In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, associate editor Mari Cohen, and senior editor Nathan Goldman answer reader questions. They discuss the challenge of sustaining Jewish social reproduction outside of Zionism; the attachment to putting out a print magazine; the difficulties of comparing genocides; the discomforts of subscribing to the free Jewish children’s book service PJ Library; and the perils of regarding Zionism as a singular, unparalleled evil. 

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

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“Reclaiming a Minor Literature,” Maya Rosen, Jewish Currents

“We Need New Jewish Institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents

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

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

The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto by Daniel Boyarin

“Against Analogy,” Ben Ratskoff, Jewish Currents

“The Law Cannot Let Itself See the Nakba,” Joshua Abramson Cohen’s interview with Rabea Eghbariah, Jewish Currents

“Living with the Holocaust: The Journey of a Child of Holocaust Survivors,” Sara Roy, Institute for Palestine Studies

“Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?”, Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

Sammy Spider’s First Yom Kippur by Sylvia Rouss

“Tell PJ Library: Zionism is Not Judaism!” petition

“Rhetoric Without Reckoning,” Simone Zimmerman, Jewish Currents

“History Lesson,” Laleh Khalili, Jewish Currents

“A Logic of Elimination,” Abe Silberstein’s interview with Lorenzo Veracini on settler colonialism, Jewish Currents

In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with filmmaker Sarah Friedland and feminist scholar and activist Lynne Segal about aging through a feminist lens, on the occasion of the digital release of Friedland’s award-winning film Familiar Touch. The film follows cookbook author Ruth Goldman (Kathleen Chalfant) as she transitions to a memory care unit in an assisted living facility and struggles with a shifting sense of self and a different relationship to dependence and care.

Friedland was inspired to tell this story by watching the fiercely independent women in her grandmother’s Jewish Communist milieu as they aged, as well as by Segal’s book Out of Time: The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing—particularly its description of how aging renders the elder at once “all ages and no age,” and capable of experiencing time in less linear ways. Angel, Friedland, and Segal discuss what it would mean to embrace, rather than fear, the experience of aging; to center a politics of care and interdependence over a neoliberal idea of self-sufficiency; and to allow for elder desire.  

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

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

Out of Time: The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing by Lynne Segal

Lean on Me: A Politics of Radical Care by Lynne Segal 

The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence by The Care Collective

“How the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Impacts Older Adults,” AARP

The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Sarah Friedland’s speech about Gaza at the Venice Film Festival

“Why We, 18 Elder Jewish Women, Chained Ourselves to the White House,” Jewish Voice for Peace

“Exodus From Now,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents

Transcript forthcoming. 

In this episode, editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks to children’s television star Rachel Griffin Accurso, better known to her fans as Ms. Rachel, about her advocacy for Palestinian children in Gaza, tens of thousands of whom have been maimed or killed by Israel over the last 22 months, with many more enduring a relentless campaign of starvation. Ms. Rachel, who has been called this generation’s Mister Rogers, began speaking out in May 2024, when she participated in a Save the Children fundraiser for kids in conflict zones, including Gaza. The backlash from the pro-Israel camp was so pronounced that Ms. Rachel soon posted a teary video discussing the bullying she was facing. The Zionist backlash has continued, with the doxxing outfit Stop Antisemitism formally requesting in April that the Department of Justice investigate Ms. Rachel to determine if she was “being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.” But Ms. Rachel has not stopped insisting that Palestinian children, like all children, deserve safety and care. In May, she invited a three-year-old double amputee from Gaza named Rahaf onto her show. Beinart spoke to Ms. Rachel about her advocacy for Palestinian children and the pro-Israel backlash, the role faith and prayer have played in her decision to speak out, and why more celebrities haven’t followed suit.

This conversation first appeared on The Beinart Notebook on Substack.

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

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“Pro-Israel group asks DoJ to investigate Ms. Rachel over posts on Gaza children,” Joseph Gedeon, The Guardian

“Ms. Rachel’s emotional plea for the lives of Palestinian children,” Christiane Amanpour, CNN

Ms. Rachel’s fundraising page at the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

“A year of tears: 12 months of war on children,” UNICEF Report

In 2020, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and University of Washington professor of Sephardic studies Devin Naar, both descendants of Ladino speakers from Salonica (Thessaloniki) in Greece, had a conversation about what meaningful Sephardic representation might look like in the wake of near-total erasure. In this week’s episode, Angel and Naar join community leader and singer of Arab Jewish music Laura Elkeslassy and professor of Hebrew literature and Mizrahi studies Oren Yirmiya to deepen the discussion about Sephardi and Mizrahi reclamation work. What are the practical entry points to this identity today? What is the use of catchall caucuses that bring together Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews from many different countries and linguistic lineages, and does this identity have to homogenize in order to survive? What does it mean to do this work amid the genocide in Gaza? And how do we make sure reclamation work is not only backward-looking, but responsive to the present?

