I have been thinking a great deal this week about Jewish unity and how now is the time to come together. There is nothing antisemites enjoy seeing more than Jews arguing with each other over who is an authentic Jew or which ideological persuasion produces more antisemites. The more we’re divided, the less likely we are to come together and fight back against those who would like to see us marginalized, chased out of public spaces and universities, boycotted, attacked, and worse.
That’s why I was especially happy to have received an assignment from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (where I was managing editor in the late 1990s and early 2000s) and a group called the Z3 Project, which bills itself as “reimagining Diaspora-Israel relations.” It was a last-minute assignment, and I bulldozed through six interviews in less than a week, but it was a pleasure to speak to so many creative, brilliant Jewish thought leaders who are getting together December 11 for a conference on building Jewish unity.
So far, two of the interviews have run and I’ll link to more as they appear. Full disclosure: This was “sponsored content,” which means Z3 paid JTA’s parent company money to hire me to do these interviews. However, I was not told what to ask these speakers and I used my knowledge of Jewish issues to come up with, I hope, good questions. The interviews were edited by JTA’s editorial staff. They are a great deal more extensive than the 1,000 words I was given, so I’m hoping I can run the full interviews in the form of podcasts in the future.
Roya Hakakian
Roya Hakakian is a poet, author, journalist and advocate for refugees. Every one of these roles is an offshoot of her own life experience as a child and teenager in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran and as an immigrant to the United States. Her poetry appears in many anthologies around the world, her books take a candid look at life under Iran’s fundamentalist Islamic regime and her documentaries tackle important issues like underage children in wars around the world. In our interview, we discuss what people can do to support the current uprising in Iran and the role poetry can play in revolutions.
“Revolutions begin with certain social demands, but what fuels them, what keeps them going, is the power of the rhetoric poets and writers pour into them. That’s what literature has always been for me—a tool for grand ideas and grand expressions and, possibly, a tool for changing society for the better.” — Roya Hakakian
You can read my entire interview with Roya Hakakian here.
Matan Kahana
Matan Kahana was an F-16 fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, so he’s not one to back down from a difficult mission. When he entered politics and served as Israel’s minister of religious services in Naftali Bennett’s coalition government, Kahana gave himself a politically perilous assignment: to loosen the grip of haredi Orthodox rabbis on Israeli religious life. He pushed for significant reforms within Israel’s religious institutions and kashrut certifications and appointed women to religious councils. The Israeli press called his actions “revolutionary.” Now a Knesset member for Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, Kahana said he will fight to temper the far right and keep his reforms intact.
In our interview, Kahana talks about his own religious background, why he chose to take on a mission of reform, and how Israelis and the diaspora can find common ground.
“You can’t force anyone to believe in God. And you can’t force anyone to be a religious Jew. And I believe that if we do as much as we can to reduce forcing people, they will come by themselves. This is what I tried to do, to reduce religious laws, and hopefully, they will try to be more and more close to Judaism.” — Matan Kahana
You can read my entire interview with Matan Kahana here.
Trends in Jewish Nonfiction
When I’m not writing about Jewish issues, I’m also a book editor who specializes in memoir, but also edit all genres (except poetry!). I’m happiest when my worlds collide and I edit Jewish-themed books. I was recently asked by Leah Eichler and Susan Catto of Esoterica Magazine to talk to them about how I work as a developmental editor. Toward the end of our half-hour talk, I discuss trends in Jewish fiction and how the big publishers still are not raising up the voices that need to be heard in these challenging times for Jews. I do name a few upcoming young Jewish authors who are working with smaller presses to make sense of the rise in antisemitism. You can watch the entire interview here.
Thank you all for subscribing to my newsletter and I’m hoping to publish it more frequently! Meanwhile, Shabbat Shalom to all.
Was such a delight to have you on the show!