On the Nose

In the month since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a global icon. Zelensky, who was elected in 2019 and chose to remain in his country during the assault, is Ukraine’s first Jewish president. His Jewishness, already notable given the nation’s history of antisemitism, has taken on new symbolic importance in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the assault is justified by its goal of “denazification.” Many Jews around the world, some of whose ancestors once lived in Ukraine, have come to identify with Zelensky, who embodies many of the contradictions of post-Soviet Jewishness, and whose attempts to lobby on behalf of his nation—including in a recent speech before the Israeli Knesset—have highlighted questions about the politics of post-Soviet Holocaust memory. On today’s episode, Newsletter Editor David Klion speaks with a panel of writers and contributors to the new Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents—Julia Alekseyeva, Linda Kinstler, and Helen Betya Rubinstein—about Zelensky’s Jewishness and the meaning of Jewish identity in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine.Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned:The Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents“Travesty Show: An Illustrated Correspondence” by Nicholas Muellner and Helen Betya RubinsteinServant of the People“Our Oligarch” by David Klion“The Many Oblivions of Babi Yar” by Linda KinstlerSoviet Daughter: A Graphic Revolution by Julia AlekseyevaRevolutions podcast“Is Ukraine’s top presidential candidate Jewish? Even his spokesman won’t comment” by Julie MasisThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a new wave of executive and legislative attacks on trans people and abortion rights across the country. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive for the state to treat gender-affirming care for trans youth as child abuse; Idaho passed a six-week abortion ban, and a bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans children passed in the House before being killed in the Senate; a proposed bill in Missouri attempts to prevent people from seeking abortions in other states. The growing anti-trans movement seems to be drawing from the same playbook as the anti-abortion movement, as the American right is forcefully pushing both agendas. To understand these alarming developments, Senior Editor Ari M. Brostoff speaks with scholar Jules Gill-Peterson (author of Histories of the Transgender Child), journalist Meaghan Winter (author of All Politics Is Local), and reproductive justice advocate Laurie Bertram Roberts (executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund) about the relationship between the anti-trans and anti-abortion movements and strategies for resistance.Books and Articles Mentioned:“The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda” by Jules Gill-PetersonCruel Optimism by Lauren BerlantThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

In January, n+1 Books released Missing Time, the debut essay collection by Senior Editor Ari M. Brostoff, which includes pieces originally published in Jewish Currents, n+1, and elsewhere. The titular essay reads Brostoff’s preteen passion for the supernatural police procedural The X-Files alongside their nascent political consciousness, as they became a young communist (and then ex-communist). Tracing the relationship between the original run and the 2016 and 2018 reboots, the piece considers the gap between two recent historical epochs, when history seemed to stall and then sputter back to life. In the years since the essay’s initial publication and the show’s conclusion, more and more evidence of real-life UFOs has come to light, with the US government admitting last year that it can’t account for these phenomena—or rule out extraterrestrial explanations. To celebrate the release of their book, Brostoff spoke with Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel and Managing Editor Nathan Goldman—two recently converted X-Files fanatics—about the show’s political potential, the nature of belief, and whether aliens are real.Books, Articles, and TV Episodes Mentioned:Missing Time: Essays by Ari M. Brostoff“Missing Time” by Ari M. BrostoffMissing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions by Budd Hopkins“Aubrey,” The X-Files“Excelsis Dei,” The X-Files“The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat,” The X-Files“Jose Chung’s From Outer Space,” The X-Files“2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’” by Helene Cooper, Leslie Kean, and Ralph Blumenthal“Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program” by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie KeanUFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean“U.S. Has No Explanation for Unidentified Objects and Stops Short of Ruling Out Aliens” by Julian E. Barnes“How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus“I’ve seen the saucers: Obama weighs in as US interest in UFOs rises” by Adam GabbattAbduction: Human Encounters with Aliens by John MackArielle’s Shabbat Reading List recommendation of The X-Files“In the sky! A bird? A plane? A … UFO?” by Jon Hilkevitch “UFO report stirs believers, skeptics” by Jon Hilkevitch“Berkshires UFO,” Unsolved MysteriesThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

