JBS: Jewish Broadcasting Service

To be human is to have free will — the basis of all morality — the capacity to choose good over evil, to take responsibility, to refuse to sit on the sidelines. Rabbi Ammi Hirsch sees that principle tested in the double standard the world holds Israel to: as Israeli passengers restrained the flydubai would-be hijacker, the crew insisted they untie him. “Save the plane, but untie the hijacker,” Rabbi Hirsch says. “Defend yourselves on October 7, but only in the manner that we, sitting 6,000 miles away, permit.” Criticism of Israeli policy is always fair game, but Rabbi Hirsch draws a hard line at denying Israel’s right to exist: “It is a stupid debate. Israel exists. Deal with that."

Columbia professor Shai Davidai, Professor Andrew Pessin and student leader Tali Smus examine antizionism and antisemitism on university campuses, from their ideological roots and normalization to the experiences of students confronting them.

Shai Davidai, social psychologist and author, joins Abigail Pogrebin to discuss the anti-Jewish movement he sees tearing through American universities and how October 7th turned a professor into an activist, who wrote the new tour de force, "American Intellectual Antisemitism."

JBS Journalist Micah Halpern reflects on October 7 -- past, present and future -- arguing that it was not only a historic event, but one that continues to shape Israel, the Jewish world and who we are today—this and more on this episode of "Thinking Out Loud" on JBS.

David Harris discusses the long and painful previous three years since the October 7th Hamas massacre in Israel and what lessons world Jewry should be putting into action in this difficult new reality.

From the 2026 ISGAP-Cambridge Summer Institute, ISGAP founder Charles Asher Small, professor Dyanne Martin and student Nervanah Ghabra explore confronting antisemitism through education, leadership and cross-cultural understanding.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish movement in North America, and a leading voice on Jewish life and Israel, joins Abigail Pogrebin.

JBS Journalist Micah Halpern suggests that Israelis rethink travel plans outside the wondrous Land of Israel—this and more on this episode of "Thinking Out Loud" on JBS.

Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein, an Italian-Israeli journalist, author and politician joins David Harris in conversation.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Jonathan Haidt discuss polarization, rising antisemitism, and social media's impact on fear and anxiety, especially among children and teens, and what can be done in response.