Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchRuth Wisse - Jews and Power
Lord Acton famously proposed that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." In Jews and Power, Ruth Wisse provides an analysis of Jewish history that suggests the exact oppos…
Published on 11 years, 6 months ago
Elliott Abrams - Reconsidering America’s Democracy Agenda
What did the architects of American's democracy agenda get right, and what did they get wrong? What do more recent developments teach us about hopes for democracy in the Arab world and their place in…
Published on 11 years, 6 months ago
Daniel Gordis - Menachem Begin: Israel’s Jewish Prime Minister
Reviled as a fascist demagogue by his great rival David Ben-Gurion, venerated by Israel's underclass, the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a proud Jew but not a conventionally religious on…
Published on 11 years, 6 months ago
Shai Held - Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Call of Transcendence
In the popular imagination, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is remembered for his involvement in civil rights, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and the cause of Soviet Jewry. But, as Rabbi Shai Held demon…
Published on 11 years, 6 months ago
Leora Batnitzky - Is Judaism a Religion?
Nineteenth century political emancipation brought citizenship rights to European Jews. In How Judaism Became a Religion, Leora Batnitzky explores how this new political reality affected Jewish philo…
Published on 11 years, 6 months ago
William Kristol - American Foreign Policy and the State of Israel
The United States has been a strong supporter of Israel. Is that likely to continue? How do changes over the last few years in the Middle East affect the US-Israel relationship? To what extent are di…
Published on 11 years, 7 months ago