps. Rashida Tlaib, André Carson, Summer Lee, and Delia C. Ramirez—introduced a “Ceasefire Now” resolution, which demands that the Biden administration call for an end to hostilities in Israel/Palestine and send humanitarian aid to Gaza.

In this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane interviews Rep. Bush about her call for a ceasefire, the role of race and racism in shaping reaction to Israel’s bombing campaign, and the political consequences of anti-war dissent.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articled Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Anti-Defamation League calls Congresswoman Bush's comments on Israel 'tone deaf,'” Stuart McMillian, KMOX News

“Calls for a Ceasefire Get Little Traction in Congress,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

“House censures Rep. Rashida Tlaib over Israel remarks,” Scott Wong, Kyle Stewart and Zoë Richards, NBC News

“St. Louis Jewish community says Cori Bush made ‘incendiary’ Israel comments, she says that’s ‘unfair and simply untrue,’” Sam Clancy and Justina Coronel, KSDK

“Democrat drops out of Missouri Senate race, challenges Cori Bush for House seat,” Olafimihan Oshin, The Hill

“How ‘Pro-Israel’ Orthodoxy Keeps US Foreign Policymaking White,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents

A Surge in American Jewish Left Organizing Oct 31, 2023

In the weeks since October 7th, when Hamas attacked the south of Israel and Israel began bombing Gaza, American Jewish institutions that had previously expressed alienation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government have mostly united around a pro-Israel position. At the same time, however, record numbers of progressive American Jews have joined the anti-occupation organizations Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow in taking to the streets to call for a ceasefire. In the last three weeks, Jewish protestors have blocked entrances to the White House, occupied a Capitol Hill building rotunda, and shut down New York City’s Grand Central station to protest US support for bombings that have already killed more than 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 3,000 of whom have been children.

In this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen discusses this surge in Jewish left organizing with Elena Stein, director of organizing strategy at JVP; Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson for IfNotNow; and Emmaia Gelman, guest faculty in social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College and longtime Jewish left activist. They discuss mourning Israeli civilians killed on October 7th—some of whom were family members of IfNotNow and JVP staff—while simultaneously organizing against Israel’s onslaught on Gaza; they also consider the comparative strategic value of speaking out specifically as Jews versus joining broader antiwar coalitions.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Jewish Groups Rally at White House Urging Biden to Push for Gaza Ceasefire,” Robert Tait, The Guardian

“Jewish Activists Arrested at US Congress Anti-Israel Protest Amid Gaza War,” Al Jazeera staff, Al Jazeera

“‘Let Gaza Live’: Calls for Cease-Fire Fill Grand Central Terminal,” Claire Fahy, Julian Roberts-Grmela and Sean Piccoli, The New York Times

“Survey: A Quarter of US Jews Agree That Israel ‘is an Apartheid State,’” Ron Kampeas, JTA

“The Rise of ‘If Not Now’ and the Collapse of the Pro-Israel Consensus,” Alex Kane, Mondoweiss

“The Anti-Democratic Origins of the ADL and AJC,” Emmaia Gelman, Jewish Currents

“The ADL Doubles Down on Opposing the Anti-Zionist Left,” Mari Cohen and Isaac Scher, Jewish Currents

Anti-Defamation League DC tweet and Jonathan Greenblatt tweet about IfNotNow and JVP

ADL and Brandeis Center letter to presidents of colleges and universities

#DroptheADL campaign

The Loneliness of the Israeli Left Oct 26, 2023

Since Hamas’s October 7th attack, Israeli leftists have felt squeezed between a global left response that has sometimes justified or downplayed the deaths of Israeli civilians, and Israeli society itself, which is largely supportive of the state’s campaign of vengeance in Gaza and its crackdown on any expression of dissent. On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Michael Sfard, an attorney specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war; Sally Abed, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of national leadership in the Arab-Jewish grassroots movement Standing Together; and Yair Wallach, a social and cultural historian of modern Palestine/Israel at SOAS University of London. They discuss the particular loneliness of the Israeli left in this moment and the precious and endangered horizon for shared struggle beyond it.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“In Gaza, Israel Is Racing to the Moral Abyss,” Michael Sfard, Haaretz

“Israelis Must Maintain Their Humanity Even When Their Blood Boils,” Michael Sfard, Haaretz

“Statement on Behalf of Israel-based Progressives and Peace Activists Regarding Debates over Recent Events in Our Region,” an open letter

Organizations mentioned by our guests: Standing Together, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Adalah, The Human Rights Defenders Fund

"Unsettled" After October 7th Oct 19, 2023

On Saturday, October 7th, Hamas launched a surprise attack across the Gaza border, killing more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and taking at least 150 Israeli hostages, most of whom are still captive in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded to the attack by declaring war and cutting off food, water, and electricity to Gaza. On Friday, October 13th, Israel ordered 1.1 million people in the northern part of Gaza to evacuate as it prepares for a ground invasion, and Israeli air strikes have already killed nearly 4,000 people in the area.

In this episode, we are featuring two interviews conducted by the producers of Unsettled, a podcast that brings listeners intimate, thoroughly reported stories on Israel/Palestine, deepening the conversation by spotlighting voices on the ground, as well as those outside the region working to shape its future. First, Unsettled producer Max Freedman speaks with Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance,about the October 7th attack, asking: Why this and why now? In the second conversation, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson speaks to Isam Hamad, an organizer of 2018’s Great March of Return in Gaza and manager of a Gaza City medical equipment company.

Unsettled is produced by Emily Bell, Max Freedman, and Ilana Levinson, with support from Asaf Calderon. Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions.

Thanks to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Podcasts Mentioned and Further Reading:

Unsettled Podcast

“Tareq Baconi: Hamas Explained,” Unsettled

“‘We Are Always Met With Violence’: Gaza’s March of Return at One Year,” Jehad Abusalim interviewed by Naomi Dann, Jewish Currents

Elon Musk, the Jews, and the ADL, with "Know Your Enemy" Sep 28, 2023

Throughout September, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X—the social media platform formerly known as Twitter—has targeted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in response to the group’s attempts, along with several other advocacy organizations, to encourage an advertiser boycott of X. The ADL’s proposed ad boycott was an effort to curb hate speech on the platform, which has grown since Musk’s purchase of the site.

Many observers viewed Musk’s singling out of the ADL, which located the source of his financial troubles in one of the most prominent Jewish groups in the country, as a repurposing of an age-old antisemitic conspiracy theory. And his tweeting spree whipped up anti-ADL sentiment on the far right, with some antisemitic activists calling to “#BanTheADL” from X. Yet in responding to these attacks, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has conflated far-right attacks with criticisms of his organization from the left, recently comparing the white nationalist #BantheADL tweets to the #DroptheADL campaign, a progressive push to discourage partnership with the ADL.

This week, Jewish Currents associate editor Mari Cohen, senior reporter Alex Kane, and editor-at-large Peter Beinart joined contributor Sam Adler Bell on the Know Your Enemy podcast to untangle the contradictions of an organization that has faced unjust attacks from the right-wing, but has also allied itself with the right in its effort to protect the State of Israel from criticism or protest. Drawing on several years of Jewish Currents reporting, the conversation touched on the ADL’s political history, explored whether the organization’s commitment to Israel advocacy impedes its ability to take on the right, and asked how leftists should respond to Musk’s attacks. Know Your Enemy, produced in partnership with Dissent Magazine and co-hosted by Adler Bell and Matthew Sitman, investigates the history and politics of the American right wing from a leftist perspective.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:

“The Anti-Democratic Origins of the ADL and AJC,” Emmaia Gelman, Jewish Currents

“Has the Fight Against Antisemitism Lost Its Way?,” Peter Beinart, New York Times

“The ADL’s Antisemitism Findings, Explained,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“The ADL Doubles Down on Opposing the Anti-Zionist Left,” Mari Cohen and Isaac Scher, Jewish Currents

“How the ADL’s Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work,” Alex Kane and Jacob Hutt, Jewish Currents

“The Unbearable Ignorance of the ADL,” Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents

“ADL Staffers Dissented After CEO Compared Palestinian Rights Groups to Right-Wing Extremists, Leaked Audio Reveals,” Mari Cohen and Alex Kane, Jewish Currents (2023)

“Internal ADL Memo Recommended Ending Police Delegations to Israel Amid Backlash,” Alex Kane and Sam Levin, Jewish Currents

“Does Abe Foxman Have an Anti-Anti-Semite Problem?,” James Traub, New York Times

Trans Halakha Sep 14, 2023

Earlier this year, the Trans Halakha Project—an initiative of SVARA, a queer and trans yeshiva—published a series of teshuvot, or answers to questions about halakha (Jewish religious law). These pieces speak to questions of Jewish life and practice for trans people, from who is obligated to undergo circumcision or to follow the prescriptions around menstruation, to whether it’s permissible to wear a chest binder when immersing in the mikveh (a ritual bath that traditionally requires nudity). While there have been some previous efforts to apply halakha to specific questions of trans life, almost none of this work has been produced by trans people themselves until now. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman speaks with three members of the yeshiva’s Teshuva-Writing Collective: Laynie Soloman, Alyx Bernstein, and Rabbi Xava de Cordova. They discuss why the collective took up these particular questions, how they understand the nature of religious authority in Judaism, and what it means to reimagine halakha for trans flourishing.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts, Events, and Further Reading:

Trans Halakha Project

The Teshuva-Writing Collective's teshuvot

Beit Yosef by Rabbi Joseph Karo

The Talmud

“An Unrecognizable Jewish Future: A Queer Talmudic Take,” Rabbi Benay Lappe, ELI Talks

“Euphoric Halakhah,” Laynie Soloman, Evolve

Shulchan Aruchby Rabbi Joseph Karo

“Are Trans Women Obligated in Niddah? How Can That Obligation Be Fulfilled?,” Rabbi Xava de Cordova, Trans Halakha Project

“Embracing Halakhah That Was Not Addressed to You,” Rabbi Xava de Cordova, Evolve

“The Androgynos in the Laws of Milah & Niddah: A Potential Approach to Trans Halakha,” Alyx Bernstein, Trans Halakha Project

“A Created Being of Its Own: Toward a Jewish Liberation Theology for Men, Women and Everyone Else,” Rabbi Elliot Kukla, TransTorah

Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature by Max K. Strassfeld

“The Talmud and Other Trans Archives” event with Max K. Strassfeld, Joy Ladin, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Ari Brostoff, Jewish Currents

“Immersing in a Mikvah While Wearing a Chest Binder,” Jamie Weisbach, Trans Halakha Project

