Jonathan Silver
Jonathan Silver is the senior director of Tikvah Ideas, where he is also the Warren R. Stern Senior Fellow of Jewish Civilization. The editor of Mosaic, he is also the host of the Tikvah Podcast on which he has hosted hundreds of writers, rabbis, educators, military officers, artists, and political figures, including members of Israel’s Knesset, the U.S. Senate, and the prime minister of Israel.
Podcast: Rick Richman on History and Devotion
The author of And None Shall Make Them Afraid stops by to talk about his new book and how history has a role to play in forming devotion to the Jewish people.
Watch Mosaic's Dramatic Reading of "The Dawning of the Day"
Watch our recording of the modern Israeli classic. Then stick around for the discussion with Israeli novelist Ruby Namdar and American rabbi Daniel Bouskila.
The Best Books of 2022, Chosen by Mosaic Authors
Featuring wars, peacemakers, two cultures, pogroms, plays, four ages, wild problems, caves, magic, letters, American conservatives, liberal parents, radical children, and more.
Who Is Pierre Manent?
One of the world’s greatest living political philosophers reflects on his intellectual formation, and how he sees Europe, Israel, and America today.
The Mythography of Tel Aviv
Shared myths reveal something elemental about the people who sustain them. A scholar of cultural memory describes the layers of myth that illuminate Israel’s quintessentially modern city.
Podcast: Yoav Sorek, David Weinberg, and Jonathan Silver on What Jewish Magazines Are For
A conversation about how small magazines develop and publish big Jewish ideas.
Watch Yossi Klein Halevi Discuss His Movie "Kaddish"
The Israeli writer joined us last week to talk about growing up in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and the movie made about him and his father.
Watch Our Conversation on Meir Kahane, Jacob Taubes, and the American Jewish Frustration with Boredom
Join Samuel Goldman, J.J. Kimche, and Sara Yael Hirschhorn for a discussion about Kahane, Taubes, and the enduring troubles of American Jewish liberalism.
Daniel Gordis and Asael Abelman on the Personality of the New Jew
Two top Israeli observers examine the dominant Jewish personalities in Israel today, and how they compare to the ideas of pre-state Zionist writers.
Michael Doran and Ze'ev Maghen Think about Iran and its Revolutionary Regime
With a new nuclear deal looming, two experts met to discuss what it means, and to think more broadly about the nature of Iran’s radical leadership.
Watch Mosaic's Dramatic Reading of Isaac Babel’s “Red Cavalry”
Watch our recording of the classic Russian Jewish stories. Then stick around for the discussion with Natan Sharansky, Ruth Wisse, and Gary Saul Morson.
The Best Books of 2021, Chosen by Mosaic Authors (Part I)
Five of our writers pick several favorites each, featuring a duke’s children, Jewish treasures, zealots and emancipators, revolts, dual allegiances, spies, and more.
Ethel Rosenberg’s Mythic Innocence
The author of “The Eternal Return of Ethel Rosenberg” joins us for a discussion about his subject’s unending—and false—air of innocence.
Ben Sasse and Rich Goldberg Discuss 9/11, Afghanistan, and Civic Amnesia
The senator joins our foreign-policy columnist to talk about America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and how the nation’s short memory imperils its security.
Rama Burshtein and Meir Soloveichik Talk "Fill the Void"
The Israeli director and the American rabbi team up to discuss her groundbreaking film about marriage and Jewish life.
What the Future Holds for Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Conversation
A video of a discussion earlier this month with the Mosaic columnist Eli Spitzer and Sarah Rindner about the former’s attention-grabbing argument about Modern Orthodox Judaism.
Was Menachem Begin a Founder of Israel?
Israel’s sixth prime minister was a leader of consequence and achievement. But how does he relate to Israel’s origins?
What the Current Situation Requires
We’re living in a period of disintegration in which the cultural and political bedrock is shifting beneath us. How should a magazine like Mosaic meet this moment?
The Death and Potential Rebirth of the Liberal Self: A Discussion
Modern freedoms leave us wanting more. The author of our monthly essay joins us and a noted rabbi to talk about how conversion came to be an antidote to liberal restlessness.
Two Views of Jews and Free Speech
Samuel Goldman and Ruth Wisse tackle Jewish attitudes toward free speech, social media, and the tendency of American Jews to support ideologies that harm the Jewish community.
The Return of Paganism and the Desecration of Self-Government
A Jewish prayer for a great, grieving nation.
On Public Purposes of Private Schools
The Supreme Court’s ruling this week will help mend America’s frayed culture by strengthening its religious institutions. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
Podcast: Dru Johnson, Jonathan Silver, and Robert Nicholson on the New Center for Hebraic Thought
On the opening of a new academic institution devoted to study of the Hebrew Bible for its moral and political wisdom.
The Obligations of Auschwitz
My grandfather, who survived five Nazi camps, built in their shadow a life that consisted above all of children and grandchildren. The same is demanded of us all.
The Book of Esther as a Manual for Jewish Survival
The political vision and theological insight of Esther speak compellingly to the dilemmas and opportunities of the present age.