Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

June 24, 2026

Anti-Zionist Kitsch Reaches New Depths

A grotesquely portrayed Jewish mother isn’t just petty and transphobic, she’s also pro-Israel.

Jordy Rosenberg’s much-praised novel Night Night Fawn has been described as “trans autofiction.” That is to say, the author was born a woman, identifies as a man, and based the book closely on real life. As Akiva Schick observes, its “Jewish elements . . . have been loudly proclaimed, as is usual for books that plumb the depths of the Jewish experience with words like ‘oy’ and ‘matzo.’” At the center of the novel is Rosenberg’s mother, who, one gathers, was much resented by her child:

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