“Mai Mevarech: A Berakha for Testosterone Gel,” Laynie Soloman, Trans Halakha Project

“Milah & Hatafat Dam Brit in a Case of Sakanah (Danger),” Ariel Ya’akov Berry, Trans Halakha Project

“Compiling the Next Trans Codex: Learning from the Writers of the Trans Halakha Project,” upcoming event series, Shel Maala and the Trans Halakha Project

Tefillat Trans: Blessings and Rituals for Trans Lives

Nosegate Aug 31, 2023

Two weeks ago, a trailer was released for the new Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro. Immediately, controversy surfaced about Bradley Cooper—the director of the film who also stars as Bernstein—wearing a prosthetic nose, intended to resemble Bernstein’s own formidable schnoz. Because Cooper is not Jewish, this also revived a conversation about so-called Jewface, a term that has, over the last several years, become a buzzword in conversations about non-Jews being cast as Jews in dramatic roles. In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel talks to contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, author and theater critic Alisa Solomon, and writer and collector of “Jewface” artifacts Jody Rosen about the controversy—exploring the long history of “Jewface” performances and what’s really underneath these repeated dust-ups over Jewish representation.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles, podcasts, and further reading:

Trailer for Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper

“The Politics of ‘Jewface,’” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish Currents

Jewface: ‘Yiddish’ Dialect Songs of Tin Pan Alley, YIVO exhibition

Jody Rosen discusses “Jewface” on PBS

“A ‘Merchant of Venice’ That Doubles Down on Pain,” Alexis Soloski, The New York Times

“Fables and Lies,” On the Nose podcast about Armageddon Time and The Fabelmans

“On the Nose,” inaugural On the Nose podcast, discussing our Spring 2021 Nose cover

The Jewishness of “Oppenheimer” Aug 17, 2023

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed new biopic about the physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb, is the rare mass-market feature film that depicts the complexities of the US left during and after World War II. As the movie shows, J. Robert Oppenheimer was closely affiliated with Communists in his early life; his forays into left-wing politics included sending funds to the Spanish Republicans through the Communist Party. These relationships and activities eventually led to Oppenheimer losing his security clearance during the second Red Scare, and the hearing where this occurs is central to the film. Throughout the narrative, Oppenheimer explores its subject’s Jewishness, which shapes his position in relation to both Communism and Nazism. Nolan also exhibits the Jewishness of Oppenheimer’s political and intellectual milieu—which includes Lewis Strauss, the conservative Jewish politician who foments the physicist’s downfall.

On this week’s episode of On the Nose, presented in partnership with The Nation’s podcast The Time of Monsters, Jewish Currents associate editor Mari Cohen speaks with contributing editor David Klion, contributing writer Raphael Magarik, and The Nation national affairs correspondent Jeet Heer about the ways Oppenheimer illuminates and obfuscates the history it examines.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts and Films Mentioned:

“Oppenheimer Is an Uncomfortably Timely Tale of Destruction,” David Klion, The New Republic

Reds, directed by Warren Beaty

Amadeus, directed by Miloš Forman

Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda

“Nolan’s Oppenheimer treats New Mexico as a blank canvas,” Kelsey D. Atherton, Source NM

American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig

“Holy Sonnet XIV” by John Donne

Camp Kinderland at 100 Aug 03, 2023

In 1923, Jewish union activists affiliated with the Workmen’s Circle bought a plot of land in Hopewell Junction, New York, aiming to provide working-class children with an escape from the city. The camp, which was founded with a commitment to Yiddish and to instilling leftist values, broke with the socialist Workmen’s Circle several years later, as it came to be affiliated with the Communist Party. Over the years, everything that touched the left made its mark on the camp—from the Spanish Civil War to McCarthyism to the emergence of the New Left. In honor of Kinderland’s centennial, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with longtime Kinderlanders (and JC councilmembers) Judee Rosenbaum and Mitchell Silver about the legacy of Communism in camp, the difference between education and indoctrination, what’s changed at camp in the last 100 years, and why it’s survived this long. For more information on the Camp Kinderland Centennial, click here.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles mentioned and further reading:

Camp Kinderland Centennial Anniversary

“What We Did: How the Jewish Communist Left Failed the Palestinian Cause” by Dorothy Zellner, Jewish Currents

Chevruta: Be Fruitful and Multiply? Jul 20, 2023

Chevruta is a column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will be accompanied by a podcast and a study guide (linked below).

In our second Chevruta podcast, Laynie Soloman, associate rosh yeshiva of the queer and trans yeshiva SVARA, speaks with feminist theorist Sophie Lewis, author of Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family and Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation, about the famous biblical injunction to “be fruitful and multiply.” Though this has traditionally been regarded as a foundational commandment, the rabbis were strikingly ambivalent about it—in part because of their profound love of Torah, and of each other. In this Chevruta, Soloman and Lewis explore a Talmudic text from tractate Yevamot that confronts a rabbinic figure who has declined to have children. Through his example, the rabbis normalize a discomfort with this seemingly essential practice of biological reproduction, and offer a way to complicate—and potentially subvert—the status of procreation in the rabbinic mind and in our world.

You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Artworks and texts mentioned and further reading:

Talmud: Yevamot 63b and 64a

Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family by Sophie Lewis

Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin by Donna Haraway

We the Parasites by A. V. Marraccini

“How Mierle Laderman Ukeles Turned Maintenance Work into Art” by Jillian Steinhauer

Peninei Halakhah: Simchat Habayit U'Virkhato 5:2

“Don’t Hurt Yourself” by Beyoncé

What Indian Ethnonationalists Learned From Israel Advocates Jul 06, 2023

For decades, diaspora Hindus have looked to American Jews as role models for attaining political power in the United States. Hindu Americans have established political groups fashioned after AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee; these organizations have worked to advance India’s economic and security interests much as their Jewish counterparts have protected Israel’s.

Now, as India draws scrutiny for its worsening human rights record under far-right Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalist groups in the US are once again looking to their Jewish allies. This time, they’re modeling their efforts on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which casts certain criticism of Israel as anti-Jewish hatred. A new investigation by Jewish Currents news editor Aparna Gopalan shows how Hindu nationalists are promulgating a concept of “Hinduphobia” that equates opposition to Hindu nationalism with anti-Hindu bigotry. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, Gopalan speaks with Jewish Currents executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker and Middle East Eye senior reporter Azad Essa about Hinduphobia, the India–Israel alliance, and the potential for the hasbara playbook to be followed by ethnonationalist movements worldwide.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading

“The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents

“The US Rolls Out the Red Carpet For Modi,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents

“How Modi uses yoga to whitewash India’s crimes,” Azad Essa, Middle East Eye

Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel by Azad Essa

“The Settler-Colonialist Alliance of India and Israel,” Deeksha Udupa, The Nation

“How the Hindus Became Jews: American Racism After 9/11,” Vijay Prashad, South Atlantic Quarterly

“What FBI data about anti-Hindu hate crimes in the US reveals about fears of ‘Hinduphobia,’” Raju Rajagopal, Scroll.in

“A Gandhi statue is toppled in Queens, but was it a hate crime?” Arun Venugopal, Gothamist

Diasporic Desires: Making Hindus & the Cultivation of Longing in the United States and Beyond by Shana Sippy (forthcoming from New York University Press)

The Struggle to Stop Cop City Jun 22, 2023

In September 2021, the Atlanta City Council approved a proposal to lease 381 acres of the Weelaunee Forest—stolen Muscogee land surrounded by majority-Black neighborhoods—to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build the largest militarized police training center in the US. In response, a decentralized movement has risen up to halt the destruction of the forest and the construction of what has come to be known as “Cop City.” As the Stop Cop City movement has grown, the state has employed increasingly draconian methods of repression. In January of this year, police killed Manuel “Tortuguita” Téran, a 26-year old Indigenous Venezuelan forest defender. Dozens of people have been arrested for protesting, including a legal observer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, and more than 40 have been charged with domestic terrorism. Last month, a heavily armed joint task force raided a community center and arrested three bail fund organizers living there under tenuous allegations of “money laundering” and “charity fraud.” And despite widespread opposition, the Atlanta City Council recently authorized an additional $30 million contribution to the construction of Cop City, bringing the city’s pledged total to $67 million. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, culture editor Claire Schwartz is joined by three guests in Atlanta deeply engaged with Stop Cop City—Micah Herskind, a community organizer and writer; Keyanna Jones, a reverend and organizer; and Josie Duffy Rice, a writer who covers criminal justice—to discuss the movement’s roots and tactics, and what the militarization of Atlanta can teach us about the economic underpinnings of fascism.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Transcript forthcoming.

Further Reading and Listening:

“The Fight Against Cop City,” Amna Akbar, Dissent

“Shmita Means Total Destroy,” Fayer Collective, Jewish Currents

“This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City,” Micah Herskind, Scalawag

“Atlanta Is Trying to Crush the Opposition to ‘Cop City’ by Any Means Necessary,” Hannah Riley, The Nation

“Targeting bail funds and Stop Cop City activists is an old tactic,” Say Burgin and Jeanne Theoharis, Washington Post

“‘Multiple Grammars of Struggle’ – To Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City,” Millennials are Killing Capitalism

“When protest is a crime,” Part 1 and Part 2, Outside In

The Plight of Masafer Yatta Jun 08, 2023

In May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition against the forced transfer of more than 1,000 Palestinians who live in Masafer Yatta, a region of rural hamlets in the south of the occupied West Bank. Israel had previously designated a large swath of Masafer Yatta as a military “firing zone,” and argued to the court that it needed to forcibly displace these residents because they were illegally living in a military training area. As a result of the ruling, Israel’s army can move forward with their plans at any time. But for now, Masafer Yatta’s residents remain, even in the face of an escalated campaign of military demolitions, training exercises, and harassment. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane speaks with Basel Adra, a Palestinian journalist and activist from the Masafer Yatta village of al-Tuwani, about life in the region, Israel’s campaign of violence against its residents, and what might stop the state from following through on its plans of mass displacement.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:

“Classified document reveals IDF ‘firing zones’ built to give land to settlers,” Yuval Abraham, +972 Magazine

“I filmed a settler pogrom. Now the Israeli media is smearing me,” Basel Adraa, +972 Magazine

“Largest Palestinian displacement in decades looms after Israeli court ruling,” Henriette Chacar, Reuters

“They Want To Kick Us Out of This Land,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

