Editor's Pick ·
The Jews Who Defended Slavery, and Those Who Risked Everything to Fight against It
Abolitionism wasn’t welcoming to Jewish sympathizers.
Allan Arkush
Allan Arkush is the senior contributing editor of the Jewish Review of Books and professor of Judaic studies and history at Binghamton University.
Latest Content
Editor's Pick ·
When Germany’s Foremost Liberal Scholar Turned against the Jews
Heinrich von Treitschke’s Jewish problem.
Editor's Pick ·
A New Book Laments American Jewish Success and Commitment to Israel
Tablets Shattered.
Editor's Pick ·
The Jewish Financier Who Used His Influence to Get the U.S. to Stand against Anti-Semitism
Jacob Schiff, Russia, and foreign policy.
Editor's Pick ·
The Man Who Foresaw the Rise of German Anti-Semitism
And how he became a reluctant Zionist.
Editor's Pick ·
The Theological Dimensions of Anti-Zionism
A new book charts the deep religious roots of hostility to Jews in the land of Israel.
Editor's Pick ·
A Veteran Rabbi’s Vocal Defense of Religion, America, and Israel
Fighting the “clay-pigeon model of religious life.”
Editor's Pick ·
A French Scholar Tries, and Fails, to Understand Anti-Semitism in America
Jews won’t save themselves by staying out of politics.
Editor's Pick ·
The French Catholic Resistance Operative Who Married the Leader of an Ultra-Orthodox Sect and Helped Rescue Jews in Muslim Lands
Rescuer, convert, rebbetzin, spy.
Editor's Pick ·
David Ben-Gurion’s Political Theory
A state that places the individual front and center.
Editor's Pick ·
Israel’s Canine Pioneer
Rudolphina Menzel’s dogs of war—and of peace.
Editor's Pick ·
Rewriting Israeli, and American Jewish, History to Suit New Prejudices
Eric Alterman’s errors.
Response ·
How World War I Changed the Course of American Zionism
By Allan Arkush, Andrew KossEarlier this week, Mosaic ’s senior editor Andrew Koss spoke with Allan Arkush, the author of our November essay, about the early days of American Zionism, the subject of his piece. Read the transc...
Monthly Essay ·
The Rise of American Zionism
By Allan ArkushShocked by World War I, American Jews turned to Zionism as a way to save their European brethren. Their support came at just the right moment to affect the course of Jewish history.
Editor's Pick ·
What an Ambitious New History Gets Right about Jewish Thinkers—and Wrong about America
Revolutionary Jews.
Editor's Pick ·
Zionism’s Secular Promise of Spiritual Redemption
Is the present moment irredeemable?
Editor's Pick ·
Remembering One Jewish Hero on Israel’s Memorial Day
Israelis remember specific individuals; American Jews experience a sense of collective loss.
Editor's Pick ·
The Rabbi Who Met with Presidents
Isaac Mayer Wise and Zachary Taylor.
Editor's Pick ·
Why Jews Opposed Prohibition, and Why Prohibitionists Became Anti-Semites
“My fight right now is against the Homebrew and the Hebrew.”
Editor's Pick ·
The Old-Country Roots of Zionist Music
And the Yiddish song that embodies shtetl nostalgia.
Editor's Pick ·
To Make Sense of Modern Jewish Civilization, One Must First Ask “What Counts as Jewish?”
Should a Russian sculptor have chosen to carve Herod rather than Ivan the Terrible?
Observation ·
Podcast: Allan Arkush on Ahad Ha’am and “The Jewish State and Jewish Problem” (Rebroadcast)
By Allan Arkush, Tikvah Podcast at MosaicCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Editor's Pick ·
A Literary Exploration of American Jews’ Relationship with Israel Makes a Distasteful Mockery of Zionism
Joshua Cohen’s The Netanyahus.
Editor's Pick ·
The Earliest Memorial to the Zionist Movement’s Fallen Soldiers
And its translation into German.
Editor's Pick ·
When Portugal Became a Magnet for Jewish Refugees
A very temporary haven.
Editor's Pick ·
So Long as Jews Keep Discussing Their Purpose as a People, the World Will Be Better Off
What are Jews for?
Editor's Pick ·
How Vladimir Jabotinsky Went from Russian Intellectual to Zionism’s Loyal Opposition
Never a pussycat.
Editor's Pick ·
Martin Buber’s Thought Is Not Likely to Experience a Resurgence
That’s not a bad thing, but a sensitive new biography is still worth reading.
Editor's Pick ·
Remembering Ruth Gavison, a Great Zionist Thinker
Deeply rooted, but with cosmopolitan horizons.
Editor's Pick ·
The Story of Holocaust Refugees in Tehran Teaches a Lesson in Jewish Solidarity
Strong enough to break through post-Zionist cynicism.