How Theater Transforms the World with Mandy Patinkin, Kathryn Grody and Gail Merrifield Papp

Join Merrifield Papp, author of the memoir Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at The Public Theater, and longtime friends Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody for a conversation about “how The Public Theater became a transformative beacon for social change and of the couple who created it,” and the Yiddishkeit that bonded Papp, Patinkin and Grody.

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Exploring Today’s World Through Poetry with Richard Michelson & Amy E. Schwartz

Join Michelson, author of Sleeping as Fast as I Can, and Moment Book and Opinion Editor Amy E. Schwartz for a conversation about “how one acts responsibly in a world that is at once beautiful and full of suffering-balanced precariously on the edge of despair and ruin?”

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Beyond Bagels and Lox: Writing about Jewish Lives in the 21st Century with Allegra Goodman and Amy E. Schwartz—in celebration of the Moment-Karma Short Fiction Contest

We discuss how Judaism is and is not portrayed in fiction today and about the influence of religion, spirituality, community and assimilation on today’s Jewish author

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If All the Seas Were Ink with Ilana Kurshan

If All the Seas Were Ink is a memoir of a young, recently divorced American-Israeli, living in Jerusalem, whose personal struggles lead her to take on the practice of Daf Yomi, reading a page from the Talmud every day for seven years. Kurshan’s inspiring memoir about learning how to put one foot in front of the other is a winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. In conversation with Moment book review editor Amy E. Schwartz.

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The Changing Relationship Between American Jews and Israel with Eric Alterman and Dan Raviv

Join Eric Alterman, author of We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel, for a look back at the early years of this important relationship, how support for the Jewish state has changed with each new generation of Jews in America.

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The Story of Art Rupe and Specialty Records with Nadine Epstein and Billy Vera

Art Rupe, who died in April at the age of 104, was an independent record producer known for launching the musical careers of Lloyd Price, Little Richard, Sam Cooke and others, paving the way for Black music to crossover to White audiences and the new genre of rock n’ roll. Moment editor-in-chief and Billy Vera, a singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, Grammy Award winning music historian and author of Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story is in conversation about Rupe’s impoverished childhood in a Pennsylvania town, his early affinity for gospel music, and how he turned down a scholarship to become a rabbi and instead headed to Hollywood, his legendary career, life philosophy and more.

This program is in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.

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The Jews of Iran: Antisemitism and the Great Exodus with Roya Hakakian and Sarah Breger

While Jews have lived in Iran for centuries, today’s Jewish community numbers around 10,000, down from 100,000 Jews prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Roya Hakakian, author of Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran and A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious, shares what life was like prior to the revolution, the antisemitism that caused most Jews to flee and what life is like now for the Iranian Jewish community. Hakakian is in conversation with Moment editor Sarah Breger.

This program is part of a Moment series on antisemitism supported by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.

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