A number of recent incidents—from a fracas over Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about the role of race in the Holocaust to a smear campaign launched against Tema Smith, the Anti-Defamation League’s new Director of Jewish Outreach—have highlighted the continued prevalence of anti-Black racism in the American Jewish community and its ongoing exclusion of Black Jews. In this episode, Contributing Writer Rebecca Pierce brought together Black Jewish artists and activists—Yiddish-language performer Anthony Russell, visual artist and organizer Reuben Telushkin, and kohenet and social worker Shoshana Brown—to discuss the policing of Jewish communal space, racism and labor in Jewish organizations, and alternative visions for Black Jewish politics and worlds. PROJECTS MENTIONED:My Own Personal Robeson/The House We Live In, Anthony Russell

Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s recent remake of West Side Story sought to bring the musical into the 21st century by updating its flat, stereotypical depictions of Puerto Ricans. In response, Puerto Rican critics have revived a long-running discussion about the musical’s enduring shadow, which some argue has harmed the community as a primary site of "Puerto Rican" representation, written and directed by white men. This time, however, filmmaker, writer, and scholar Frances Negrón-Muntaner, who has been at the forefront of this conversation for decades, found herself accused of antisemitism for daring to criticize the classic musical. What was going on? As the theater historian Brian E. Herrera has observed, West Side Story has two “parallel histories”: as “masterpiece musical and racializing performance.” That parallel also emerges in the different relationships that Jews and Latinx people bring to the work: West Side Story was the work of four gay Jews—Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim—and has been held up intracommunally as a paragon of Jewish cultural achievement. Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with Negrón-Muntaner, Herrera, and writer and scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner about the parallel resonances of West Side Story in Jewish and Latinx communities, and the tensions that emerge over questions of power and control.Books and Articles Mentioned:"Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses" by Frances Negrón-Muntaner"Compiling West Side Story’s Parahistories, 1949–2009" by Brian Eugenio Herrera"Why West Side Story Abandoned Its Queer Narrative" by Daniel Pollack-PelznerDisidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics by José Esteban Muñoz"Let ‘West Side Story’ and Its Stereotypes Die" by Carina del Valle Schorske"West Side Story Can’t Be Saved" by Andrea González-Ramírez"The Great 'West Side Story' Debate," The New York Times Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

On Saturday, January 15th, a British national named Malik Faisal Akram entered Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and held Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants hostage at gunpoint. Akram demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year prison sentence for allegedly shooting at US FBI agents and army personnel. Akram released one hostage after six hours, and the nearly 12-hour crisis finally ended when the remaining hostages escaped and FBI agents and police entered the synagogue and killed Akram. This disturbing incident activated many American Jews’ feelings of vulnerability—especially heightened since the 2018 attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh—while also provoking Islamophobic responses and reigniting an ongoing debate about synagogue security. In this episode, recorded the Tuesday after the Colleyville attack, Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Managing Editor Nathan Goldman, Senior Reporter Alex Kane, and Assistant Editor Mari Cohen discuss their immediate reactions to the event and the questions it raises.Note: This discussion cites a statement from someone claiming to be a former Beth Israel congregant who said he left the synagogue because he wasn’t allowed to bring guns into services. After the episode was recorded, Rabbi Cytron-Walker told JTA that Beth Israel permits concealed carry and said that he wished one of the congregants had been carrying during the attack.Books, Articles, Tweets, and Podcasts Mentioned:“Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding” by Mari Cohen“Texas synagogue attack invites debate over delay in confirmation of special envoy on antisemitism” by Jacob Kornbluh“On Antisemitism Fought” by Judah BernsteinOn the Nose episode: “Rallies, Surveys, and Ice Cream”“Renowned Jewish Historian: ‘Stop Using the Term ‘Antisemitism’’” by Ofer Aderet“Away from a Definition of Antisemitism: An Essay in the Semantics of Historical Description” by David Engel (from Rethinking European Jewish History) “For Jews, Going to Services Is an Act of Courage” by Deborah E. LipstadtTwitter thread by Ma Nishtana“Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement” by Michael GermanThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

On December 2nd, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)’s National Political Committee declined to expel New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman from the socialist organization. This decision capped a weeks-long debate within DSA over how to respond to Bowman’s “yes” vote on funding Israel’s anti-rocket Iron Dome system and his participation in a recent J Street trip to Israel/Palestine. Beyond the specific issue of how DSA should respond to Bowman’s divergence from the group’s line on Israel/Palestine, the controversy highlighted broader ideological and strategic questions: What’s the relationship between electoralism and the struggle for Palestinian rights? How should the left should relate to liberal Zionist groups like J Street? In this episode, Senior Reporter Alex Kane, Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Assistant Editor Mari Cohen, and Fellow Dylan Saba discuss the Bowman debate and the questions it raises for the left. Articles Mentioned:“Jamaal Bowman’s Trip to Israel Sparks Debate in DSA Over Electoral Strategy” by Alex Kane“The Resilient Fiction of the Two-State Solution” by Joshua Leifer         “Can Minneapolis Reimagine Policing?” by Nathan Goldman“The Taming of Anti-Zionism in the United States” by Steve Salaita“No, DSA Shouldn’t Expel Rep. Bowman” by Hadas ThierThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

