SAPIR Conversations

Former Human Rights Watch senior editor Danielle Haas sits down with SAPIR Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens to discuss her recent essay, “The Human-Rights Establishment,” which chronicles years of behind-the-scenes experience and presents deep-seated concerns that human rights NGOs have become “increasingly hijacked by politics and dominated by groupthink.”

The podcast discusses the impact of technology on Jewish life and faith, exploring AI advancements, historical parallels, and the evolving role of Jewish leaders in guiding technological development. It delves into the emotional engagement with texts, blurring lines between AI and humanity, and the intersection of technology with Jewish rituals and experiences.

Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove and Rabbi Rachel Isaacs discuss synagogue leadership in turbulent times and a digital age. Topics covered include the impact of the pandemic on synagogue services, resistance to modernity in Maine, anticipating changes in the future, balancing tragedy and joy during Simkha Torah, and approaching differing views in the Jewish community.

Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, and Zvika Krieger, former director of responsible innovation at Meta, discuss the impact of unsubstantiated information on social media during the Israel-Hamas war. They explore topics such as Israel's public diplomacy tools, content moderation challenges, the utilization of social media in asymmetrical warfare, and the potential negative effects of lightly moderating content on tech platforms.

SAPIR Institute Director Chanan Weissman hosted a conversation about the conflict over free speech on college campuses with Nadine Strossen, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and Ilya Shapiro, the director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Strossen and Kenneth S. Stern co-authored “SJP Still Deserves Freedom of Speech” in Sapir‘s War in Israel special edition, while Shapiro recently published “Where Free Speech Ends and Lawbreaking Begins” in The Free Press.

SAPIR Institute Director Chanan Weissman was joined by Einat Wilf, former member of the Israeli Knesset for the Labor Party, and Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of the Israel Policy Forum (IPF). They discussed the short- and long-term impacts and implications of the October 7 attacks on Israeli and American conceptions of Zionism.

SAPIR Institute Director Chanan Weissman is joined by Rabbi David Wolpe, visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School and the Max Webb Emeritus Rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, and Dr. Mijal Bitton, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and rosh kehillah at the Downtown Minyan in New York City. They discuss their recent SAPIR essays — Wolpe’s “Wisdom in the Face of Destruction” and Bitton’s “That Pain You’re Feeling is Peoplehood“ — and delve into how Jewish tradition conceptualizes the responsibilities of the Jewish collective in a time of war.

Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, and Joel Rubin, a progressive foreign policy leader, discuss the challenges of navigating progressive communities post-Hamas massacre. They explore the progressive community's silence on the conflict, impact of social media, speaking out on the Israel-Hamas issue, combating anti-Semitism, the 'beyond the pale left,' and the future of American Jews and Israel.

Chanan Weissman, director of the SAPIR Institute, and Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, discuss Yehuda’s recent trip to Israel, the deep trauma facing Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora, and the ethical considerations of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.

Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue, and Rachel Fish, co-founder of the nonprofit Boundless, discuss the geopolitical impact of the war in Israel, the implications for the American Jewish community, and our collective responsibilities during this crisis and beyond. This Conversation is presented in partnership with Park Avenue Synagogue.