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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The Hollywood Blacklist and Its Jewish Legacy with Glenn Frankel and Margaret Talbot

During the Red Scare and Hollywood blacklist period of the late 1950s, thousands of Americans, many of them Jews, were persecuted for their political beliefs, imperiling democracy. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Glenn Frankel, author of three books exploring the making of iconic American movies, including Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic, discusses the role of studio moguls, some of whom were Jewish; the damage done by the blacklist; the period’s eerie similarities to our own troubled era; and more. Frankel is in conversation with Margaret Talbot, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father’s Twentieth Century. This program is part of a Moment series on antisemitism supported by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.

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Black and Jewish views on Critical Race Theory with Janet Dewart Bell, Mia Brett, Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein

Nothing shines a light on the political divide in the United States more than three words – critical race theory. What is CRT and why has it become a lightning rod issue at school board meetings, state capitols and around dinner tables across the country? Is systemic racism something we should be worried about, even in the Jewish community? What are memory laws and are they a threat to our democracy? And shouldn’t we all feel uncomfortable when learning about uncomfortable issues? Dr. Janet Dewart Bell, author of Race, Rights, and Redemption: The Derrick Bell Lectures on Law and Critical Race Theory and writer Dr. Mia Brett, joins Eric K. Ward, executive director of Western States Center and Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein to discuss how intellectual conversations about the intersection of race and law developed in the 1970s have been misunderstood and led to this latest buzzword tearing communities apart. Our thinkers also discuss how CRT fits into the Black – Jewish conversation.

This program is part of The Wide River Project, a yearlong, joint initiative of Western States Center and Moment that will take a deep dive—and fresh look—into the art, history and issues that both unite and divide the Black and Jewish communities.

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Russian Aggression through the eyes of Eastern Europe with Konstanty Gebert and Amy E. Schwartz

The war Russia is waging against Ukraine has scrambled the lives, politics and demographics of Eastern Europe. Konstanty Gebert, a reporter for Poland’s leading daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborska and a Moment contributing editor, offers encyclopedic historical expertise and keen political insights on what’s happening right now in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and the surrounding lands, from the Baltics to the Balkans. Gerbert is in a wide-ranging conversation with Moment Book and Opinion editor Amy E. Schwartz.

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Memories and Stories of RBG on What Would Have Been her 89th Birthday with Nina Totenberg and Nadine Epstein

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s birthday was March 15th. To remember her, NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, author of the forthcoming book Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, and Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein, author of RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone, will share their memories of the late Supreme Court Justice and discuss her legacy.

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Russia, Vladimir Putin and Ukraine: The Struggle Between Authoritarianism and Democracy with Natan Sharansky and Robert Siegel

Natan Sharansky, born in Donetsk, Ukraine, spent nine years imprisoned in the Soviet Union, becoming the face of the Soviet Jewry movement. He eventually emigrated to Israel and has served as a member of the Knesset, deputy prime minister, chair of the Jewish Agency among other positions. The author of many books including The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, he is currently chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. Sharansky and Robert Siegel, Moment special literary contributor and former senior host of NPR’s All Things Considered discuss Vladimir Putin’s motivations for invading Ukraine, Russian history and politics, possible short- and long-term outcomes of war—and the struggle between authoritarianism and democracy.

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Why Women Need to Pray at the Western Wall with Anat Hoffman, Susan Silverman & Deborah Katchko-Gray

Anat Hoffman, board chair of WOW and board member Rabbi Susan Silverman discuss the history of Women of the Wall, why it’s important to continue demanding equality for women praying freely at this holy site as well as the setbacks and triumphs the movement has faced over the years. Hoffman and Silverman are in conversation with Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray, founder of the Women Cantors’ Network and organizer of the first WOW choir to help lift women’s voices through song.

This program is in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

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Zoominar speakers for Leonard Cohen

God, Sex and Politics in the Lyrics of Leonard Cohen with writers Erica Jong, Marcia Pally and Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Five years after singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s death, his lyrics and legacy still speak to us with special urgency. Marcia Pally, author of From This Broken Hill I Sing to You: God, Sex, and Politics in the Work of Leonard Cohen, and Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying, is in conversation with Moment columnist Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, about Cohen’s probing of Jewish theology and his doctrine of relationship and personal responsibility and its relevance for the present moment. They also explore his legacy through a Jewish, feminist lens.

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How to Stay Safe in America During a Time of Increased Antisemitism with David Delew, Eva Fogelman Richard Priem, in conversation with Ira Forman

The hostage situation at a Texas synagogue, the latest reminder of rising antisemitism in the United States, has sparked fears that other American Jewish communities could become the target of this virulent hate, which Jews in Europe have experienced for decades. Moment Institute Senior Fellow Ira Forman and former U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism is joined in conversation with David Delew, former CEO of the Community Security Trust in the UK, about the ways Europe keeps its Jewish communities safe. Richard Priem, COO and Deputy National Director of Community Security Services in the U.S. discusses what the American Jewish community has learned from Europe, how and why the situation is different, and what steps are being taken to help Jewish institutions and people around the country stay safe. Noted psychologist and PTSD expert Dr. Eva Fogelman talks about the psychological impact of rising antisemitism and how to help Jews feel safe in America.

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

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For the Love of Chocolate with author Michael Leventhal in conversation with Sarah Breger

Who doesn’t love chocolate? Whether you eat it as candy, bake with it to make desserts or simply drink it on a cold day, chocolate has the ability to soothe the soul. But did you know that Jews were an integral part of the chocolate trade centuries ago, helping to introduce chocolate to countries around the world? Michael Leventhal, editor of Babka, Boulou & Blintzes and author of The Chocolate King shares the journey of Jews and chocolate, dating back to the 1600s, a sweet pairing that was Beshert, “meant to be.” Leventhal is in conversation with Moment editor Sarah Breger. This program is sponsored by Moment’s Beshert project.

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Head shots of Nadine Eptein and Eric K. Ward

The Holocaust Through the Lens of Black-Jewish Relations with Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein

Eric K. Ward, executive director of Western States Center and senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Nadine Epstein, Moment editor-in-chief, grapple with the complicated conversations taking place around the Holocaust today and lay out some of the many “channels” of the complex relationship between Blacks and Jews in the U.S., starting in the early 20th century through today. Ward and Epstein introduce The Wide River Project, a yearlong, joint initiative of Western States Center and Moment that will take a deep dive—and fresh look—into the art, history and issues that both unite and divide the Black and Jewish communities.

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