Observation ·
Mosaic’s Defining Essays from 2025
By Jonathan SilverReflections on Israel, America, and the West that remind us we are not captive to fate.
Jonathan Silver
Jonathan Silver is the editor of Mosaic, the host of the Tikvah Podcast, the Warren R. Stern Senior Fellow of Jewish Civilization, and the Senior Vice President and Chief Programming Officer of Tikvah.
Latest Content
Response ·
A New Generation of Jewish Parents Discuss Ruth Wisse’s “Despair Not!”
By Jonathan Silver, Sarah Baird, Elisheva Marcus, David SchwartzRaising Jewish children in a changed America.
Response ·
The Mind and Man Behind Philologos
By Hillel Halkin, Jonathan Silver, Andrew KossA conversation about Jews and language.
Response ·
American Jews and the Rise of Anti-Semitism: What We’ve Learned and What Comes Next
By Jack Wertheimer, Jonathan Silver, David L. BernsteinA conversation about how to fight anti-Semitism in America.
Response ·
Why the Two-State Solution Is Dead—and What Comes Next
By Elliott Abrams, Jonathan SilverElliott Abrams and Jonathan Silver discuss why the two-state solution is likely dead—and what the most realistic path forward might be.
Observation ·
Israel’s Attack on Iran Is Reshaping the Middle East
By Jonathan Silver, Elliott Abrams, Amiad Cohen, Assaf Orion, John SpencerOperation Rising Lion.
Response ·
Ancient Jerusalem Reborn: The Discovery of the City of David—and the Palestinian Effort to Erase It
By Doron Spielman, Jonathan SilverRead or watch the conversation between Doron Spielman and Jonathan Silver.
Observation ·
“Get the Jew”: The Crown Heights Riot Revisited
By Michael Pack, Elliot Kaufman, Jonathan SilverWatch or read our discussion with Elliot Kafuman and Michael Pack about the new documentrary on the 1991 pogrom in Brooklyn, and what it means for American Jewry today.
Response ·
Watch or Read Meir Soloveichik and Joseph Dweck Discuss the Worlds and Moods of Ashkenaz and Sepharad
By Joseph Dweck, Jonathan SilverA recording and transcript of our subscriber-only conversation between two leading rabbis about two of the animating spirits of the Jewish world.
Response ·
Watch and Read Scott Abramson and Haviv Rettig Gur Discuss Israeli Commissions of Inquiry and October 7
By Scott Abramson, Haviv Rettig Gur, Jonathan SilverA recording and transcript of our subscriber-only July event on how Israel investigates itself are now available.
Response ·
Watch Andrew Koss and David N. Myers Discuss Whether Jewish Studies Has Turned against the Jews
By Andrew Koss, Jonathan SilverA Mosaic editor and a Jewish studies professor discuss if and how Jewish studies has lost its way, and whether it can recover.
Response ·
Watch Gary Saul Morson and Jacob Howland Discuss the Dostoevsky Problem
By Gary Saul Morson, Jacob Howland, Jonathan SilverTwo leading scholars joined Mosaic's editor to look at why compassionate people, like the brilliant Russian author, can so often hate the Jews.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2023, Part II
By Andrew Koss, Jonathan Silver, Rabbi Meir SoloveichikFeaturing fears, fates, burdens of power, memory wars, Sabbath days, Russian writers and timeless questions, years of upheaval, Japanese Jews, and more.
Observation ·
What Kissinger Really Thought
By Elliott Abrams, Norman Podhoretz, Jonathan SilverInterviews with Norman Podhoretz and Elliott Abrams recreate the foreign-policy debates of the cold war, and illuminate Kissinger's attitudes toward Israel and the Jewish people.
Response ·
How Israel Got Caught by Surprise in 1973 and 2023
By Michael Doran, Jonathan SilverMichael Doran, a leading analyst and author of "The Hidden Calculation Behind the Yom Kippur War," discusses his essay and the eerie resonances between 1973 and 2023.