In May, writer and activist Sarah Schulman published Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, to widespread acclaim. In a review for the Fall issue of Jewish Currents, Vicky Osterweil argued that the book, despite offering invaluable insight into the history of AIDS activism, is marred by structural elisions—especially of trans people—and is ultimately hagiographic rather than appropriately critical of the movement it chronicles. While Schulman’s response to the review provoked a controversy, Osterweil’s critique also ignited a discussion about the book itself, sometimes tied to broader disagreements about the theory and practice of both queer history and movement strategy. In a letter to the editor, writer and organizer Kay Gabriel contested Osterweil’s assessment of the book, arguing that it stands as a sober account of what took place. In this episode, Culture Editor Ari M. Brostoff convenes a discussion between Osterweil and Gabriel about Let the Record Show, the dangers of nostalgia, and the challenges of reckoning with our political forebears.Books, Articles, Talks, and Projects Mentioned:Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman“What the Record Doesn’t Show” by Vicky OsterweilLetter on “What the Record Doesn’t Show” by Kay GabrielACT UP Oral History Project“Being Street: The Trans Woman of Color as Evidence” by Jules Gill-Peterson“Celebrating the Role of Trans People in the Fight Against HIV” by Michelle RossUntitled blog post by Bryn Kelly“Diving into the Wreck” by Bryn KellyThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

In October, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights organizations to be “terrorist” groups. The targeted groups form the backbone of Palestinian civil society. Collectively, the organizations document Israeli human rights abuses and offer direct aid to Palestinians crushed by the Israeli occupation, whether it’s farmers facing Israeli settler land theft or children detained in Israel’s military court system. Gantz’s declaration placed the organizations at severe risk, making their employees potentially subject to arrest for working in a banned organization.To learn more about what’s behind Israel’s moves and what it means for the future of Palestinian civil society, Senior Reporter Alex Kane interviews Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer and Sarit Michaeli, International Advocacy Officer for B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organization. Articles Mentioned:“Secret Israeli Document Offers No Proof to Justify Terror Label for Palestinian Groups,” by Yuval Abraham, Oren Ziv, Meron Rapoport“The Long Arm of Israeli Repression,” by Yousef Munayyer“Report: NSO Spyware Found on 6 Palestinian Activists’ Phones,” by Frank Bajak and Joseph Krauss“Palestinian Diplomats Targeted by Israeli Spyware, Official Says,” by Patrick Kingsley and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad“Private Israeli Spyware Used to Hack Cellphones,” by Dana Priest, Craig Timberg, and Souad Mekhennet Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Two weeks ago, Sunrise DC—a chapter of the climate action group Sunrise Movement—announced it would not participate in a voting rights rally because of the involvement of Zionist organizations, specifically naming three Jewish groups: the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. This decision prompted immediate backlash and provoked a heated discussion: Some critics accused Sunrise of antisemitism for singling out Jewish groups without remarking on the Israel politics of non-Jewish groups associated with the rally, while others argued that the move was not antisemitic but simply unstrategic. Five days later, Sunrise DC put out a new statement apologizing for having “fueled antisemitism,” while also reaffirming a commitment to anti-Zionism and Palestine solidarity. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and Jewish Currents fellow Dylan Saba discuss the questions this incident raises about the politics of anti-normalization, the Jewish left’s role in Palestine solidarity, and movement strategy more broadly.Articles, Statements, and Publications Mentioned:Sunrise DC’s initial statement on October 19thSunrise’s DC’s follow-up apology statement on October 24thThe Past Didn’t Go Anywhere by April Rosenblum“Where Did the Past Go?” by Ben LorberAlex Kane’s conversation with Omari Hardy about his views on BDSSally Rooney’s statement about boycotting an Israeli publisher“Inside ‘the Very Secret History’ of the Sunrise Movement” by Zahra Hirji and Ryan Brooks“The Politics of ‘Jewface’” by Rebecca PierceThanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”