The Agony and the Ecstasy of "Jewish Matchmaking" May 25, 2023

Netflix’s new reality show Jewish Matchmaking, a follow-up to its hit series Indian Matchmaking, follows Orthodox matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom as she helps Jewish singles find their beshert, or soulmate. While Indian Matchmaking documents contemporary approaches to an ancient custom, Jewish Matchmaking finds Aleeza applying the principles of an age-old tradition to modern courtship with a cohort of mostly non-Orthodox Jews. The show includes a wide variety of Jewish traditions and practices: Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi; secular, “flexidox,” and observant. But there are also notable limits to the diversity—particularly on the question of Zionism—and the show’s picture of Jewish life is strikingly insubstantial. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, associate editor Mari Cohen, and news editor Aparna Gopalan discuss the questions Jewish Matchmaking raises about contemporary Jewishness, dating, and the relationship between endogamy and ethnonationalism.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles and Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

“Two Paths for the Jewish Bachelor Contestant,” On the Nose

“Is He Jewish?,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Intermarriage,’” Jewish Currents

“Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match,” Hannah Jackson, The Cut

“It was the million-selling novel that shaped a generation of Jews — does anyone still read it?,” Jenny Singer, The Forward

“Couples Therapy,” On the Nose

Still No Justice for Shireen Abu Akleh May 11, 2023

One year ago, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. To this day, no Israeli soldier has been indicted for the killing. Now, a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) finds that the lack of accountability for Abu Akleh is part of a pattern: Though the Israeli army has killed 20 journalists since 2001, no Israeli soldier has ever been charged. Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane discusses the report with CPJ’s Sherif Mansour—and also talks about the life and death of Abu Akleh with writer and attorney Jennifer Zacharia, Abu Akleh’s first cousin.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles, Reports and Statements Mentioned

“Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable,” Committee to Protect Journalists

“Final Conclusions of Shireen Abu Akleh Investigation,” Israel Defense Forces

“FBI opens investigation into killing of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh,” Barak Ravid, Axios

“Statement on Shireen Abu Akleh,” Senator Patrick Leahy

“‘They were shooting directly at the journalists’: New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces,” Zeena Saifi, Eliza Mackintosh, Celine Alkhaldi, Kareem Khadder, Katie Polglase, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Abeer Salman, CNN

“How Shireen Abu Akleh was killed,” Sarah Cahlan, Meg Kelly and Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post

"The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh: Tracing a Bullet to an Israeli Convoy," Raja Abdulrahim, Patrick Kingsley, Christian Triebert, and Hiba Yazbek, The New York Times

"Shireen Abu Akleh: The Extrajudicial Killing of a Journalist,” Forensic Architecture

Fighting Anti-Trans Legislation in Missouri Apr 27, 2023

Trans youth are under severe attack around the country. Sixteen states have enacted laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for young people. At least 15 others are considering similar laws. Missouri is one of those states: State Republicans are pushing legislation that would ban transition-related surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for young people, though unlike other states, the bill passed by the state senate allows those already undergoing treatment to continue receiving such care. Last week, the attack on trans people in Missouri escalated when the attorney general proposed new rules that would restrict gender-affirming healthcare for not only young people but adults as well. Rori Picker Neiss—the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis and the mother of a trans son—is one of the people fighting back against Missouri’s anti-trans legislation. Over the last several years, her family’s life has been upended by repeated trips to the state capitol in Jefferson City to testify against such laws. Picker Neiss joined Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel to discuss the nationwide assault on trans rights, how her Jewish community has responded to such attacks, and what it’s like talking to legislators who are trying to harm her child.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

ARTICLES MENTIONED

“Everything That Happened in Anti-Trans Legislation This Week: April 15-21,” Trans Formations Project, THEM

“The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda,” Jules Gill-Peterson, Jewish Currents

“When Parents Hear That Their Child ‘Is Not Normal and Should Not Exist,’” Megan K. Stack, The New York Times

The Politics of "The Last of Us" Apr 13, 2023

Despite the progressive politics of early zombie films like George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, modern narratives about zombies are often strikingly conservative, displaying a world that rewards rugged individualism and presents a pessimistic view of human nature. The recent HBO drama The Last of Us, based on the acclaimed 2013 video game of the same name, exemplifies this tendency. The show takes place two decades after an outbreak of a zombifying fungal infection triggers global societal collapse. In this post-apocalyptic world, a fascist government violently maintains order within walled-off “quarantine zones,” while a brutal resistance group called the Fireflies strives to overthrow them. The Last of Us follows the cynical smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal) and a teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who is immune to the fungus, on their treacherous journey to meet up with a team of Fireflies who believe they can use her to create a vaccine. As Joel and Ellie bond against the backdrop of a dog-eat-dog world where no one can be trusted, the show presents a largely right-wing vision in which the only path to redemption is through caring for one’s immediate kin. According to Neil Druckmann—the co-creator of the series as well as the game and its sequel, who spent his early childhood in a West Bank settlement—elements of The Last of Us are informed by the politics of Israel/Palestine. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, fellow Dahlia Krutkovich, and contributor Hazem Fahmy discuss the politics of the show, its relationship to Israel/Palestine, and its evocations of the Holocaust.

Note that this episode includes spoilers for the HBO series, as well as the game and its sequel, which will form the basis of future seasons of the show.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned:

“‘The Last of Us’ Is a Very Conservative Show. Really,” Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times

“The Not So Hidden Israeli Politics of ‘The Last of Us Part II,’” Emanuel Maiberg, Vice

“The Evolution of Ellie,” Elise Favis, The Washington Post

“The Gray Zone,” Primo Levi (from The Drowned and the Saved)

“The Last of Us Is Not a Video-Game Adaptation,” Andrea Long Chu, Vulture

Unpacking Israel’s Political Crisis Mar 30, 2023

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed his defense minister for calling for a halt to government plans to gut the power of Israel’s judiciary, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, participating in spontaneous mass protests and setting bonfires in the street. The next day, after a general strike brought the economy to a halt, Netanyahu backtracked, announcing the Knesset would not vote on the first part of his government’s judicial overhaul plan and that he would instead engage in negotiations with the opposition to forge consensus. To discuss these developments, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with senior reporter Alex Kane, contributing editor Joshua Leifer, and contributing writer Elisheva Goldberg. They talked about how anti-occupation activists are relating to the mass protests, why the Israeli right is so intent on curbing judicial power, and the future of Netanyahu’s coalition.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles and Tweets Mentioned:

“Huwara and the Dangers of Annexation,” Elisheva Goldberg, Jewish Currents

“The Laundromat of Dispossession,” Amira Hass, Haaretz (Hebrew)

“The Long Reach of Restraint,”Elisheva Goldberg, Jewish Currents

“What’s Next for Netanyahu’s Judicial Overhaul?”, Alex Kane in conversation with Edo Konrad, Jewish Currents

“Do Israeli Protesters Really Want Democracy”?”, Orly Noy, +972 Magazine

“What American Liberals Can Learn from Israel’s Protests,” Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic

Noah Kulwin’s tweet on the Israeli protests as “Muellerism”

“A Color Revolution in Israel,” Liel Leibovitz, Compact

“American Jewish Committee, Other Jewish Organizations Welcome Suspension of Israeli Judicial Overhaul Legislation,” AJC

Kan News segment on the Histadrut’s links to Netanyahu (Hebrew)

Two Paths for the Jewish Bachelor Contestant Mar 23, 2023

On episode 8, season 27 of The Bachelor, contestant Ariel Frenkel, who hails from a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant family in New York, is seen leading all-American Bachelor Zach Shallcross around New York City, feeding him cow tongue sandwiches and gefilte fish from Sarge’s Deli and telling him her family’s story of fleeing the Soviet Union. Such overt references to Jewishness are unprecedented on the franchise; though the show has featured a few Jewish leads, it tends to downplay contestants’ references to their minority identities and center stories of people using their Christian values to guide them toward love. On this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen and fellow Dahlia Krutkovich join Hannah Srajer, an organizer and PhD candidate in history at Yale University, and Xandra Ellin, a producer at Pineapple Street Studios, to talk about Frenkel’s improbable run on the show. They discuss how the portrayal of Frenkel’s as an exotic other illuminates the show’s identification with white Christian patriarchy, why the Jewishness of another contestant involved in a racist scandal flew under the radar, and what to make of a pro-Israel article Frenkel published in 2014.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Related Articles:

“‘The Bachelor’ Has A Race — And Racism — Problem,” Emma Gray and Claire Fallon, The Huffington Post

“Why Haven’t We Had an Openly Jewish Bachelorette?” Catherine Horowitz, Jewish Women’s Archive

Former ‘Bachelor’ contestant Greer Blitzer apologizes for defending racist blackface, Jonah Valdez, Los Angeles Times

“This ‘Bachelor’ Finalist’s Op-Ed Was Mysteriously Deleted Before Premiere,” Noor Ibrahim, The Daily Beast

The Trouble with Germany, Part II Mar 09, 2023

In recent years, German state officials and media outlets have cracked down on Palestinian speech and activism. In 2019, the German parliament passed a nonbinding resolution declaring the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement antisemitic, and comparing it to Nazi boycotts of Jewish businesses. Early last year, a state-funded news outlet fired seven Arab and Muslim journalists for “antisemitism” that mostly amounted to criticism of Israel. And last May, Berlin banned several protests planned to mark Nakba Day, which commemorates the 1947–1949 expulsion of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians at the hands of Zionist militias. To discuss Palestine solidarity in Germany, the state’s intensifying assault on Palestinian speech, and the connections between the country’s targeting of Palestine activism and its post-Holocaust “memory culture,” contributing editor Joshua Leifer talks to Germany-based Palestinian American journalist Hebh Jamal and Palestinian German lawyer Nadija Samour.