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

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“Are We Post-Sepharadim?,” Arielle Angel in conversation with Devin Naar, Jewish Currents

Ya Ghorbati: Divas in Exile by Laura Elkeslassy, live in concert and the artist’s reflections in Ayin on the songs she performs

Shirei Yedidut, book of Moroccan piyyutim and bakashot 

Translations of the writings of Hayyim Ben-Kiki by Moshe Behar and Zvi Ben-Dor Benite in Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Politics, and Culture 1893–1958

“Before the Law,” Franz Kafka

“Going Out on a Limb: Joha,” Jane Mushabac 

The story about Djohá and the land can be found in Bewitched by Soli­ka and Oth­er Judeo-Span­ish Tales by François Azar.

Devin Naar discusses Djohá in his introduction to the Moabet column in Ayin.

In May, a project called the Community Safety Campaign released a 134-page guide for Jewish organizers seeking to push their synagogues and communities towards an abolitionist approach to safety. The guide outlined a critique of the dominant “safety through surveillance” paradigm, in which Jewish communities rely on collaboration with police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and private security forces to prevent violence and other threats. This approach is often tied in with these organizations’ embrace of the criminalization and repression of Palestine solidarity. As an alternative, the Community Safety Campaign guide offers a blueprint for Jewish organizations based on the Jewish left rallying cry of “safety through solidarity,” focused on creating trained community teams that provide safety at events and work closely with other religious and ethnic groups to share resources. Two Community Safety Campaign organizers, Nadav David and Erica Riddick, join associate editor Mari Cohen to discuss the political context that drove them to create the guide, the big players of the “safety through surveillance” paradigm, and existing successes in piloting community safety efforts across multiple synagogues in Boston. They also talk through approaching cases in which law enforcement has successfully combatted white supremacist violence and synagogue attacks, and consider how to draw the line between community safety and vigilante violence.  

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

Community Safety Campaign Guide

“The Dismal Failure of Jewish Groups to Confront Trump,” Stephen Lurie, The New Republic

Understanding Antisemitism, JFREJ

“Skin in the Game,” Erik Ward, Political Research Associates 

Safety Through Solidarity by Ben Lorber and Shane Burley 

“In Letter To President-Elect Trump, SCN Calls For Action Against Non-Citizens,” Secure Communities Network 

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

“Reject Increases to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program,” Community Safety Campaign and JFREJ

“Reconsidering Hate: A Forum on the ‘Hate’ Frame,” by Kay Whitlock 

Freedom House Ambulance: The FIRST Responders, PBS

“How Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s training helped fellow hostages survive the Texas synagogue attack,” Holly Yan, CNN 

“Do Armed Guards Prevent School Shootings?”, Laura Esposito and Alex Yablon, The Trace 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander—a longtime fixture of the city’s progressive Jewish life—got 11% of the vote in the Democratic mayoral primary, but his cross-endorsement of Zohran Mamdani helped propel the latter to victory. This partnership inspired many: In a race marred by Islamophobia and false accusations of antisemitism (even against Lander himself), the cooperation between a Muslim and Jewish candidate, focused squarely on beating disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo and making the city more affordable, was a breath of fresh air. 

On this episode of On the Nose, editor-at-large Peter Beinart talks to Lander about encountering Mamdani and Cuomo on the campaign trail, his cross-endorsement of Mamdani despite their differences on Israel, and what he’d like to see from New York Democrats who have been slow to support Mamdani. This conversation first appeared in the Beinart Notebook on Substack.

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

Related Videos and Articles

Lander curses Cuomo in Yiddish

Lander and Mamdani’s cross-endorsement video

Lander and Mamdani on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

“Brad Lander Is Having a Great Day,” Emily Leibert, The Cut

On Tuesday, Democratic New Yorkers went to the polls and elected a democratic socialist as their candidate for the November general election for mayor. Zohran Mamdani’s wide margin of victory—and the decisive defeat of Andrew Cuomo—shocked the political establishment and upended assumptions about who can win an election. In particular, Mamdani’s refusal to back away from his record as an unabashed pro-Palestine candidate proved that vocal opposition to Israel’s destruction of Gaza is not necessarily a political death knell, and in fact may be a political asset in some contexts. 

Jewish Currents staffers Peter Beinart, Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, and Alex Kane gathered in the immediate aftermath of the election to discuss Mamdani’s victory and what it might mean for the issue of Israel in US electoral politics and the New York City Jewish vote. We discussed the Jewish reaction to the win, how Mamdani spoke about Palestine on the campaign trail, what his success  means for pro-Israel groups that focus on electoral politics, and the role that City Comptroller Brad Lander and groups like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice played in the election. 

