Enduring through the ages of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, and up to the present day, the Jews are history’s undying people. Somehow the family of Abraham and Sarah grew into a nation that, endowed with leaders and Law, has outlasted the mighty kingdoms and empires of every age. How do the Jews remain an eternal people? Given the ongoing challenges of the perpetuation of American culture and the American way of life, what strategies does Jewish history offer that can inspire the United States? What can Americans learn from the Jewish experience of transmission against all odds? A Harvard professor emerita and 2021 Herzl Prize laureate reflects on the meaning of Jewish history and Jewish eternity.

A View from America
Roughly 2,500 years ago, a Jewish member of the Persian royal court left his station to return to Jerusalem and lead his people in rebuilding what had once been their ancient capital. The story of Nehemiah offers a template for our own age. Many Americans—including growing numbers of American Jews—sense that we are living in a time of transition. One era of American history is coming to a close, and we must fight to preserve the way of life that our fathers made possible for us, even as we must also reform and establish new American institutions. In this moment of declining social trust and emboldened anti-Semitism, one of American conservatism’s leading thinkers looks to our biblical past in search of a path toward national and religious rejuvenation.

A View from Europe
We all looked with horror at the scenes that recently came out of Amsterdam—in which a modern-day pogrom overtook the streets of one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan capitals. But the anti-Semitic outburst in the Netherlands did not arise out of nowhere. Melanie Phillips has spent years analyzing the situation of Europe’s Jews. She will join us to offer her bracing conclusions about the situation facing the Jewish diaspora, and whether civilized Europe can be saved from the scourge of Jew-hatred.

A View from Israel
What other war is Israel’s confrontation against Iran and its proxy forces most like? Is it like the Six-Day War of 1967, in which Israel confronted multiple coordinated Arab armies simultaneously? Is it like the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which took place fifty years nearly to the day before the Hamas attacks of October 7? Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States and distinguished historian Michael Oren argues that the attitude and strategic ambition of Israel’s adversaries make Israel’s 1948 War of Independence the most apt comparison to the current conflict. Then, as now, Israel’s enemies aspire to more than border adjustments and land swaps: they desire the eradication of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel altogether. And that means that the ultimate aim of the current war is nothing less than the reaffirmation of Jewish independence.

The American academy has long harbored hostile attitudes toward the Jewish state and the American experiment, and our schools and universities have recently become ground zero in the battle of ideas over Zionism and America’s longstanding support of Israel. In this special live episode of his popular Call Me Back podcast, Dan Senor will speak to higher education leader Dr. William Inboden, Jewish rights advocate and lawyer Kenneth L. Marcus, and Tikvah alumnus and leading Jewish student activist Shabbos Kestenbaum about the future of higher education and the intellectual, philanthropic, and political blueprint for returning America’s universities to their highest purposes.

The U.S.-Israel alliance stands at a crossroads. It did not take long for the Biden administration’s early post-October 7 support to give way to increasing tensions, disagreements, and even the threat of withholding U.S. arms. And in January, the Trump administration will take the helm and chart its own course in U.S.-Israel relations. In conversation with Middle East expert and Tikvah Chairman Elliott Abrams, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley will analyze the current state of the American-Israeli alliance, explore how to strengthen the essential bond between our two nations, and offer her thoughts on what
steps the next president and Congress should take to work with Israel to defeat our mutual enemies.

In his groundbreaking book, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt exposed how a new “phone-based childhood” was causing an epidemic of anxiety and despair among children and young adults. But what societal shifts lay at the root of this tech-induced crisis? Through his recent work with the Jewish Parents Forum and the Jewish community more broadly, Dr. Haidt has begun to focus on the ways that the decline of strong communities—especially religious communities—warps the process of moral formation and exposes children to the worst dangers of modern technology. In conversation with JPF’s executive director, Caroline Bryk, Dr. Haidt will explore what faith-based communities can bring to the effort to provide kids with a more humane childhood. Dr. Haidt and Ms. Bryk will discuss how Jewish schools have been leading the way in crafting better tech policies for students, showing that Jews can make a national impact by providing a blueprint for other communities struggling with these questions.

We have all been unnerved by the rise in anti-Semitism in America over the last year. But are the frequently-heard laments about the end of American Jewry’s “golden age” true? Jews once aspired to assimilate into America’s melting pot, hollowing out their distinctive identity along the way. But over the last year, we have witnessed countless Jews respond to our post-10/7 world with a resurgence of Jewish courage, commitment, and confidence, a more unabashed Zionism, and a thirst for a Jewish faith more deeply rooted in tradition. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik will reflect on this important shift in the Jewish community (exemplified in many ways by the evolution of Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld) and ask whether American Jewry’s best days are actually ahead of us.