This episode is part two of a two-part series on Germany. Listen to the first episode here.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles, Books and Lectures Mentioned

“How Palestine became a ‘forbidden word’ in German high schools,” Hebh Jamal, +972 Magazine

“Deutsche Welle Firings Set Chilling Precedent for Free Speech in Germany,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestinians, by Sa’ed Atshan and Katharina Galor

“Desiring Victimhood: German Self-Formation and the Figure of the Jew,” Hannah Tzuberi, lecture given at the Hijacking Memory Conference in Berlin

“Berlin Bans Nakba Day Demonstrations,” Human Rights Watch

Representation and Exclusion at Israel’s Anti-Government Protests Feb 23, 2023

Since early January, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have participated in weekly protests against the right-wing Israeli government’s proposals to weaken the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. The protesters have framed their efforts as a bid to save “Israeli democracy”—rhetoric that has alienated Palestinian citizens of Israel, who say Israel was never a democracy to begin with due to its repressive system of control over Palestinians. Senior reporter Alex Kane hosts a discussion with Palestinian activist Sally Abed of Standing Together and Iranian Israeli activist Orly Noy of B’Tselem and the newly formed Mizrahi Civic Collective about who is participating in these protests—and who is sitting them out.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles Mentioned:

“A Mizrahi Democratic Vision: No to the Constitutional Revolution and No to the Old Order,” Mizrahi Civic Collective (Hebrew)

You People Feb 09, 2023

A new Netflix-produced romcom by Jonah Hill and Kenya Barris tells the story of Ezra, a white Jew, and Amira, a Black Muslim, whose love affair is challenged by the patronizing, casual racism of Ezra’s progressive mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the antisemitism and militant separatism of Amira’s Farrakhan-loving father (Eddie Murphy). Jewish commentators across the political spectrum have responded overwhelmingly negatively, accusing the film of everything from perpetuating harmful stereotypes of Jewish women, to trafficking in conspiracy theories, to inciting violence against Jews. Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, JC contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, critic and essayist Jasmine Sanders, and writer and Know Your Enemy co-host Sam Adler-Bell discuss these over-the-top critiques and explore why similarly cringe and stereotypical depictions of the Black family did not raise alarms among Black or Jewish critics.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

ARTICLES, BOOKS, AND FILMS MENTIONED:

You People on Netflix

“In Jonah Hill’s offensive new movie, a Black-Jewish love story comes with a side of conspiracy theories,” Mira Fox, The Forward

“Netflix Hit 'You People' Branded 'Horribly Damaging' to Jewish People,” Ryan Smith, Newsweek

“‘You People’ Normalizes Farrakhan’s Views On Jews,” Allison Josephs, Jew in the City

“'You People' and the Tediousness of the Interracial Romcom,” Zeba Blay, Jezebel

We Charge Genocide

“Precious Angel,” Bob Dylan

Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris

Fables and Lies Jan 26, 2023

Last month saw the release of two autobiographical films, now both Oscar nominees, about young artists growing up in complicated, 20th-century American Jewish families. In The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg follows a precocious child filmmaker, Sammy Fabelman, as he turns his camera on his fracturing family. In Armageddon Time, James Gray meditates on Queens in 1980, where the intersections of school, family, and the police destroy a friendship between two boys, one Black and one Jewish. Do these movies have something new to say about the drama of upwardly mobile Jewish family life, or are they simply retreading familiar territory? Jewish Currents contributing writer Rebecca Pierce joined editors Arielle Angel, Ari Brostoff, and Mari Cohen on this week’s On the Nose to discuss the latest in Jewish film.

MOVIES AND TV EPISODES MENTIONED:

8 ½, dir. Federico Fellini

Pain and Glory, dir. Pedro Almodóvar

Cinema Paradiso, dir. Giuseppe Tornatore

Lincoln, dir. Steven Spielberg

Star Wars, dir. George Lucas

Jaws, dir. Steven Spielberg

“Miami Mama-Mia/Pigeon on the Roof,” Animaniacs

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Chevruta: Debt Jan 11, 2023

Chevruta is a new column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will be accompanied by a podcast and a study guide (linked below).

In our debut Chevruta podcast, rabbinical student Allen Lipson explores debt’s moral implications with Sparky Abraham and Eleni Schirmer—organizers from the Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtors’ union. Lipson chose a rabbinic responsum from 14th-century Spain by Rabbi Isaac bar Sheshet Perfet, generally known as the Rivash, on the question of whether a debtor can be seized and imprisoned according to Torah law. By tracing the Rivash’s ambivalence about debt enforcement, Lipson, Abraham, and Schirmer consider questions about state force and economic consent raised by the text that still resonate today.

You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here. The full Hebrew text of the letter and Lipson’s translation are available here.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Who Is Tom Stoppard’s “Jewish Play” For? Dec 21, 2022

Tom Stoppard, perhaps the most famous living British playwright, learned only in his fifties that his mother’s family was Jewish and that nearly all her relatives were killed in the Holocaust—a fate his own immediate family narrowly escaped. Now in his eighties, Stoppard has turned these revelations into the material of his play Leopoldstadt, which tells the story of a bourgeois Viennese Jewish clan inspired by his own Czech family, and an assimilated British grandson’s discovery of their fate at the hands of the Nazis. The play, now a Broadway hit, has drawn accolades, but left several of us at and around Jewish Currents distinctly underwhelmed. Why is theater still treating the Holocaust as an object of dramatic irony? What are audiences looking for in stories of this kind? Where does Leopoldstadt fit in the long history of anti-Nazi theater, and what are its politics around Zionism? Alisa Solomon, who reviewed the play for Jewish Currents, and dramaturg Gabrielle Hoyt joined JC editors Arielle Angel and Ari Brostoff to discuss.

Articles and Reports Mentioned:

“Review: In Stoppard’s ‘Leopoldstadt,’ a Memorial to a Lost World,” Jesse Green, The New York Times

“Attention Must Be Paid,” Alisa Solomon, Jewish Currents

“Monuments to the Unthinkable,” Clint Smith in The Atlantic

“Culture Under the Nazis,” Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Meaning of Apartheid Dec 08, 2022

In the last two years, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have begun using the word “apartheid” to describe Israeli rule over Palestinians, marking a significant shift within the human rights establishment. But Palestinian intellectuals have been critiquing Israeli apartheid for decades—albeit in a different fashion. As scholars of international law Noura Erakat and John Reynolds wrote in an essay published in the summer issue of Jewish Currents, a rich archive of Palestinian writing from the 1960s and ’70s frames apartheid as “an inevitable outcome of Israeli settler colonialism,” and a key “vehicle for its continuance.” Erakat and Reynolds argue that if we understand apartheid as a tool of settler colonialism, it appears to “require the same remedies as other manifestations of colonial rule and foreign occupation: collective liberation and land restitution.” By contrast, the human rights organizations have advanced a more legalistic understanding of apartheid, and suggested accordingly that the solution is to institute formal legal equality in Israel/Palestine—in other words, to extend equal rights to all who live in the land. Alex Kane discusses this and more with Erakat, Reynolds, and Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch.

Articles and Reports Mentioned:

“Understanding Apartheid,” Noura Erakat and John Reynolds, Jewish Currents

“A Threshold Crossed,” Human Rights Watch

“Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity,” Amnesty International

“The Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and the Crime of Apartheid,” Michael Sfard, Yesh Din

“A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid,” B’Tselem

“Decolonization is not a metaphor,” Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

“The Jews” Nov 23, 2022

Dave Chappelle’s controversial monologue on the November 12th episode of Saturday Night Live, whichfound much to laugh at in Kanye West’s and Kyrie Irving’s recent antisemitic remarks, set off a new round of discourse about blackness, Jewishness, power, and the entertainment industry. Chappelle’s monologue, which some viewers accused of propagating antisemitic tropes itself, also revealed that part of what is at stake in the current contretemps is comedy—specifically, the nexus of Black and Jewish comedy, where an American idiom of humor about insiders and outsiders, envy and identification, privilege and suffering was born. What makes us keep returning to this well of humor, and what happens when the laughter stops? Jewish Currents senior editor Ari Brostoff, JC contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, critic and essayist Jasmine Sanders, and writer and Know Your Enemy co-host Sam Adler-Bell discuss.

Articles, Books, Films, Tweets, and Clips Mentioned:

Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, dir. Ronald Dalton Jr.

Dave Chappelle’s Saturday Night Live monologue

Jonathan Greeblatt tweet about Dave Chappelle

Kanye West performs on Chappelle’s Show

Donald Trump on using tax loopholes

Oreo by Fran Ross

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Victory for Netanyahu’s Far-Right Alliance Nov 08, 2022

In last Tuesday’s Knesset elections, the Israeli electorate delivered a big win to Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition in the fifth Israeli election since 2019. The right-wing bloc won 64 Knesset seats, which will likely give Netanayhu and allied parties enough votes to form a stable and ideologically coherent coalition government. Netanyahu’s probable return to power is thanks to the strength of the Religious Zionism coalition, consisting of three of the most extreme parties in Israeli politics. The coalition won 14 seats, the most it has ever gotten.

Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane spoke to editor-at-large Peter Beinart, contributing editor Joshua Leifer, and contributing writer Elisheva Goldberg about the rise of the Religious Zionism coalition, the commonalities between that coalition and the Israeli center-left, and how these elections might affect the US-Israel relationship.

Articles Mentioned:

“Kahanism’s Raucous Return,” Joshua Leifer, Jewish Currents

“Israel’s Ascendant Far Right Can’t Be Understood by Analogy,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents

“U.S. unlikely to work with Jewish supremacist expected to be made Israeli minister,” Barak Ravid, Axios

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Ye Oct 20, 2022

In the last week and a half, Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, has appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, been photographed with far-right provocateur Candace Owens wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt, and tweeted that he was going “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” (which landed him in social media jail). Redacted footage from the Fox interview revealed that Ye made a number of antisemitic comments there too, referring to Hannukah as a vehicle for “financial engineering” and casting Black people as the real Jews, with non-Black Jews as imposters. In the wake of these comments, Jewish organizations have raised the alarm about worsening antisemitism; meanwhile, tensions have been rising online between some Black and Jewish people, playing out familiar grievances about acknowledgement and allyship. What, if anything, can we learn from this instance of high-profile antisemitism and this latest round of Black–Jewish discourse? And is there any path to solidarity between those targeted by Ye’s anti-Black and antisemitic ideas? Jewish Currents contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer, and Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel discussed Ye’s antisemitism.

Note: This episode was taped on Friday, October 14th, before it was announced that Ye plans to buy the right-wing social media platform Parler. Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a postscript from Pierce and Angel on this new development.

