Monthly Essay ·
What Saul Bellow Saw
By Ruth WisseThe Jewish writer who became America’s most decorated novelist spent his early years prodding the nation’s soul. Then, sensing danger to it, he took up the role of guardian.
Dr. Ruth Wisse
Dr. Ruth R. Wisse is professor emerita of Yiddish and comparative literatures at Harvard and a distinguished senior fellow at Tikvah. Her memoir Free as a Jew: a Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation, chapters of which appeared in Mosaic in somewhat different form, is out from Wicked Son Press.
Latest Content
Observation ·
How the Jews Remain an Eternal People
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Podcast: Ruth Wisse on the Explosion of Anti-Israel Protests on Campus
By Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic, Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
To Do Better in Our Time, We Must Learn What Abraham Cahan Accomplished in His
By Ruth R. WisseHow fortunate that my essay on Abraham Cahan should have quickly achieved its primary purpose of getting us to think again about the man, his work, and his influence. Two historians enrich our discuss...
Monthly Essay ·
The Very Model of a New York Intellectual
By Ruth R. WisseAbraham Cahan was one of America's first great Jewish newspapermen, and set an example of independent thinking that the nation could sorely use today.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2023, Part I
By Elliott Abrams, Cynthia Ozick, Neil Rogachevsky, Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Logic of Jewish History
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
The Presence of Peretz: A Discussion with Ruth Wisse and Andrew Koss
By Ruth R. Wisse, Andrew KossListen Read This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Andrew Koss : I’m Andrew Koss, the senior editor of Mosaic , and I’m here with Ruth R. Wisse, who has written Mosaic ‘s August essay...
Monthly Essay ·
I.L. Peretz and the Golden Chain
By Ruth R. WisseThe great Yiddish writer envisioned an unbroken transmission of Jewishness through the generations, from biblical prophets to talmudic sages to literary giants like Heine—and himself.
Observation ·
The Biden Administration’s Anti-Semitism Blindspot
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Monthly Essay ·
The Sage and Scribe of Modern Israel
By Ruth R. WisseThe novelist and rabbi Haim Sabato infuses tradition into fiction as well as any of the Yiddish greats. The difference? His work is unencumbered by modern angst.
Observation ·
The Asian American Challenge to Affirmative Action—and to American Jews
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Why, Despite Good Intentions, Ken Burns’s “The U.S. and the Holocaust” Fails
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
What Can American Jews Do?
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Is the Writing on the Wall for America’s Jews?
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Intensity of the Abortion Debate Is a Sign of America’s Vitality
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
American Jewry’s Stunted Sons
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Johanna Kaplan’s Serious American Jewish Comedy
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
What the Children of American Jewish Communists Needed, and What They Owe
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2021, Chosen by Mosaic Authors (Part I)
By Elliott Abrams, Richard Goldberg, Neil Rogachevsky, Jonathan Silver, Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Canaries in the Coal Mine: Dara Horn and Bari Weiss
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
“All the World Wants the Jews Dead: An Overwrought View from the Peak at the Bottom”
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Crackpot Ideas of Yiddish Fiction’s Most Improbable Scenarios Become Real
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
A Threat Assessment for American Jewry, Part Two
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
A Threat Assessment for American Jewry, Part One
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Two Favorite Poems, and How they Define Israel and America
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Hounding of Noam Pianko
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Two Views of Jews and Free Speech
By Samuel Goldman, Ruth R. Wisse, Jonathan SilverOn April 20 Mosaic convened a discussion about the film Mighty Ira and Jews and free speech with Samuel Goldman, the author of our April essay on the same subjects, and Ruth Wisse, the regular obser...
Observation ·
How Herzl’s Wardrobe Galvanized the Jews
By Ruth R. WisseCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Chaim Grade’s Eternal Argument
By Ruth R. WisseA people’s culture is made up not of the entire body of literature it has produced but of that part of its legacy that is being continually absorbed by later generations. For centuries, Jews have mast...
