Read Yair’s Latest
Tablet Magazine
Why Conspiracy Theorists Like Marjorie Taylor Greene Always Land on the Jews
Once you’ve decided that an invisible hand is behind the world’s problems, it’s only a matter of time before you decide it belongs to an invisible Jew
February 1, 2021
How Do You Say ‘Quidditch’ in Yiddish?
The inside story of how ‘Harry Potter’ was translated into Yiddish.
February 6, 2020
Can Bernie Sanders Fix America’s Broken Anti-Semitism Conversation?
The presidential trailblazer just took a historic first step toward national dialogue about anti-Semitism. But its success will depend on whether he’s willing to confront some hard choices.
November 12, 2019
Yair Lapid Wants to Teach Israelis to Understand American Jews. Will He Get the Chance?
The Israeli opposition leader has a very different vision for American and Israeli Jews than the current government.
September 17, 2019
The Truth About Bibi, Israel’s Very Dispensable Man
Why Netanyahu’s case for his reelection fails on its own terms.
September 13, 2019
Chaim Bloom’s Diamond Life
The senior VP of baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays explains how his team changed the way the game is played—and why he keeps a jar of gefilte fish in his office.
April 2, 2019
13 Inconvenient Truths About What Has Been Happening in Gaza
13 Inconvenient Truths About What Has Been Happening in Gaza
The reality is much messier than the partisan echo chambers would have you believe.
May 16, 2018
The Mormons on Mount Scopus
How a religious real-estate controversy in Jerusalem brought thousands to the streets in protest, caused a no confidence vote in the Israeli government, and inspired an anti-Mormon Jewish pop song—then was entirely forgotten
May 15, 2015
‘Jeopardy’ for Jews: Who Wants To Be the World’s Next Top Torah Scholar?
Israelis usually win the International Bible Contest. But one year, two young Americans defied the odds in a televised showdown.
May 1, 2014
How Kosher Came to Campus
The great knish controversy erupted at Harvard in the spring of 1992. It began with a toaster oven.
January 22, 2014
Reconciling Modern Biblical Scholarship With Traditional Orthodox Belief
Who wrote the Torah? An unlikely group of Orthodox scholars has launched a website that gets to the heart of the Jewish faith.
September 18, 2013
Washington Post
Trump couldn’t steal the election. That doesn’t mean warnings were overblown.
As the Hebrew Bible and its interpreters understood, the paradox of foreseeing future dangers is that if people listen to you, the worst is averted and the prophecy is falsified.
November 30, 2020
Trump keeps pushing anti-Semitic stereotypes. But he thinks he’s praising Jews.
As a man who has always stood solely for his own naked self-interest, Trump does not see the anti-Semitic conception of the self-interested Jew as a complaint, but rather a compliment.
August 21, 2019
The Complicated History of Thomas Jefferson’s Koran
How a translation of Islam’s holiest book intended to convert Muslims to Christianity became a potent symbol of Muslim American political ascendance
January 2, 2019
The Pittsburgh Shooter Didn’t Hate ‘Religion,’ He Hated Jews. We Should Say So
Why do many people—from Kellyanne Conway to Jeremy Corbyn—keep erasing Jews from the story of their own murders?
November 2, 2018
Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschilds Are a Symptom. The Problem is Much Deeper
When an anonymous troll of any political persuasion trumpets anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on social media, it is the sign of a broken person.
March 21, 2018
The Atlantic
How To Stop Holocaust Deniers and Misinformation Peddlers on Facebook
Facebook fails to comprehend the nature of Holocaust denial and other forms of bigotry—and so it’s aiding their spread, instead of combatting them.
July 19, 2018
‘Homeland’ Is Anything but Islamophobic
Despite accusations from critics and scholars, the show doesn’t reinforce stereotypes about “good” Americans and “evil” Arabs and Muslims—it challenges them.
December 18, 2012