Articles and Tweets Mentioned:

“Watch the Disturbing Kanye Interview Clips That Tucker Carlson Didn’t Put on Air,” Anna Merlan, Vice

“Musk and West, Inc.,” John Ganz’s Substack

“What Kanye Can Teach Us About Anti-Semitism,” Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic

Kimberly Nicole Foster’s tweets about antisemitism

“Black Antisemitism Is Not Inherently ‘Left Wing,’” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish Currents

“Beyond Grievance,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents

Sarah Silverman’s Jewish grievance tweet

“Kanye West to acquire conservative social media platform Parler,” Brian Fung, CNN Business

“An Antisemitic Judge, a White Supremacist System,” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish Currents

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Gaza Under Blockade Oct 13, 2022

For 15 years, Israel has imposed an air, land, and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, barring most Palestinians in the coastal enclave from leaving the area under any circumstances. Fishermen who venture out past an Israeli-imposed limit are shot at and arrested, while Palestinian farmers have been killed by soldiers for working land that lies near the boundary fence. Israel also tightly controls the entry and exit of goods, and its restrictive policies have devastated the Gazan economy and led to an unemployment rate of about 50%. In the same period, Israel has waged five military assaults on Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians. To discuss Israel’s severe restrictions on Palestinian movement from Gaza and what it’s like to live under blockade and bombardment, Jewish Currents staff reporter Alex Kane interviewed an anonymous writer and Miriam Marmur, the director of public advocacy for Gisha—Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, the leading Israeli group focusing on Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

This episode also features a special segment from Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka’s podcast Rethinking Palestine that analyzes Israel’s extrajudicial killings of Palestinian fighters in Nablus and the psychology of the new generation of Palestinian armed resistance fighters.

ARTICLES MENTIONED

“Ramadan in Gaza,” Anonymous, Jewish Currents

“A Butterfly in Gaza,” Anonymous, Jewish Currents

“From Jenin to Gaza to Nablus: Palestinian Resistance Under Attack,”Rethinking Palestine, Al-Shabaka

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Yeshiva Education Sep 29, 2022

In the wake of the recent extensive New York Times investigation into Hasidic yeshivas, a fierce and often acrimonious debate has emerged about the ethics of covering the Hasidic world from the outside, how private institutions that receive government funds are accountable to the broader public, and religious minority communities’ right to insist on their way of life, even when it brings them into conflict with the state. On this episode, Jewish Currents Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer hosts a conversation between Naftuli Moster, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED), and Frieda Vizel, a writer and tour guide of Hasidic Brooklyn. Moster and Vizel—who both grew up in, and later left, Hasidic communities—draw on their own educational experiences to offer very different perspectives on the Times article and reactions to it, on the best way to advocate for change in the Hasidic world, and on what’s at stake in the fight over secular education.

Articles and Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

“In Hasidic Enclaves, Failing Private Schools Flush With Public Money,” Eliza Shaprio and Brian M. Rosenthal, The New York Times

“Thoughts on the NYT exposé on Hasidic education,” Frieda Vizel

“Progressives Have Abandoned Haredi Children,” Naftuli Moster, Jewish Currents

“The Great Yeshiva Slander,” Commentary podcast

“Private Religious Schools Have Public Responsibilities Too,” Nomi M.Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, The Atlantic

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Mom Save America Sep 15, 2022

On this episode, Jewish Currents Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel talks with her mother, Jeri Cohen, co-founder of the Women’s Emergency Network, the first abortion fund in South Florida. Cohen, who spent 28 years as a judge in child abuse and dependency court, retired two years ago and has since gotten back into the struggle for reproductive justice. But the movement has changed since the peak of her involvement in the ’70s and ’80s, rooting itself in different political frameworks and organizing cultures, and she now finds herself a fish out of water—a committed liberal on the cusp of 70, learning the mores of the contemporary left. Cohen discusses the process of reacquainting herself with the struggle that defined her young adulthood and which has subsequently transformed.

If you liked this podcast, please donate to the Women’s Emergency Network, an abortion fund serving women in South Florida.

Documenting the Struggle Aug 25, 2022

On this episode, Jewish Currents Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer talks with Oren Ziv—co-founder of the award-winning photojournalist collective Activestills and reporter for +972 Magazine and its Hebrew sister site, Local Call—about Oren’s decade-plus experience documenting protest and resistance in Israel/Palestine. Since the Activestills collective’s founding in 2005, Ziv and the group have captured some of the most iconic, and often painful, images of social and political struggle: from the demonstrations against the Israeli separation barrier in the late 2000s, to the campaign for African asylum seekers’ rights in the 2010s, to the opposition to gentrification in the Mizrahi neighborhood of Givat Amal, and much more. Ziv’s own dogged reporting has made him one of the most perceptive journalists in the field; through his camera, Ziv has opened up the injustices of the occupation to the world. Ziv discusses his journalistic method and the experience of documenting the violence of apartheid.

One note: This conversation was recorded before August 18th, when Israeli forces raided and sealed the offices of six leading Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations in the occupied West Bank.

Articles, Statements, and Websites Mentioned

“Bil’in: Photographing a decade of popular struggle” by Activestills

“Desperation and hope in the eviction of Givat Amal” by Haggai Matar

“Reconstruction of Umm al-Hiran killings disproves car-ramming claims” by Yael Marom

Visual investigation of Umm al-Hiran incident, by Forensic Architecture and Activiestills

“Joint militias: How settlers and soldiers teamed up to kill four Palestinians” by Yuval Abraham

“Sent to Rwanda by Israel: ‘We have no food or work. Don’t come here’” by Oren Ziv

“At Tel Aviv rally, a Mizrahi-asylum seeker alliance is born” by Joshua Leifer

“Israeli gunfire killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, U.N. says” by Bill Chappell

“Secret Israeli document offers no proof to justify terror label for Palestinian groups” by Yuval Abraham, Oren Ziv, and Meron Rapoport

“‘You will pay the price’: Shin Bet threatens Palestinian NGO directors” by Oren Ziv

“‘We killed a little boy, but it was within the rules’” by Yuval Abraham

“Netanyahu’s authoritarian rule is turning Israelis against the state” by Meron Rapoport

“Peace Now is taking direct action against settler outposts. Can it succeed?” by Oren Ziv and Meron Rapoport

“The End of the Green Line—Two Views” by Haggai Matar

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Scream Clarifies an Elsewhere Aug 11, 2022

Last week, Graywolf Press released Civil Service, the debut poetry collection by Jewish Currents Culture Editor Claire Schwartz. The book is a daring study of the violence woven into our world, from everyday encounters to the material of language itself. The poems unfold in three main sequences: a quartet of lyric lectures, a fragmentary narrative that follows a cast of archetypal figures named for the coordinates of their complicities with power—the Dictator, the Curator, the Accountant, and so on—and a series of interrogation scenes centered on a spectral, fugitive figure named Amira, who gives us a glimpse of another world. To celebrate the release of Civil Service, Schwartz spoke with Managing Editor Nathan Goldman and the book’s editor at Graywolf Press, Chantz Erolin, about the book, as well as poems by Paul Celan and Edmond Jabès that deeply informed it. They discussed dispersed responsibility for state violence, thinking as feeling, and the political possibilities of poetry.

Works Mentioned:

Civil Serviceby Claire Schwartz

“Lecture on Loneliness” by Claire Schwartz

“Mourning and Melancholia” by Sigmund Freud

“The Felt House That Moves Us: A Conversation with Saretta Morgan,” a conversation with Muriel Leung and Joey De Jesus

“The Concept of Character in Fiction” by William H. Gass

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

“Death Fugue” by Paul Celan, trans. Pierre Joris

“Stretto” by Paul Celan, trans. Pierre Joris

“Celan’s Ferryman,” a conversation between Fanny Howe and Pierre Joris

Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis

“Robin Coste Lewis: ‘Black Joy is My Primary Aesthetic,’” a conversation between Claire Schwartz and Robin Coste Lewis

The Book of Questions by Edmond Jabès, trans. Rosmarie Waldrop

“Rosmarie Waldrop: The Nick of Time,” a conversation with David Naimon

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald, trans. Anthea Bell

“The Ga(s)p” by M. NourbeSe Philip

“Fred Moten’s Radical Critique of the Present” by David S. Wallace

Minima Moralia by Theodor Adorno

Reconsidering Reparations by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

“Assuming the Perspective of the Ancestor,” a conversation between Claire Schwartz and Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

“Perennial” by Claire Schwartz

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Trouble with Germany, Part 1 Jul 28, 2022

On this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with two Germany-based writers and organizers, Emily Dische-Becker and Michael Sappir, about the bizarre and worrisome ways that Germany’s understandably zealous Holocaust memory culture is playing out among Jews, Palestinians, and other Germans in contemporary Germany. An anti-BDS resolution passed in the Bundestag in 2019 has led to draconian repression of speech across German society, much of it directed not only at Palestinian Germans, but also at some critical Israeli Jews, upward of 10,000 of whom live in Germany. These politics are complicated further by the prevalence on the left of an “anti-Deutsche” tendency, characterized by strong support for the state of Israel as part of a nominally antifascist politics, and also by high numbers of German converts to Judaism who sometimes bring different assumptions about Jewishness to the table when weighing in on questions of communal concern.

Recently, Dische-Becker, a German American leftist Jew, has become a target of the ongoing German anti-antisemitism hysteria. As one of the organizers of the recent Hijacking Memory conference in Berlin, which sought to explore the ways the global right is appropriating Holocaust memory, and as an erstwhile adviser to the German art fair documenta, which has been embroiled in antisemitism scandals for months, Dische-Becker has emerged as the latest bogeyman for Germans eager to prove their anti-antisemitism bona fides. In this conversation, Dische-Becker and Sappir lay the groundwork for Germany’s upside-down politics and discuss the meaning of the recent attacks.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on Germany. Part 2, featuring different guests, will cover crackdowns on Palestinian identity and political expression, particularly in German media.

ARTICLES, STATEMENTS AND WEBSITES MENTIONED:

“The Challenge of Defending Memory in Germany” by Joshua Leifer

“When ‘Antifa’ Is the Enemy,” an interview with Michael Sappir by Isabel Frey

“In Germany, a Witch Hunt Is Raging Against Critics of Israel. Cultural Leaders Have Had Enough” by Itay Mashiach

About Blank FAQ on Israel/Palestine politics

Goethe-Institut rescinding an invitation to Mohammed El-Kurd

Hannah Tzuberi’s lecture on “Desiring Victimhood: German Self-Formation and the Figure of the Jew” at the Hijacking Memory Conference in Berlin

“Documenta Was a Whole Vibe. Then a Scandal Killed the Buzz.” by Siddhartha Mitter

“Rethinking empathy: emotions triggered by the Holocaust among Muslim-minority in Germany” by Esra Özyürek

Thanks to Sophia Steinert-Evoy for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

¡Inquilinos Unidos, Jamás Serán Vencidos! Jul 14, 2022

Late last month, the Autonomous Tenants Union Network—a collaboration of tenant unions from cities across North America—held its first-ever in-person convention in Los Angeles. ATUN formed in 2018 to consolidate the energies of a movement that has exploded in scope in response to a deepening crisis for tenants. Over the course of the weekend, members of 20 tenant unions from Eugene, Oregon to Houston, Texas held strategy sessions on everything from organizing around climate disaster to mutual aid to political education. On this episode, senior editor Ari Brostoff—who attended the conference as a member of the Crown Heights Tenants Union in Brooklyn—spoke with Kenia Alcocer, of the Los Angeles Tenants Union; Claire Spiehler, of the Houston Tenants Union; and Danya Martinez-Spider, of the West River Tenants Union in South Dakota.