Response ·
How the Jewish State Became So Important to the Self-Conception of the Arabs
By Ghaith al-Omari, Jonathan Silver, Hussein Aboubakr MansourWatch or read a discussion about the perennial power of the Nakba with Hussein Aboubakr and Ghaith al-Omari.
Monthly Essay ·
The Humiliation of Jews Is the Point
By Jonathan SilverGrotesque images of abused Israeli hostages and violations of dead Israeli bodies should remind us of the reality of evil and the necessity of countering it.
Response ·
Haim Sabato's “The Dawning of the Day”: A Dramatic Reading
By The Editors, Jonathan Silver, Daniel BouskilaWatch our recording of the modern Israeli classic. Then stick around for the discussion with Israeli novelist Ruby Namdar and American rabbi Daniel Bouskila.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2022, Chosen by Mosaic Authors
By Elliott Abrams, Tamara Berens, Andrew Koss, Daniel Polisar, Neil Rogachevsky, Sarah Rindner, Jonathan SilverFeaturing wars, peacemakers, two cultures, pogroms, plays, four ages, wild problems, caves, magic, letters, American conservatives, liberal parents, radical children, and more.
Observation ·
Who Is Pierre Manent?
By Pierre Manent, Jonathan SilverOne of the world's greatest living political philosophers reflects on his intellectual formation, and how he sees Europe, Israel, and America today.
Observation ·
The Mythography of Tel Aviv
By Maoz Azaryahu, Jonathan SilverShared myths reveal something elemental about the people who sustain them. A scholar of cultural memory describes the layers of myth that illuminate Israel's quintessentially modern city.
Observation ·
Watch Yossi Klein Halevi Discuss His Movie “Kaddish”
By Yossi Klein Halevi, Jonathan SilverThe Israeli writer joined us last week to talk about growing up in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and the movie made about him and his father.
Response ·
Watch Our Conversation on Meir Kahane, Jacob Taubes, and the American Jewish Frustration with Boredom
By Samuel Goldman, Jonathan SilverJoin Samuel Goldman, J.J. Kimche, and Sara Yael Hirschhorn for a discussion about Kahane, Taubes, and the enduring troubles of American Jewish liberalism.
Observation ·
Daniel Gordis and Asael Abelman on the Personality of the New Jew
By Dr. Daniel Gordis, Asael Abelman, Jonathan Silver, Tikvah Podcast at MosaicTwo top Israeli observers examine the dominant Jewish personalities in Israel today, and how they compare to the ideas of pre-state Zionist writers.
Response ·
Michael Doran and Ze’ev Maghen Think about Iran and its Revolutionary Regime
By Michael Doran, Jonathan SilverWith a new nuclear deal looming, two experts met to discuss what it means, and to think more broadly about the nature of Iran's radical leadership.
Response ·
Isaac Babel’s “Red Cavalry”: A Dramatic Reading
By Jonathan Silver, Gary Saul Morson, Natan SharanskyWatch our recording of the classic Russian Jewish stories. Then stick around for the discussion with Natan Sharansky, Ruth Wisse, and Gary Saul Morson.
Observation ·
The Best Books of 2021, Chosen by Mosaic Authors (Part I)
By Elliott Abrams, Richard Goldberg, Neil Rogachevsky, Jonathan Silver, Ruth R. WisseFive of our writers pick several favorites each, featuring a duke's children, Jewish treasures, zealots and emancipators, revolts, dual allegiances, spies, and more.
Response ·
Ethel Rosenberg’s Mythic Innocence
By Harvey Klehr, Jonathan Brent, Jonathan SilverThe author of "The Eternal Return of Ethel Rosenberg" joins us for a discussion about his subject's unending—and false—air of innocence.
Response ·
Ben Sasse and Rich Goldberg Discuss 9/11, Afghanistan, and Civic Amnesia
By Ben Sasse, Richard Goldberg, Jonathan SilverThe senator joins our foreign-policy columnist to talk about America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, and how the nation's short memory imperils its security.
Observation ·
Rama Burshtein and Meir Soloveichik Talk “Fill the Void”
By Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Rama Burshtein, Jonathan SilverThe Israeli director and the American rabbi team up to discuss her groundbreaking film about marriage and Jewish life.
