American Jews After the Fall

The American Jewish story has been one of extraordinary success.

For generations, Jews flourished in the United States in ways unmatched anywhere else in the diaspora. We entered every corner of American life — business, academia, politics, media, science, culture — and became deeply woven into the fabric of the country.

Many of us came to assume this was simply the way things were.

Then came October 7th — and the reaction that followed on college campuses, in political movements, across social media and within institutions that many American Jews once considered welcoming homes.

It forced difficult questions into the open: How secure is Jewish life in America? Is the hostility we're witnessing temporary, or does it reflect deeper changes?

My guest today is Franklin Foer, a staff writer at The Atlantic. One of America's leading political and cultural commentators, he is the author of the widely discussed essay "The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending."

I hope you’ll tune in to hear — or watch — this season's final episode wherever you get your podcasts.

Until next time, this is “In These Times.”

—Rabbi Ammi Hirsch