Thanks to Sophia Steinert-Evoy for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Mapping Project Jun 30, 2022

In early June, an anonymous collective of Boston-area activists published “The Mapping Project,” an interactive map listing various institutions in Massachusetts and descriptions of their complicity in Zionism or US imperialism. The list includes universities, foundations, nonprofits, schools, and police departments. The group said they set out to deepen activist “understanding of local institutional support for the colonization of Palestine,” as well as how Israel’s colonization of Palestine is connected to US policing, US foreign policy, and the displacement of local communities. Mainstream Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League reacted to the map with outrage, claiming that listing Jewish foundations, nonprofits, and the like—alongside their addresses—could incite antisemitic violence. Jewish establishment groups were particularly incensed at The Mapping Project’s call to “dismantle” and “disrupt” the institutions listed. Dozens of congressional lawmakers also denounced the project, and the FBI announced it was investigating it. Meanwhile, the map also sparked controversy from an unexpected source: the Palestinian-led Boycott National Commitee, which distanced itself from the website and, in a private letter to BDS Boston, a local group that endorsed the project, said the project will lead to backlash and open up Palestinian rights groups to “infiltration” and “repression.”

Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing editor Josh Leifer, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and senior reporter Alex Kane convened to discuss the accusations against The Mapping Project, whether the website is an effective way to counter Israeli apartheid, and the political divisions that have come to the fore because of the controversy over the project.

Articles, Statements and Websites Mentioned:

The Mapping Project

“House lawmakers urge federal inquiry into ‘Mapping Project’” by Marc Rod

“FBI looking into ‘The Mapping Project,’ pro-Palestinian site targeting ‘Zionist leaders’ in Boston” by Forward staff

Boycott National Committe’s letter to BDS Boston

“Palestinian BDS National Committee Has No Connection To and Does Not Endorse The Mapping Project” by Palestinian BDS National Committee

“‘Our struggles are truly connected’: an interview with the Mapping Project” by Adam Horowitz

“The Mapping Project is not antisemitic but it is destructive activism” by Nora Lester Murad

“Sunrise, Sunset” podcast by Jewish Currents staff

Thanks to Sophia Steinert-Evoy for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Age of No Revolutions Jun 16, 2022

A broad spectrum of the American left agrees that the existing political system is not working—that it is dysfunctional, corrupt, anti-majoritarian, and utterly unable to address the serious economic, social, and ecological crises confronting the public. But despite pervasive exhaustion with the status quo, and despite omnipresent warnings about a looming constitutional threat from the radical right, there have been few signs of mobilization for a full-scale left-wing revolution since the 2020 uprisings against racism and police violence after the murder of George Floyd. Today, America’s most liberal cities have largely doubled down on carceralism, and the right has far more insurgent energy than the left. To discuss the dog that isn’t barking, David Klion spoke with Mike Duncan—the creator of the popular podcast Revolutions, which examines the history of ten historical upheavals in great detail—about what makes America in 2022 different from France in 1789 or Russia in 1917, and what it would take to see a real revolution.

Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned:

Mike Duncan’s Revolutions and History of Rome podcasts

The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan

Hero of Two Worldsby Mike Duncan

The Black Jacobinsby C.L.R. James

“The Institutionalist: Dianne Feinstein’s Long Fight for Abortion and Gun Control” by Rebecca Traister

“Mike Duncan Takes on the Turmoil of History” by David Klion

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh May 26, 2022

The killing of the beloved Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot by Israeli forces while covering an IDF raid of occupied Jenin on May 11th, has sparked massive outcry in Palestine and widespread condemnation from the international community—as did the subsequent attack on her funeral procession by Israeli police. Though Abu Akleh, a veteran correspondent for Al Jazeera, was a singular figure, her death is only the latest reminder that Israel has routinely targeted journalists and civilians, sustaining its impunity through obfuscation in the media and the routine dehumanization of Palestinians. Jewish Currents fellow Dylan Saba speaks with political scientist Dana El Kurd and activist Fadi Quran about Israeli media strategy, shifting public opinion outside the region, and the discursive and strategic challenges faced by the Palestine solidarity movement.

Topics Mentioned:

“New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces” - CNN

“Behind the lens: Remembering Muhammad al-Durrah, 20 years on” by Talal Abu Rahma

“On This Day: Stern Gang assassinates UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948” by Aaron Reich

Twitter thread by Fadi Quran on the pattern of Israeli obfuscation following an attack

“Secret Israeli Report Reveals Armed Drone Kills Four Boys Playing on Gaza Beach in 2014” by Robert Mackey

Noa Tishby invoking antisemitism regarding the response to Shireen’s death

Israeli military spokesperson saying the press is “armed with cameras”

“You Cannot Unsee This Image,” an interview with Rashid Khalidi by Dylan Saba

“Key Messages from the Oppressed” by Dana El Kurd

Campus Wars May 05, 2022

Since the launch of the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and the collapse of the Oslo Peace Process in the early aughts, the college campus has been a locus of American political conflict over Israel/Palestine. As student Palestine solidarity activists have attempted to introduce BDS resolutions across the country, Israel advocacy organizations have responded by building a vast organizing infrastructure to intervene in student debates about Israel, painting campuses as threatening and hostile places for Jewish students and pushing for greater restrictions on pro-Palestine student speech. In only the latest example, members of the NYU law school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter—half of them Jewish—are facing media defamation for a statement the group sent to the law school listserv. How does it transform campus activism and the experience of individual students when outside organizations and media commentators get involved? Is it misleading to frame these conflicts as simply a fight between two opposing camps? What do you do when your mom forwards you Bari Weiss’s substack? Jewish Currents Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Assistant Editor Mari Cohen, and Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer discuss these questions and the recent NYU events with Dylan Saba, Jewish Currents fellow and Palestine Legal staff attorney.

Books and Articles Mentioned:

“To the Antisemites Who Sit Next to Me in School” by Tal Fortgang

“NYU Law Erupts In Controversy Over Alleged Anti-Semitism” by David Lat

“Who’s Trying to Kill BDS on Campus? An Interview with Josh Nathan-Kazis” by Rachel Cohen

“How Israel Advocates Shut Down a Union’s Motion to Endorse BDS” by Isaac Scher

Twitter exchange between Yehuda Kurtzer and Joshua Leifer

AJC’s Survey on American Jewish Millennials

“Everybody Hates the Jews” by Bari Weiss

“Does Everybody Really Hate the Jews?” by Mari Cohen

“Princeton Students Voted to Boycott Machinery Used by Israel. Proponents of Israel Are Countering with Misinformation” by Isaac Scher

“Maccabee Games” by Jess Schwalb

“Deborah Lipstadt vs. ‘The Oldest Hatred’” by Mari Cohen

“American University Muslim student group withdraws from interfaith seder with Hillel over its Israel support” by Andrew Lapin

“Donor yanks Israel Studies endowment at U of Washington over professor’s Israel criticism” by Andrew Lapin

“US Media Talks A Lot About Palestinians—Just Without Palestinians” by Maha Nassar

“Waging Lawfare” by Natasha Roth-Rowland

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

A Surge of Violence in Israel/Palestine Apr 20, 2022

Life in Israel/Palestine is always characterized by a high level of violence; for instance, Israel’s control of millions of stateless Palestinians in the West Bank who live without due process under military law is inherently violent. But recent weeks have seen a surge in violence: Palestinians from both the West Bank and Israel proper have attacked and in some cases killed Israeli civilians and soldiers, and Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers have attacked and in some cases killed Palestinian civilians. With the unusual confluence of the holidays of Ramadan, Easter, and Passover, many worry that the violence will grow, and even spiral into the kind of massive bloodshed that unfolded last spring. (Since this episode was recorded on April 13th, tensions have escalated further as Israeli police attacked worshipers at the Al-Aqsa mosque, and Israel bombed Gaza in response to a Hamas rocket.) On this episode, Editor-at-Large Peter Beinart speaks with political scientist Dana El Kurd and attorney Daniel Seidemann about why violence is rising now, shifting Palestinian public opinion on violent and nonviolent resistance, and what the coming weeks may bring.

Books and Articles Mentioned:

“Support for Violent vs. Non-violent Strategies in the Palestinian Territories” by Dana El Kurd (April 15th, 2022)

“Key Messages from the Oppressed” by Dana El Kurd (April 6th, 2022)

“IDF Intelligence Chief: Palestinian Despair, Frustration Are Among Reasons for Terror Wave” by Barak Ravid (November 3rd, 2015)

“Hamas Breaks Out of its Gaza Cage” by Amjad Iraqi (May 21st, 202)1

“Poll Finds Dramatic Rise in Palestinian Support for Hamas” by Joseph Krauss (June 15th, 2021)

“The End of Nonviolent Resistance” by Isaac Scher (April 12th, 2022)

“Israel Imposes Sanctions on Jenin, the West Bank Hometown of Tel Aviv Terrorist” by Yaniv Kubovich and Jack Khoury (April 9th 2022)

“It is Impossible to ‘Shrink the Conflict’” by Peter Beinart (November 11th, 2021)

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Volodymyr Zelensky and Post-Soviet Jewishness Apr 01, 2022

In the month since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a global icon. Zelensky, who was elected in 2019 and chose to remain in his country during the assault, is Ukraine’s first Jewish president. His Jewishness, already notable given the nation’s history of antisemitism, has taken on new symbolic importance in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the assault is justified by its goal of “denazification.” Many Jews around the world, some of whose ancestors once lived in Ukraine, have come to identify with Zelensky, who embodies many of the contradictions of post-Soviet Jewishness, and whose attempts to lobby on behalf of his nation—including in a recent speech before the Israeli Knesset—have highlighted questions about the politics of post-Soviet Holocaust memory. On today’s episode, Newsletter Editor David Klion speaks with a panel of writers and contributors to the new Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents—Julia Alekseyeva, Linda Kinstler, and Helen Betya Rubinstein—about Zelensky’s Jewishness and the meaning of Jewish identity in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine.

Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned:

The Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents

“Travesty Show: An Illustrated Correspondence” by Nicholas Muellner and Helen Betya Rubinstein

Servant of the People

“Our Oligarch” by David Klion

“The Many Oblivions of Babi Yar” by Linda Kinstler

Soviet Daughter: A Graphic Revolutionby Julia Alekseyeva

Revolutions podcast

“Is Ukraine’s top presidential candidate Jewish? Even his spokesman won’t comment” by Julie Masis

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Assault on Trans and Reproductive Rights Mar 17, 2022

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a new wave of executive and legislative attacks on trans people and abortion rights across the country. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive for the state to treat gender-affirming care for trans youth as child abuse; Idaho passed a six-week abortion ban, and a bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans children passed in the House before being killed in the Senate; a proposed bill in Missouri attempts to prevent people from seeking abortions in other states. The growing anti-trans movement seems to be drawing from the same playbook as the anti-abortion movement, as the American right is forcefully pushing both agendas. To understand these alarming developments, Senior Editor Ari M. Brostoff speaks with scholar Jules Gill-Peterson (author of Histories of the Transgender Child), journalist Meaghan Winter (author of All Politics Is Local), and reproductive justice advocate Laurie Bertram Roberts (executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund) about the relationship between the anti-trans and anti-abortion movements and strategies for resistance.

Books and Articles Mentioned:

“The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda” by Jules Gill-Peterson

Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

I Want to Believe Mar 03, 2022

In January, n+1 Books released Missing Time, the debut essay collection by Senior Editor Ari M. Brostoff, which includes pieces originally published in Jewish Currents, n+1, and elsewhere. The titular essay reads Brostoff’s preteen passion for the supernatural police procedural The X-Files alongside their nascent political consciousness, as they became a young communist (and then ex-communist). Tracing the relationship between the original run and the 2016 and 2018 reboots, the piece considers the gap between two recent historical epochs, when history seemed to stall and then sputter back to life. In the years since the essay’s initial publication and the show’s conclusion, more and more evidence of real-life UFOs has come to light, with the US government admitting last year that it can’t account for these phenomena—or rule out extraterrestrial explanations. To celebrate the release of their book, Brostoff spoke with Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel and Managing Editor Nathan Goldman—two recently converted X-Files fanatics—about the show’s political potential, the nature of belief, and whether aliens are real.

Books, Articles, and TV Episodes Mentioned:

Missing Time: Essaysby Ari M. Brostoff

“Missing Time” by Ari M. Brostoff

Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions by Budd Hopkins

“Aubrey,” The X-Files

“Excelsis Dei,” The X-Files

“The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat,” The X-Files

“Jose Chung’s From Outer Space,” The X-Files

“2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’” by Helene Cooper, Leslie Kean, and Ralph Blumenthal

“Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program” by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean

“U.S. Has No Explanation for Unidentified Objects and Stops Short of Ruling Out Aliens” by Julian E. Barnes

“How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus

“I’ve seen the saucers: Obama weighs in as US interest in UFOs rises” by Adam Gabbatt

Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens by John Mack

Arielle’s Shabbat Reading List recommendation of The X-Files

“In the sky! A bird? A plane? A … UFO?” by Jon Hilkevitch

“UFO report stirs believers, skeptics” by Jon Hilkevitch

“Berkshires UFO,” Unsolved Mysteries

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Black-Jewish Relations Industrial Complex Feb 17, 2022

A number of recent incidents—from a fracas over Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about the role of race in the Holocaust to a smear campaign launched against Tema Smith, the Anti-Defamation League’s new Director of Jewish Outreach—have highlighted the continued prevalence of anti-Black racism in the American Jewish community and its ongoing exclusion of Black Jews. In this episode, Contributing Writer Rebecca Pierce brought together Black Jewish artists and activists—Yiddish-language performer Anthony Russell, visual artist and organizer Reuben Telushkin, and kohenet and social worker Shoshana Brown—to discuss the policing of Jewish communal space, racism and labor in Jewish organizations, and alternative visions for Black Jewish politics and worlds.

PROJECTS MENTIONED:

My Own Personal Robeson/The House We Live In, Anthony Russell

Whose West Side Story? Feb 03, 2022

Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s recent remake of West Side Story sought to bring the musical into the 21st century by updating its flat, stereotypical depictions of Puerto Ricans. In response, Puerto Rican critics have revived a long-running discussion about the musical’s enduring shadow, which some argue has harmed the community as a primary site of "Puerto Rican" representation, written and directed by white men. This time, however, filmmaker, writer, and scholar Frances Negrón-Muntaner, who has been at the forefront of this conversation for decades, found herself accused of antisemitism for daring to criticize the classic musical. What was going on? As the theater historian Brian E. Herrera has observed, West Side Story has two “parallel histories”: as “masterpiece musical and racializing performance.” That parallel also emerges in the different relationships that Jews and Latinx people bring to the work: West Side Story was the work of four gay Jews—Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim—and has been held up intracommunally as a paragon of Jewish cultural achievement. Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with Negrón-Muntaner, Herrera, and writer and scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner about the parallel resonances of West Side Story in Jewish and Latinx communities, and the tensions that emerge over questions of power and control.

Books and Articles Mentioned:

"Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses" by Frances Negrón-Muntaner

"Compiling West Side Story’s Parahistories, 1949–2009" by Brian Eugenio Herrera

"Why West Side Story Abandoned Its Queer Narrative" by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics by José Esteban Muñoz

"Let ‘West Side Story’ and Its Stereotypes Die" by Carina del Valle Schorske

"West Side Story Can’t Be Saved" by Andrea González-Ramírez

"The Great 'West Side Story' Debate," The New York Times

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

After Colleyville Jan 20, 2022

On Saturday, January 15th, a British national named Malik Faisal Akram entered Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and held Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants hostage at gunpoint. Akram demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year prison sentence for allegedly shooting at US FBI agents and army personnel. Akram released one hostage after six hours, and the nearly 12-hour crisis finally ended when the remaining hostages escaped and FBI agents and police entered the synagogue and killed Akram. This disturbing incident activated many American Jews’ feelings of vulnerability—especially heightened since the 2018 attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh—while also provoking Islamophobic responses and reigniting an ongoing debate about synagogue security. In this episode, recorded the Tuesday after the Colleyville attack, Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Managing Editor Nathan Goldman, Senior Reporter Alex Kane, and Assistant Editor Mari Cohen discuss their immediate reactions to the event and the questions it raises.

Note: This discussion cites a statement from someone claiming to be a former Beth Israel congregant who said he left the synagogue because he wasn’t allowed to bring guns into services. After the episode was recorded, Rabbi Cytron-Walker told JTA that Beth Israel permits concealed carry and said that he wished one of the congregants had been carrying during the attack.

Books, Articles, Tweets, and Podcasts Mentioned:

“Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding” by Mari Cohen

“Texas synagogue attack invites debate over delay in confirmation of special envoy on antisemitism” by Jacob Kornbluh

“On Antisemitism Fought” by Judah Bernstein

On the Nose episode: “Rallies, Surveys, and Ice Cream”

“Renowned Jewish Historian: ‘Stop Using the Term ‘Antisemitism’’” by Ofer Aderet

“Away from a Definition of Antisemitism: An Essay in the Semantics of Historical Description” by David Engel (from Rethinking European Jewish History)

“For Jews, Going to Services Is an Act of Courage” by Deborah E. Lipstadt

Twitter thread by Ma Nishtana

“Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement” by Michael German

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Jamaal Bowman and DSA Dec 16, 2021

On December 2nd, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)’s National Political Committee declined to expel New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman from the socialist organization. This decision capped a weeks-long debate within DSA over how to respond to Bowman’s “yes” vote on funding Israel’s anti-rocket Iron Dome system and his participation in a recent J Street trip to Israel/Palestine. Beyond the specific issue of how DSA should respond to Bowman’s divergence from the group’s line on Israel/Palestine, the controversy highlighted broader ideological and strategic questions: What’s the relationship between electoralism and the struggle for Palestinian rights? How should the left should relate to liberal Zionist groups like J Street? In this episode, Senior Reporter Alex Kane, Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Assistant Editor Mari Cohen, and Fellow Dylan Saba discuss the Bowman debate and the questions it raises for the left.

Articles Mentioned:

“Jamaal Bowman’s Trip to Israel Sparks Debate in DSA Over Electoral Strategy” by Alex Kane

“The Resilient Fiction of the Two-State Solution” by Joshua Leifer

“Can Minneapolis Reimagine Policing?” by Nathan Goldman

“The Taming of Anti-Zionism in the United States” by Steve Salaita

“No, DSA Shouldn’t Expel Rep. Bowman” by Hadas Thier

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

What Does the Record Show? Dec 02, 2021

In May, writer and activist Sarah Schulman published Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, to widespread acclaim. In a review for the Fall issue of Jewish Currents, Vicky Osterweil argued that the book, despite offering invaluable insight into the history of AIDS activism, is marred by structural elisions—especially of trans people—and is ultimately hagiographic rather than appropriately critical of the movement it chronicles. While Schulman’s response to the review provoked a controversy, Osterweil’s critique also ignited a discussion about the book itself, sometimes tied to broader disagreements about the theory and practice of both queer history and movement strategy. In a letter to the editor, writer and organizer Kay Gabriel contested Osterweil’s assessment of the book, arguing that it stands as a sober account of what took place. In this episode, Culture Editor Ari M. Brostoff convenes a discussion between Osterweil and Gabriel about Let the Record Show, the dangers of nostalgia, and the challenges of reckoning with our political forebears.

Books, Articles, Talks, and Projects Mentioned:

Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman

“What the Record Doesn’t Show” by Vicky Osterweil

Letter on “What the Record Doesn’t Show” by Kay Gabriel

ACT UP Oral History Project

“Being Street: The Trans Woman of Color as Evidence” by Jules Gill-Peterson

“Celebrating the Role of Trans People in the Fight Against HIV” by Michelle Ross

Untitled blog post by Bryn Kelly

“Diving into the Wreck” by Bryn Kelly

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Israel's Attack on Palestinian Civil Society Nov 18, 2021

In October, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights organizations to be “terrorist” groups. The targeted groups form the backbone of Palestinian civil society. Collectively, the organizations document Israeli human rights abuses and offer direct aid to Palestinians crushed by the Israeli occupation, whether it’s farmers facing Israeli settler land theft or children detained in Israel’s military court system. Gantz’s declaration placed the organizations at severe risk, making their employees potentially subject to arrest for working in a banned organization.

To learn more about what’s behind Israel’s moves and what it means for the future of Palestinian civil society, Senior Reporter Alex Kane interviews Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer and Sarit Michaeli, International Advocacy Officer for B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organization.

