The Tikvah Podcast

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"Nationalism and the Future of Western Freedom" Episode 2 Nov 09, 2016

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On Wednesday, September 14, 2016, alumni of Tikvah's advanced programs and friends of Mosaiccame to an intimate discussion between the Israeli philosopher Yoram Hazony and the American author and historian Walter Russell Mead. The subject of their conversation was the same as the title of Yoram Hazony's essay in Mosaic: "Nationalism and the Future of Western Freedom."

Hazony argues that the political battle over the fate of the nation is the most consequential struggle of our time—one whose roots extend all the way back to the struggle between the ancient Israelites and the overweening imperial powers of their day. It was in the Hebrew Bible that the national idea was born, an idea whose enduring virtues would in time profoundly shape the emergence of the modern democratic West. But what is the status of the national idea today, and why do so many in the West oppose it? Can it survive if cut off from its religious origins, or can those origins be recovered in the secular West? What does today's widespread disparagement of national independence mean for the Jewish state, the state of Israel?

In these three episodes, we hear Yoram Hazony speak about the themes from his Mosaic article, a response from distinguished writer and strategist Walter Russell Mead, and a conversation moderated by Tikvah senior director Jonathan Silver.

"Nationalism and the Future of Western Freedom" Episode 1 Nov 09, 2016

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Meir Soloveichik on Rembrandt, Tolkien, and the Jews Sep 29, 2016

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In this podcast Eric Cohen and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik speak about two artistic geniuses whose works highlight Jews' humanity, on the one hand, and other-worldliness, on the other. These two sides of the Jewish people—at once part of the human race and God's chosen people—comprise Jews' inherently dialectical nature, Soloveichik argues.

Framed by Soloveichik's recent essay, "Rembrandt's Great Jewish Painting" (Mosaic, June 2016), the discussion begins with an exploration of the great Dutch painter's beautiful efforts to depict the humanity of Jews and the Jewishness of biblical scenes. Particular attention is given to Rembrandt's great painting of Moses receiving the Luchot, which answers and corrects Michaelangelo's Moses.

In contrast, it is the miraculous nature of the Jewish people, rather than their humanity, that J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings brings out, as Soloveichik argues in "The Secret Jews of the Hobbit" (Commentary, August 2016). Secular and American Jews are uncomfortable with this side of their identity and Soloveichik thinks they can learn something important from the Catholic author's presentation of the Jewish people as a miraculous people—a trait that remains true today.

The discussion culminates in an exploration of the unique role art can play in understanding and presenting the divine.

Yoram Hazony on Nationalism and the Future of Western Freedom Sep 21, 2016

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Britain's June 23 referendum on independence was the most important vote in a democratic nation in a generation, Yoram Hazony argues in "Nationalism and the Future of Western Freedom," his September 2016 Mosaic essay. Its outcome, in favor of an exit from the EU, provoked fear, outrage, and despair in elite opinion in both Europe and the United States. At the same time, however, the re-emergence of an independent Britain has rallied profound admiration and enthusiasm among millions of others who still hold fast to the old understanding that the independence and self-determination of one's nation hold the key to a life of honor and freedom.

In this podcast, Hazony speaks with Eric Cohen about his essay. Their discussion touches on the biblical roots of the nation-state, which combines national self-determination with a moral minimum; liberalism as the great rival of nationalism; and three reactions against the new liberal condition—neo-nationalism, neo-Catholicism, and classical nationalism. It is this latter alternative that Hazony finds most promising, inspired by the Hebrew Bible and informing the nationalism of Great Britain and the United States.

Jason Bedrick on Jewish Day Schools and School Choice Aug 02, 2016

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Jewish education is an important source of Jewish continuity in America. This is has been true in all times and places throughout the Jewish diaspora, but it is all the more so in the United States, a nation dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal. In America, with its individual freedoms, the most potent threat to the Jewish community is not anti-Semitic persecution of old, but assimilation. The threat of assimilation in modern America makes an education in Jewish particularism and Jewish peoplehood especially important, and yet the cost of Jewish education is a growing burden on Jewish families—entailing not only a financial burden, but a moral burden as well.

In this podcast, Eric Cohen speaks with Cato Institute policy analyst Jason Bedrick to delve into this issue and the larger question of what possible role the government might play in alleviating the financial burden to families of parochial school. Their conversation centers around Milton Friedman's 1955 essay "The Role of Government in Education," which argues that school vouchers promise both efficiency and freedom for families in the education arena. Bedrick and Cohen discuss the history of parochial schools in America, school choice options like vouchers and tax credits, and what these options mean for the Jewish community. What has the establishment of ostensibly "public" schools meant for the religious freedom of families and communities of faith, and what role might government assume in ensuring the blessings of liberty for all its citizens?

