History & Ideas
One of the greatest Jewish historians on the clash of civilizations that played out within the psyches of young Odessan Jews.
The deultimization of the Hebrew language proceeds apace.
A new history of the American right seeks from the first page to alert the reader to what it is not about: the 40th president. But in the end conservatives can’t escape Reagan—nor should they.
As 1970s America unraveled, both radicals posed “uncomfortable questions for comfortable Jews.” What did they ask, and are conditions ripe for similar figures to emerge?
The British writer joins us to think about the ideological battle over the Western tradition and the role Israel plays in that fight.
An impressive new book explores how a community rooted in faith and law has grappled with the preeminent classical rationalist.
Jewish history has always known periods in which double naming existed, always in places in which Jews were relatively well-integrated in the non-Jewish society around them.
An investigation, and a tribute to the 2022 Herzl Prize laureate Roger Hertog.
A Yale political scientist joins us to talk about esoteric writing and how to understand its relation to politics.
Even at the Hebrew University at mid-century, when the likes of Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem walked the halls, Pines stood out for his prodigious knowledge of everything.
“Good Lord, the Christian woman understood!”
The late Midge Decter was a penetrating critic and a powerful writer. Her son joins the podcast this week to reflect on her legacy.
Did the Israeli government kidnap Yemenite Jewish children in the state’s early days? A historian joins us to explain the story, why it’s a myth, and why it won’t go away.
The signal achievement of Genesis is to find heroism not just on the field of battle—where Odysseus, too, excels—but on the hardscrabble ground of everyday life.