Articles Mentioned:

“Secret Israeli Document Offers No Proof to Justify Terror Label for Palestinian Groups,” by Yuval Abraham, Oren Ziv, Meron Rapoport

“The Long Arm of Israeli Repression,” by Yousef Munayyer

“Report: NSO Spyware Found on 6 Palestinian Activists’ Phones,” by Frank Bajak and Joseph Krauss

“Palestinian Diplomats Targeted by Israeli Spyware, Official Says,” by Patrick Kingsley and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad

“Private Israeli Spyware Used to Hack Cellphones,” by Dana Priest, Craig Timberg, and Souad Mekhennet

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Sunrise, Sunset Nov 04, 2021

Two weeks ago, Sunrise DC—a chapter of the climate action group Sunrise Movement—announced it would not participate in a voting rights rally because of the involvement of Zionist organizations, specifically naming three Jewish groups: the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. This decision prompted immediate backlash and provoked a heated discussion: Some critics accused Sunrise of antisemitism for singling out Jewish groups without remarking on the Israel politics of non-Jewish groups associated with the rally, while others argued that the move was not antisemitic but simply unstrategic. Five days later, Sunrise DC put out a new statement apologizing for having “fueled antisemitism,” while also reaffirming a commitment to anti-Zionism and Palestine solidarity. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and Jewish Currents fellow Dylan Saba discuss the questions this incident raises about the politics of anti-normalization, the Jewish left’s role in Palestine solidarity, and movement strategy more broadly.

Articles, Statements, and Publications Mentioned:

Sunrise DC’s initial statement on October 19th

Sunrise’s DC’s follow-up apology statement on October 24th

The Past Didn’t Go Anywhereby April Rosenblum

“Where Did the Past Go?” by Ben Lorber

Alex Kane’s conversation with Omari Hardy about his views on BDS

Sally Rooney’s statement about boycotting an Israeli publisher

“Inside ‘the Very Secret History’ of the Sunrise Movement” by Zahra Hirji and Ryan Brooks

“The Politics of ‘Jewface’” by Rebecca Pierce

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

West Bank Politics Oct 22, 2021

The past months have been tumultuous in the occupied West Bank. In April, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cancelled parliamentary and presidential elections; in May, during protests following Israel’s assault on Gaza, Israeli soldiers killed dozens of Palestinians; in June, Palestinian Authority security forces killed Nizar Banat, a vocal critic of Abbas, setting off protests against the PA leader. To explore some of the recent developments in the region as well as their broader political context, Senior Reporter Alex Kane speaks with Jewish Currents contributor Dalia Hatuqa and activist and analyst Fadi Quran.

Articles Mentioned:

“A Prison Break Liberates the Palestinian Political Imagination” by Dalia Hatuqa

“Poll finds nearly 80% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign” by Joseph Krauss

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

The Use and Abuse of “Jewish Peoplehood” Oct 08, 2021

We recently published two pieces—”On Loving Jews” by editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and “Reclaiming the Covenant of Fate” by editor-at-large Peter Beinart—investigating what, if anything, Jews owe one another, especially across fundamental political divides such as disputes over Zionism and Palestinian freedom. This episode features two conversations digging deeper into the question of Jewish solidarity. In the first, Angel and Beinart explore the places their pieces overlap and diverge; in the second, Angel speaks with contributing writer Rebecca Pierce about how she thinks about “Jewish peoplehood,” communal obligations, and organizing as a Jew of color.

Articles, Threads, and Films Mentioned:

“On Loving Jews” by Arielle Angel

“Reclaiming the Covenant of Fate” by Peter Beinart

“Listen, My Beloved Knocks” by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik

Raphael Magarik’s letter about “On Loving Jews”

Yair Wallach’s thread on “Jewish peoplehood”

No Man’s Landby Rebecca Pierce

Books Mentioned:

Leviticus: The Book of Holiness by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Political Depression Aug 10, 2021

As climate change-induced flooding and wildfires wreak havoc across the globe, and the Delta variant brings us into another perilous phase of the pandemic, the Jewish Currents staff is thinking about political depression—and how to cope with it. What does it mean to bring political feelings into therapy? Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Jacob Plitman, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, and contributing editor Joshua Leifer discuss the relationship between melancholia and the left, the difficulties of reconciling the therapeutic subject with the social collective of movement politics, and how therapy might be radicalized.

Listen to On the Nose and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Articles and Podcasts Mentioned:

“Beautiful Losers” by Sam Adler-Bell

“How to Be Depressed” from Know Your Enemy

“Feel Tank” by Lauren Berlant

“The Family Romance of American Communism” by Ari M. Brostoff

“I Feel Better Now” by Jake Bittle

“The Anti-Antidepressant Syndicate” by Jess McAllen

“Scientology’s Lonely Turf War” by Danielle Carr

Books Mentioned:

Half-Truths and One-and-a-Half Truths by Karl Kraus

Studies on Hysteria by Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer

Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud by Herbert Marcuse

The Romance of American Communism by Vivian Gornick

The Republic by Plato

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Rallies, Surveys, and Ice Cream Jul 27, 2021

It’s been a rough few weeks for the “pro-Israel” establishment, from a pitiful showing at the “No Fear” rally against antisemitism (whose “big tent” excluded non-Zionists), to the release of a Jewish Electorate Institute survey of American Jewish voters showing surprisingly prevelant left-wing attitudes about Israel, to last week’s announcement that Ben & Jerry’s will stop selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories. Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and contributing editor Joshua Leifer discuss these developments, what they suggest about evolving public opinion among American Jews, and what questions they raise about Jewish institutional engagement and political education.

Articles Mentioned:

Jewish Electorate Institute’s “July 2021 National Survey of Jewish Voters”

“I helped organize the Washington rally against antisemitism. It wasn’t perfect, but it was necessary” by Elisha Wiesel

“How Zionism complicated a Capitol rally against antisemitism” by Arno Rosenfeld

“No More Slogans” by Bruce Abramson and Jeff Ballabon

“Are 95% of Jews Really Zionists?” by Caroline Morganti

“The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International and Human Rights Perspective”

“The question of genocide in Palestine, 1948: an exchange between Martin Shaw and Omer Bartov”

“What Happened to IfNotNow?” by Aaron Freedman

“Avodah Considers Stepping Out on Israel/Palestine” by Mari Cohen

“Ben & Jerry’s Tests Anti-BDS Laws” by Mari Cohen

Books Mentioned:

Politicide: The Real Legacy of Ariel Sharon by Baruch Kimmerling

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Couples Therapy Jul 13, 2021

The recent Jewish Currents staff roundtable on “intermarriage,” “Jewish continuity,” and the fraught institutional discourse on these topics occasioned a wide variety of responses, including the question: How might the conversation look different if it included non-Jewish partners of Jews? So we decided to find out! In the second episode of our new podcast, On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and her husband Michael M., managing editor Nathan Goldman and his wife Bridget Bergin, web editor Nora Caplan-Bricker and her husband Tom Stackpole, and culture editor Ari M. Brostoff and their roommate Daniel Drake reflect on the intermarriage roundtable and the questions it raised for them about what Jewishness means.

Articles and TV Episodes Mentioned:

“What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Intermarriage’” by Jewish Currents editors

“The Yada Yada,” Seinfeld

Books Mentioned:

The Myth of the Shiksa and Other Essays by Edwin H. Friedman

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Jewish Feelings Jun 29, 2021

Welcome to the first official episode of the Jewish Currents podcast, On the Nose. After a brief conversation about the show’s title, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Jacob Plitman, managing editor Nathan Goldman, and assistant editor Mari Cohen discuss the Anti-Defamation League’s recent survey of American Jews about their perceptions and understanding of antisemitism, in the wake of a reported “uptick in antisemitic incidents.” We discuss what it means that the survey suggests American Jews widely conflate anti-Zionism and certain criticisms of Israel with antisemitism. What’s the relationship between claims of antisemitism and feelings of discomfort? How does this misunderstanding relate to the left’s thinking about the authority of subjective experience and the politics of feelings? What can Jewish identity politics teach us about the power and limits of identity politics writ large?

Articles and Podcasts Mentioned:

“Survey of American Jews since Recent Violence in Israel” by the Anti-Defamation League

“Preliminary ADL Data Reveals Uptick in Antisemitic Incidents Linked to Recent Mideast Violence” by the Anti-Defamation League

“A Closer Look at the ‘Uptick’ in Antisemitism” by Mari Cohen

“Jewish Americans in 2020” (Pew study)

“The Collective Work of Abolition” by Claire Schwartz

“How Not to Fight Antisemitism” by Jewish Currents editors

“How not to think like a cop, with Naomi Murakawa” from Time To Say Goodbye

“Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding” by Mari Cohen

Books Mentioned:

We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical by Shaul Magid

Black Power, Jewish Politics by Marc Dollinger

Sexual Justice by Alexandra Brodsky

Policing the Crisis by Stuart Hall, Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke, and Brian Roberts

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

In This Moment & Tough Conversations May 20, 2021

Is it worthwhile to focus our organizing on moving Jewish American public opinion on Israel/Palestine? How effective is it really in shifting the dynamics on the ground? Jewish Currents staff members discuss these questions.

Then, starting at 33:58, we discuss one of the main questions we’ve received in the last week: How do I talk to my family about what’s happening? We recount personal victories and failures, and explore how people actually change their mind.

Reading & Resources Mentioned in "In This Moment & Tough Conversations"

Are 95% of Jews Really Zionists? by Caroline Morganti

Jewish Americans in 2020 (Pew Study)

Teshuvah: A Jewish Case for Palestinian Refugee Return by Peter Beinart

US media talks a lot about Palestinians — just without Palestinians by Maha Nassar

Responsa - How Not to Fight Antisemitism by Jewish Currents editors

A Guide to the Current Crisis in Israel/Palestine by Mari Cohen, Joshua Leifer, Alex Kane

The Palestinian Cause at a Moment of Transition, a conversation between Inès Abdel Razek, Salem Barahmeh, Dana El Kurd, and Fadi Quran

Books Mentioned in "In This Moment & Tough Conversations"

Jewish Power by JJ Goldberg

Where the Jews Aren't by Masha Gessen

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song "VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed)." Transcript will be available soon.

On the Nose Apr 09, 2021

The cover of the Spring 2021 issue of Jewish Currents features a photograph that has proven controversial, eliciting a wide array of reactions, from disgust to accusations of antisemitism to schnoz pride. Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Publisher Jacob Plitman, and Managing Editor Nathan Goldman sat down with Rachel Stern, the artist behind the photograph, to discuss the image, the response, and what it all might mean.

Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song "VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed)."