Episodes
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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
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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
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Missing episodes?
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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...
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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 Chotiner and Mukul Kesavan, The New Yorker
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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 Israel by 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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).”
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 Aruch by 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
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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
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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
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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
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