Ivo H. Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Robert Siegel, Moment special literary contributor and former senior host of NPR’s All Things Considered, discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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.
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.
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.
Angela Merkel, who just stepped down as German chancellor after a remarkable16 years, has redefined the image of a woman leader. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Merkel worked as a research chemist before entering politics and rising to become the unofficial leader of the West. Award-winning journalist Kati Marton, author of The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel, shares how Merkel helped shape Germany into what some call the world’s moral center, and explores her legacy—including allowing Middle Eastern refugees to enter Germany while the world looked away. She also discusses the rise of the far right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and Merkel’s complicated relationships with other world leaders such as Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Marton is in conversation with Amy E. Schwartz, Moment’s Book & Opinion Editor.
Henry Kissinger laid the groundwork for American diplomacy in the Middle East almost 50 years ago through his efforts to end the Yom Kippur War and his “shuttle diplomacy” with Israel, Egypt and Syria.
In his new book, Master of the Game, Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under President Obama, takes an in-depth look at how American diplomacy operates behind closed doors and how Kissinger’s design for Middle East peacemaking remains key to brokering peace in the region. Indyk is in conversation with former CBS News correspondent and Moment contributor Dan Raviv, coauthor of Friends in Deed: Inside the U.S.-Israel Alliance.
Janice Rothschild Blumberg and her husband Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, whose synagogue in Atlanta was bombed by white supremacists in 1958, were close friends with Coretta Scott King and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, working together championing civil rights.
Janice Rothschild Blumberg and Moment’s editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein are in conversation about Dr. King’s and Rabbi Rothschild’s partnership that brought the Black and Jewish communities of Atlanta together in the pursuit of justice against racism and antisemitism. Rothschild will share personal anecdotes and also talk about her soon to be released book What’s Next?: Southern Dreams, Jewish Deeds and the Challenge of Looking Back while Moving Forward.
Jamie Raskin, a father, Congressman and Constitutional law professor, began 2021 grief stricken after the painful loss of his son, Tommy, to suicide. Just seven days later he experienced the horrific events of the Capitol insurrection on January 6 and then led the impeachment effort of President Donald Trump. Congressman Raskin details the first 45 days of 2021 that forever changed him and his family in his just released memoir Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy. Congressman Raskin is in conversation with Amy E. Schwartz, Moment’s Book & Opinion Editor.
Throughout the 20th century, Jews have always contributed to American popular music, from Irving Berlin to Carole King and beyond. But according to musician Joe Alterman, executive director of Neranenah Concert & Culture Series, the Jewishness of the music is defined by its story and not necessarily its melody. Part performance, part storytelling, Alterman, shares great American music with its fascinating Jewish stories woven in.
To address the child and maternal mortality crisis in Mali, Dr. Ari Johnson and Dr. Jessica Beckerman co-found Muso, a non-profit advancing child and maternal health which has developed a new, proactive model of universal health care in Mali. Today, Muso provides health care to more than 370,000 people and the communities it serves have achieved rates of child mortality lower than that of any country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Johnson and Beckerman join Moment Senior Editor George Johnson, who also happens to be Ari’s dad, for a conversation about the health care crisis in Africa and how the couples’ Jewish commitments have motivated and energized their inspirational work.
The Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority concentrated in the Xinjiang region along China’s western border, have faced discrimination, detention, and genocide at the hands of the Chinese Communist authorities. And yet most countries-including the U.S.-have largely remained silent. Tom Gjelten, a former NPR international and domestic affairs correspondent and Robert Siegel, Moment special literary contributor and former senior host of NPR’s All Things Considered, explore why, and how the situation recalls inaction in the face of Nazi persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, how discrimination against the Uyghurs became Chinese policy, and what can be done. Gjelten recently wrote about the Uyghurs as part of Moment‘s Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative, which examines prejudice and discrimination worldwide.
Well before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israeli artist Keren Goldstein created the art installation She’s Gone which features the clothing of Israeli murdered victims of intimate partner violence. Goldstein and She’s Gone co-director and designer Adi Levy, along with Rachel Louise Snyder, award-winning author of No Visible Bruises, are in conversation about why assaults against women have been recorded in greater numbers worldwide since the start of the pandemic, what can be done about it and how the exhibit She’s Gone is protesting the global phenomenon of gender-based murder performed by spouses and other family members. Dr. Shoshannah Frydman, Executive Director of the Shalom Task Force shares how the Jewish community is helping to combat and prevent domestic violence and available resources.
This program is sponsored by Moment Magazine and is in partnership with The Moment Gallery, Remember the Women Institute, She’s Gone, Strongin Collection and in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel.
