SAPIR Conversations

For many Jewish and Zionist students, faculty, and administrators, the tumultuous year following October 7 meant navigating campus life amid protests, encampments, lockdowns, and boycotts. What was once a familiar academic environment had become a place of sustained tension and, at times, outright hostility.

Over the last 20 months, federal authorities have taken increasingly assertive action to address this collegiate climate, citing concerns about a rise in campus antisemitism. Lawsuits, congressional subpoenas, threats of funding cuts, and the detention of foreign students have been welcomed by some in the Jewish community as long overdue demonstrations of resolve. Others, however, warn that these measures risk undermining the pluralistic norms that have long sustained Jewish life in higher education – and, worse, might even breed resentment against Jews in the long-term.

American Jews and friends of the community face a consequential question: do government crackdowns ultimately safeguard, or undermine, the interests of Jewish and Zionist students, faculty, and the broader academic community?

This SAPIR Debate took place live at the Israel on Campus Coalition National Leadership Summit on August 4, 2026 in Washington D.C. It featured Noah Pollak and Jonathan Rauch, and was moderated by Aviva Klompas.

Johns Hopkins political scientist Yascha Mounk joined Bret Stephens to discuss his new essay, “Censorship Won't Help the Jews,” in the (Fixing) America issue of SAPIR.

Read Yascha’s essay here: https://sapirjournal.org/fixing-america/2026/censorship-wont-help-the-jews/

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Literary scholar Ruth Wisse and publisher Adam Bellow join Rabbi David Wolpe for a lively discussion on American Jewish literature, 50 years on from the year Saul Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam joined Bret Stephens to discuss his new essay, “Islam in America,” in the (Fixing) America issue of SAPIR.

Read Reihan’s essay here: https://sapirjournal.org/fixing-america/2026/islam-in-america/

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Anne Neuberger joined Bret Stephens to discuss her new essay, “The Jewish Case for Public Service,” in the (Fixing) America issue of SAPIR.Read Neuberger’s essay here: https://sapirjournal.org/fixing-america/2026/the-jewish-case-for-public-service/

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Tomorrow, June 10, SAPIR launches its latest issue, on (Fixing) America. An exciting set of contributors including political scientist Yascha Mounk, former deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger, Brandeis historian Jonathan Sarna, and many others explore this era in American Jewish life, on the eve of the nation's Semiquincentennial.

Is America in decline? Can America become a resilient country like Israel? What does it mean to be living through the end of the postwar era? In the latest episode of SAPIR Conversations, Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens joins Rabbi David Wolpe to preview the upcoming issue.

Read SAPIR: sapirjournal.org

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Are we are venturing into the twilight of an American Jewish era? 

In a recent SAPIR essay, Dr. Mijal Bitton makes the case that it’s time to reimagine Jewish flourishing for a new age -- one based on a Sephardic model of preservation rather than the liberal Ashkenazi dream of social acceptance, which defined the previous century. In a wide-ranging conversation, host Rabbi David Wolpe joins Bitton to explore whether the next century will be as welcoming to our descendants as it was to our ancestors. And how to create a more resilient Jewish future in America.

Read Mijal’s essay in SAPIR, The Future is Sephardic: https://sapirjournal.org/aspiration-ii/2026/the-future-is-sephardic/

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Men are drifting, disconnected, and increasingly absent from communal life, argues longtime Jewish communal professional Adam Teitelbaum in his new essay, Boyz II Mensches. What does this mean for Jewish life, starting with the bar mitzvah?

On April 16, Rabbi David Wolpe sat down with Adam for a live virtual conversation where they explored how the bar mitzvah lost its power as a profound rite of passage, how to reclaim this foundational period in a boy’s life, and how to help Jewish boys eventually become Jewish men.

Read Adam’s essay in SAPIR, Boyz II Mensches: https://sapirjournal.org/aspiration-ii/2026/boyz-ii-mensches/

Watch the interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXczsCczOGg

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove  

Hatred of Israel has become a symptom of what plagues LGBTQ politics today, argues Eve Barlow in her SAPIR essay, Queers for Zion. What happens when a liberation movement loses sight of its original cause? And how can LGBTQ Jews fight back?

On March 19, Eve Barlow joined SAPIR Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens for a live virtual discussion about Israel, LGBTQ activism, the confounding emergence of the “Queers for Palestine” movement – and the profound contractions it exposes.
Read Eve’s essay in SAPIR, Queers for Zion: https://sapirjournal.org/aspiration-ii/2026/queers-for-zion/

Questions or comments? Send us a note at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove

Should it matter whether Yetziat Mitzrayim — the exodus of Israelites from Egypt, the defining story of the Passover seder that Jews around the world have retold for centuries — actually happened in the way the Torah describes?

Twenty-five years ago, Rabbi David Wolpe posed this very question to his congregants — and it caused quite a stir. Now, a quarter century later, he sat down with Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman of Bar Ilan University, one of today’s leading biblical scholars, to talk about the deeper truths behind the Exodus. Together, they probe the historicity of the biblical account, the enduring meaning of the story, and the timeless legacy of a narrative that is, ultimately, the closest approximation to a Jewish language of Aspiration.

In that spirit, we hope this wide-ranging SAPIR Conversation enriches your Pesach Seder. From the SAPIR family to yours, wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Passover and Chag Sameach!

Read the latest issue of SAPIR on ASPIRATION: sapirjournal.org

Read Dara Horn's essay, "How To Teach the Jewish Story": How to Teach the Jewish Story – SAPIR Journal

Music from #Uppbeat: ⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/theo-gerard/monsieur-groove