Ask Haviv Anything Episode 52: Why do people hate Jews, with Dara Horn
14 snips
Oct 17, 2025 
Dara Horn, an award-winning novelist and scholar of Hebrew and Yiddish literature, discusses the complexities of Jewish narratives and the unsettling nature of antisemitism. She explores the fascination with stories of dead Jews versus living ones, emphasizing how society often prefers powerless portrayals. Horn also introduces the Tell Institute, aimed at reshaping Jewish education to combat ignorance. Through discussions on antisemitism and Jewish history, she highlights the urgent need for educational initiatives that empower current and future generations.
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Endurance Over Redemption
- Jewish "anti-literature" favors endurance and resilience over tidy epiphanies or redemptive arcs.
- Dara Horn argues this reflects a civilizational habit of living with brokenness, not fixing it with neat endings.
Anne Frank House Kippah Conflict
- Dara Horn recounts the Anne Frank Museum barring a Jewish employee from wearing a kippah and delaying the decision six months.
- She uses this to illustrate how institutions prefer "neutral" presentations of dead Jews over living Jewish practice.
Why Dead Jews Are Appealing
- People Love Dead Jews thesis: non-Jewish societies accept Jews only when they are powerless or dead.
- Horn ties this acceptance pattern to widespread practices of erasure and sentimentalization.
