Observation ·
“Get the Jew”: The Crown Heights Riot Revisited
By Michael Pack, Elliot Kaufman, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Jonathan Silver
Jonathan Silver is the editor of Mosaic, the host of the Tikvah Podcast, the Warren R. Stern Senior Fellow of Jewish Civilization, and the Chief Programming officer of Tikvah.
Latest Content
Response ·
Watch or Read Meir Soloveichik and Joseph Dweck Discuss the Worlds and Moods of Ashkenaz and Sepharad
By Meir Soloveichik, Joseph Dweck, Jonathan SilverThe Jewish world is dynamic and diverse, and prayers, ceremonies, foods, and other traditions often diverge radically between different Jewish groups. In his feature essay this month, Rabbi Meir Sol...
Response ·
Watch and Read Scott Abramson and Haviv Rettig Gur Discuss Israeli Commissions of Inquiry and October 7
By Scott Abramson, Haviv Rettig Gur, Jonathan SilverWhy did Israel’s intelligence agencies fail to prepare for the attacks of October 7? Why were warnings ignored? Why didn’t the defensive measures in place work? Could the IDF have responded more quick...
Response ·
Watch Andrew Koss and David N. Myers Discuss Whether Jewish Studies Has Turned against the Jews
By Andrew Koss, Jonathan SilverAs university campuses witnessed an eruption of anti-Semitism this year, scholars of Jewish studies were for the most part strangely silent. In his May 2024 feature essay , Mosaic senior editor And...
Response ·
Watch Gary Saul Morson and Jacob Howland Discuss the Dostoevsky Problem
By Gary Saul Morson, Jacob Howland, Jonathan SilverIn this month’s feature Mosaic essay , the literary scholar Gary Saul Morson argues that the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky presents a conundrum: On the one hand, he was the great writer of...
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2023, Part II
By Andrew Koss, Jonathan Silver, Meir SoloveichikCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
What Kissinger Really Thought
By Elliott Abrams, Norman Podhoretz, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
How Israel Got Caught by Surprise in 1973 and 2023
By Michael Doran, Jonathan SilverThe Hamas terror attacks of October 7 took place almost 50 years to the day after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. As in 1973, the surprise assault will have far-reaching consequences for the Israe...
Response ·
How the Jewish State Became So Important to the Self-Conception of the Arabs
By Ghaith al-Omari, Jonathan SilverOn September 28, Mosaic hosted a conversation between Aboubakr—the author of September’s feature essay on the role of the Nakba in the Arab imagination—and Ghaith al–Omari, a leading analyst of Pale...
Monthly Essay ·
The Humiliation of Jews Is the Point
By Jonathan SilverGrotesque images of abused Israeli hostages and violations of dead Israeli bodies should remind us of the reality of evil and the necessity of countering it.
Observation ·
Podcast: Rick Richman on History and Devotion
By Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic, Jonathan Silver, Rick RichmanCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Watch Mosaic’s Dramatic Reading of “The Dawning of the Day”
By The Editors, Jonathan Silver, Daniel BouskilaA simple Jerusalem laundryman is tested by a vanished voice from his past and the destruction of his treasured way of life Set in and around Jerusalem’s famous shuk, and featuring three top-notch acto...
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2022, Chosen by Mosaic Authors
By Elliott Abrams, Tamara Berens, Andrew Koss, Daniel Polisar, Neil Rogachevsky, Sarah Rindner, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Who Is Pierre Manent?
By Pierre Manent, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
The Mythography of Tel Aviv
By Maoz Azaryahu, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Podcast: Yoav Sorek, David Weinberg, and Jonathan Silver on What Jewish Magazines Are For
By Yoav Sorek, David M. Weinberg, Jonathan Silver, Tikvah Podcast at MosaicCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Watch Yossi Klein Halevi Discuss His Movie “Kaddish”
By Yossi Klein Halevi, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Watch Our Conversation on Meir Kahane, Jacob Taubes, and the American Jewish Frustration with Boredom
By Samuel Goldman, Jonathan SilverMeir Kahane and Jacob Taubes were prophets of an unsettling vision. To them, human history did not follow a trajectory of incremental progress, where things generally improve over time. Rather, Jewish...
Observation ·
Daniel Gordis and Asael Abelman on the Personality of the New Jew
By Daniel Gordis, Asael Abelman, Jonathan Silver, Tikvah Podcast at MosaicCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
Michael Doran and Ze’ev Maghen Think about Iran and its Revolutionary Regime
By Michael Doran, Jonathan SilverA new nuclear deal with Iran seems imminent, which means that it’s time to try to understand how its leaders see themselves and the ends they serve. How does Iran’s history, culture, and religion affe...
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.
Response ·
Ethel Rosenberg’s Mythic Innocence
By Harvey Klehr, Jonathan Brent, Jonathan SilverIf you’ve heard about the case against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, you’ve probably heard about it spoken of in stridently critical tones: as an expression of McCarthyite excess, as an expression of Am...
Response ·
Ben Sasse and Rich Goldberg Discuss 9/11, Afghanistan, and Civic Amnesia
By Ben Sasse, Richard Goldberg, Jonathan SilverLast week, in response to Rich Goldberg’s September Mosaic essay on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we convened a discussion on the subject with him, the U.S. senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse, and our...
Observation ·
Rama Burshtein and Meir Soloveichik Talk “Fill the Void”
By Meir Soloveichik, Rama Burshtein, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
What the Future Holds for Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Conversation
By Sarah Rindner, Jonathan Silver, Eli SpitzerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
Was Menachem Begin a Founder of Israel?
By Martin Kramer, Meir Soloveichik, Avi Shilon, Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Observation ·
What the Current Situation Requires
By Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Response ·
The Death and Potential Rebirth of the Liberal Self: A Discussion
By Nathan Shields, Ari Lamm, Jonathan SilverTo discuss our May essay about conversion and liberalism, “The Present, Past, and Prehistory of Conversion,” we invited its author, the composer Nathan Shields, to speak with Mosaic ‘s editor Jonatha...
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 ·
The Return of Paganism and the Desecration of Self-Government
By Jonathan SilverCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