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 Videos Mentioned

“The Most Detailed Map of the N.Y.C. Mayoral Primary,” Martín González Gómez, Saurabh Datar, Matthew Bloch, Andrew Fischer and Jon Huang, The New York Times

“What Zohran’s Victory Means,” Peter Beinart, The Beinart Notebook

“Zohran Mamdani’s Moral Stand,” Jewish Currents

“Colbert Talks NYC Mayoral Race With Candidates Zohran Mamdani & Brad Lander,” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interview, Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, PBS

“States Don’t Have a Right to Exist. People Do,” Peter Beinart, The New York Times

“Escape from New York: Business Leaders Say They’ll Flee If Mamdani Wins,” Olivia Reingold, The Free Press

X post from Republican Jewish Coalition

X post from Betar

X post from Blake Flayton

X post from Jacob Kornbluh 

“Why Are Progressive Legislators Opposing New York’s First Anti-Settlement Bill?,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“Palestine Is a Proxy Fight in a Fractious DSA,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

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

On Friday, June 13th, just days before the sixth scheduled round of US–Iran talks over the country's nuclear energy program, Israel carried out a series of punishing airstrikes in many different parts of Iran. The bombings were unprecedented in targeting Iran’s nuclear energy infrastructure, and have since expanded to target Iranian state television, the energy industry, and high-rise apartment buildings. Israel’s bombing campaign has so far killed over 240 people, and has scuttled US–Iran nuclear diplomacy—at least for now. In response, Iran has launched drones and missiles at Israel, killing over 20 Israelis. Now, the escalating conflict, which has prompted thousands of Iranians to flee their homes and brought Israelis into bomb shelters, threatens to grow even deadlier as news outlets report that the Trump administration is weighing a US strike on Iran.

In this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane assesses Israel’s war with Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, and Ellie Geranmayeh, the Deputy Director for the European Council on Foreign Relation’s Middle East and North Africa program. They discuss the Trump administration’s position on the conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war goals, and where the region might be heading in the wake of this bombing campaign.

Articles Mentioned and Further Reading

“Israel Built Its Case for War With Iran on New Intelligence. The U.S. Didn’t Buy It,” Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman, and Dustin Volz, The Wall Street Journal

“How Trump Shifted on Iran Under Pressure From Israel,” Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Mark Mazzetti, and Ronen Bergman, The New York Times

“America First or Israel First? Will Trump Join Netanyahu's War on Iran?” Daniel Levy, Zeteo

“Europe must act now to prevent a major war between Israel and Iran,” Ellie Geranmayeh, European Council on Foreign Relations

“Unpacking the Rift Between Trump and Netanyahu,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

“Israeli Army Estimates It Can Hit All Planned Targets in Iran Within Week, Including Fordow Nuclear Site,” Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz

This episode of On the Nose comes from a live Zoom conversation between associate editor Mari Cohen and Rabbi Andrue Kahn in February, in which they discussed the anti-nationalist tradition of the American Reform movement and the American Council for Judaism (ACJ), the anti-Zionist organization created by Reform rabbis in 1942. Kahn, the executive director of a newly revived ACJ, answers questions about the Reform movement’s roots in German Jewish emancipation, its attempts to offer a religious paradigm appealing to American Jews, and why early leaders eschewed Zionism. They also discuss early Reform anti-Zionists’ racial politics, how some ACJ leaders developed a concern for Palestinian rights, and what a revived ACJ might offer American Jews today, in a world where official Reform Judaism has long been Zionist. 

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 

“The Pittsburgh Platform” 

“The Columbus Platform” 

“Declaration Adopted by the Biltmore Conference” 

“Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the American Racial Order,” Matthew Berkman, American Jewish History 

Our Palestine Question by Geoffrey Levin

The Threshold of Dissent by Marjorie Feld

“A Conversation with Professor Matt Berkman,” American Council for Judaism 

“A Reconstructionist Reckoning,” Shane Burley, Jewish Currents 

Last year saw the release of Kneecap, a fictionalized account of the real-life West Belfast-based Irish language rap group of the same name. The group is know for their bombastic, irreverent take on politics in the North of Ireland and their advocacy for the Irish language, which faced centuries of suppression under British colonial rule. Longtime advocates for Palestine, Kneecap has made headlines recently for their on-stage statements at Coachella in support of Gaza. Last week, UK prosecutors charged band member Mo Chara with a terrorism-related offense for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a show and chanting in support of Hezbollah and Hamas—part of a global trend in which pro-Palestinian speech is conflated with material support for terror. (The band has released a series of statements distancing themselves from calls for violence against civilians and redirecting attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.) 

This episode of On the Nose, hosted by contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, uses the Kneecap film as a jumping-off point for discussing the relationship between language reclamation, nationalism, and resistance. Joining her is scholar of Sephardic studies and Ladino speaker Devin Naar, and Yiddish-language musicians and culture workers Isabel Frey and Ira Temple. They discuss Kneecap’s advocacy for speaking Irish, the place of music and language in both national and decolonial movements, and the connections between such movements and Jewish efforts to preserve Ladino and Yiddish. 

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 Social Media Posts Mentioned

Di fliendeke pave, Isabel Frey

Ira Temple

Ya Ghorbati, Laura Elkeslassy

“Zog nit keyn mol,” Yiddish partisan song

Kneecap speaking out on anti-immigrant riots in Belfast

“How Irish diplomats reacted to Bernadette Devlin's 1969 US tour,” Melissa Baird, RTE

Kneecap on sectarianism