Norman Podhoretz is one of the preeminent intellectuals of the modern era: editor of Commentary for 35 years, master literary critic, piercing political thinker and polemicist, fearless defender of American and Jewish interests. After an early collection of essays, his first full-length book, Making It, was published in 1967—and it was an intellectual earthquake. A boldly […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: A Minor Semi-Festival Chapter 2: The Politicization of Tu B’Shvat Chapter 3: Atavistic Environmentalism Chapter 4: Judaism and Nature Until recently, Tu B’Shvat—the Jewish “new year” for trees—was a minor observance on the Jewish calendar. It isn’t […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: A History of the Jewish Vote Chapter 2: The New Orthodox Vote Chapter 3: The Pro-Israel Vote Chapter 4: Disrupting the Jewish Vote American Jews have long been one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting blocs. […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: The Left and Right on Liberty Chapter 2: Theory and Practice in America Chapter 3: Stations on the Long Road Chapter 4: The Jew in Society Chapter 5: Challenges, Pitfalls, and the Journey to Freedom Lamenting the […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: Politics Unmasked Chapter 2: Orthodoxy vs. Gnosticism Chapter 3: Two Cheers for Capitalism Chapter 4: What Irving Kristol Means Today Chapter 5: Judaism, Utopianism, and Ideology Irving Kristol was truly one-of-a-kind. He had a capacious mind and […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: Liberal Education and Its Betrayal Chapter 2: Values and Assumptions of a Liberal Education Chapter 3: Religious Faith and a Liberal Education Chapter 4: A Liberal Education in the Jewish State In this podcast Tikvah senior director Jonathan […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher.  Chapter 1: Jews in Early Modern Dutch Society Chapter 2: Rembrandt’s Encounter with the Jews Chapter 3: Rembrandt’s Painting of Moses Receiving the Luchot Chapter 4: Tolkien and the Jews Chapter 5: The Dialectical Nature of the Jewish People […]

American Jews are facing a demographic crisis. An aging population, low fertility rate, and high rate of intermarriage combine to reveal an exceptionally weak desire to raise up a new generation of Jewish Americans. In this 2005 Commentary article, sociologist Jack Wertheimer explores and explains this phenomenon and asks whether there is anything that can […]

Why don’t Jews like the Christians who like them? Renowned political scientist James Q. Wilson explores this question in a 2008 article for City Journal. He describes evangelical support for Zionism and the Jewish people, Jewish distrust of evangelical supporters, and even the Jewish penchant to ally with hostile groups. The explanation lies, Wilson suspects, […]

In this 1955 book chapter, the eminent American sociologist Nathan Glazer profiles the American Jewish community in its first three hundred years. He describes the experiences of Sephardi and Ashkenazi immigrants to America: their professions, educations, family life, and economic mobility. In this discussion, spanning from the early colonial days to the post–World War II […]