This Week’s Guests: Avital Chizik-Goldschmidt & Batya Ungar-Sargon

A Jewish man hit in the face with a brick. The wig of a religiously observant woman pulled off her head. A mother and her baby assaulted in the street.

These incidents took place not in 19th-century Russia or prewar Germany but in 2019 Brooklyn, home to one of the densest Jewish populations in America. The recent spike of anti-Semitic attacks against the ultra-Orthodox, New York City’s most visible Jews, is an alarming sign in a nation already experiencing rising levels of anti-Semitic hatred. Yet in this case, the mainstream press and many on the political left, groups otherwise vocally worried about racism and bigotry in America, seem unconcerned.

In this podcast, Tikvah’s Jonathan Silver is joined by two Jewish journalists, Avital Chizik-Goldschmidt, the life/features editor at the Forward, and Batya Ungar-Sargon, its opinion editor, who, by contrast, have been honest and clear-eyed about these attacks and given them the attention they deserve. In this conversation, Chizik-Goldschmidt and Ungar-Sargon discuss the nature of the recent violence, what might be causing it, and the ideology that blinds so many in the media and among progressives to what might amount to a slow-moving pogrom.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble, the original Broadway cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof, and “Above the Ocean” by Evan MacDonald.

Background

Every Thursday, the Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic will bring to your car/earbuds/home stereo/Alexa the latest in our efforts to advance Jewish thought. For more on the new podcast, check out our inaugural post here.

If you have thoughts about the podcast that you’d like to share, ideas for future guests and topics, or any other form of feedback, just send us an email at [email protected]. We’re grateful for your support, and we look forward to a new year of great conversations on Jewish essays and ideas.