Allan Arkush on Ahad Ha'am and "The Jewish State and Jewish Problem" Jul 20, 2016

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In this podcast, Eric Cohen talks with Judaic Studies and History professor Allan Arkush, an expert in modern Jewish history, about Ahad Ha'am and his classic essay, "The Jewish State and Jewish Problem" (1897). In this essay, Ahad Ha'am—pen name of Asher Ginsberg—expounds on the material and moral crises facing the Jewish people. Modern Jews need an identity authentically derived from Jewish ideas and culture—not one simply formed by outside gentile influences. European nationalism is not sufficient to guide the founding of the Jewish state. Rather, Ha'am hopes that political freedom will enable the creation of a unique and genuine Jewish civilization. In this podcast, Arkush discusses the life and ideas of Ahad Ha'am and his relation to his contemporary Jewish and Zionist thinkers.

Bret Stephens on the Legacy of 1967, and the Condition of the U.S.-Israel Relationship Jul 13, 2016

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In this podcast, Eric Cohen speaks with Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Wall Street Journal, about three of his essays that assess political life in Israel, America, and that analyze the challenges of the Middle East and the the modern West alike. "Born on the Fourth of June," a Commentary essay from 2012, concerns the lessons and legacy of the 1967 war and what it means for current political challenges. In "Peter Beinart's False Prophecy," published in Tablet in 2012, Stephens reviews Peter Beinart's The Crisis of Zionism, identifying its misleading presentation of the Israeli condition. The final essay was "Israel Alone," a 2015 Wall Street Journal column in which Stephens examines the dilemmas that Israeli decision-makers now face, given America's changing role in the Middle East.

Jay Lefkowitz on Social Orthodoxy Jul 07, 2016

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In this podcast, Eric Cohen talks with Jay Lefkowitz about his provocative 2014 essay, "The Rise of Social Orthodoxy: A Personal Account". The essay caused a stir by describing a subset of American Modern Orthodox Judaism whose participation in Jewish ritual is primarily motivated by social and civilizational attachments to the Jewish people, not out of faith in the God of the Hebrew Bible or reverence for His commandments.

Lefkowitz and Cohen begin by surveying the denominations of American Judaism and their relative vitality. Focusing on the Orthodox, they consider which approaches to Jewish life—Haredi, classically Modern Orthodox, Socially Orthodox—are likely to endure and, should they endure, which approaches are likely to elevate the moral lives of their adherents. Which is a firmer ground for Jewish continuity—belonging or belief? What is gained and what is lost when membership is the overarching value of Jewish life?

Norman Podhoretz on Jerusalem and Jewish Particularity Jun 29, 2016

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In this podcast, Eric Cohen sits down with the legendary editor of Commentary, Norman Podhoretz, to discuss his 2007 essay, "Jerusalem: The Scandal of Particularity." The ancient capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem, has been the essential center of Jewish political and religious life for generations. But, despite promises of its inviolability, the temptations to divide Jerusalem in exchange for peace arise again and again. "In wondering about this singling-out of one city from among all the cities in the Land of Israel," Podhoretz writes, "I find myself ineluctably led to its larger and even more mysterious context, which is the singling-out of one people from among all the nations of the world." Eric Cohen talks to Podhoretz about the circumstances that inspired this essay, the feelings that being in Jerusalem stirs in him, the moral and political significance of Jerusalem, what it means to be the chosen people, and why modern men and women find Jewish particularity such a scandal.

Daniel Johnson and William Kristol - The Left, the Right, and the Future of the West Jun 23, 2016

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As recently as the Cold War, the center-right and the center-left overcame their differences on other issues to oppose the enemies of the open society. In a lecture to alumni and guests of the Tikvah Fund, Standpoint editor Daniel Johnson argues that the center is failing to hold and that illiberalism's many forms are on the rise. Both right and left have been submerged under populist spasms. The right lured in by the coarse, idea-free spectacle of Donald Trump; the left embracing the Western self-loathing typified by Jeremy Corbyn. Radical Islam, the European migrant crisis, and the rise of Putin's Russia all threaten the West. Are conservatives up to the task? And what is the role of the Jews in all this? Johnson argues that Israel is uniquely central to the fate of the West, both as the frontier of its fights and as a symbol of what the West still stands for—or what, to its shame, it may yet abandon.

William Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard offers some thoughts on Johnson's lecture at its conclusion. Then the two take questions. The discussion was filmed in Jerusalem on June 2, 2016.

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