Shaul Magid
Shaul Magid is a rabbi, Visiting Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and Distinguished Fellow in Jewish… more
by Shaul Magid
The Hazards and Necessity of Holocaust Memory: From Living Witness to Exceptionalism: Yom Kippur Sermon 2025/5785
“Never Again” to us, or “Never Again” to anyone? One of the most powerful, and curious, rabbinic comments about Yom Kippur is the phrase “Ezem Ha-Yom m’Khaper” that is, the day itself atones. It is so powerful because it seems to deflect two aspects of what we may call atonement: either that is it God who atones, or that the power of our prayers that atones. What might it mean to say that “the day atones”? Where is God in all this, and why spend the day fasting, praying, and confessing if the day itself does the work? Does the day atone even for one who does not repent, does not fast, does not pray? This is actually a Talmudic debate.
by Shaul Magid
“I Need More Cowbell” – Once More on the Judeo-Christian Tradition in the Present Moment
What Dennis Prager, Yoram Hazony, Ben Shapiro, Meir Soloveitchik, and Jewish conservatism miss about the “Judeo-Christian” project. “Go and Learn” What Dennis Prager, Yoram Hazony, Ben Shapiro, Meir Soloveitchik, and Jewish conservatism miss about the “Judeo-Christian” project. “Go and Learn”
by Shaul Magid
The October Project # 4: “The Fat Man in the Fire”: Is Gaza Destroying our Ability to Repent?
Reflections on Menachem Froman’s Reflections on Nahman of Bratslav Likkutei Moharan 1:6 Reflections on Menachem Froman’s Reflections on Nahman of Bratslav Likkutei Moharan 1:6
by Shaul Magid
Elul Interlude 2: Brief Thoughts on Prayer
The month of Elul is a month of preparation. The preparation consists of a variety of things, marked specifically by prayer, a turn to the liturgical formulations as a GPS to Rosh ha-Shana. For me this year is also marked by a new course on Jewish prayer and liturgical Hebrew I am teaching at Havard Divinity School. I have never taught a course on prayer before. I have always avoided it, believing that prayer, like art or poetry, should not be “explained” but lived. But I have decided to give it a try. Last year I published a short reflection on prayer in the journal
by Shaul Magid
Is There a History of Anti-Zionism in Israel?
Has a forgotten history suddenly become relevant? There is much talk about anti-Zionism and/as antisemitism these days, specifically about anti-Zionism on the Left. But what is the history of anti-Zionism in Israel? Is there a history? Has it been erased? In this essay I examine that history, not ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionism but Leftist anti-Zionism in Israel.
by Shaul Magid
The October 6 Project # 1 – Rav Shagar “From the Breach” (Min Ha-Mezar)-1987
A Sermon from the Days of the [First] Intifada (Jerusalem Day, 1987) Translation and Commentary: Shaul Magid A Sermon from the Days of the [First] Intifada (Jerusalem Day, 1987) Translation and Commentary: Shaul Magid
by Shaul Magid
The October 6 Project - Introduction
“Nothing justifies October 7, but October 7 seems to justify everything” - Ahmed Tibi, Palestinian Israeli Parliamentarian. As the destruction of Gaza continues unabated and we begin the approach two years since the massacre on October 7, 2023, I thought it worthwhile to begin to reflect on what I am calling “October 6.” October 6 does not refer to the day itself but to what Walt Whitman, referring to the Civil War, called “the before times.” How did we get to this place? Ho…
by Shaul Magid
On the Obsession with Defining Antisemitism
The George Mosse Lecture 2025, Humbolt University Berlin (video) I this lecture (video link below) I engage a series of questions about why it is so hard for Jews today to talk about antisemitism. I set up a triad of Antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel and argue that the way one thinks about the nature and origins of the first two, will determine how one understands the third. For example, if one bel…
by Shaul Magid
Was Jeremiah a “Self-Hating Jew”?:
The Trials of Jewish Self-Critique and the Reversal of the “Us vs. Them” Modality (Thoughts on Tisha b’Av 5785/2025) Jeremiah is one the great canonical prophets of the Hebrew Bible. He is venerated for his courage, his resolve, and his unwillingness to waver in offering what can be called an immanent critique of Israelite society on the verge of destruction and exile. In his time, Jeremiah was not a well-liked individual. In fact, as we will see, and as described in …
by Shaul Magid
Jewish Peoplehood: A Requiem
Living with a Dying Myth The concept of Jewish Peoplehood (at least the term itself) was first used in 1942 at a Reconstructionist Summer Seminar in NYC. It was the brainchild of Mordecai Kaplan and Steven Wise, two prominent rabbis of that generation who sought a better way for Jews in America to identify as Americans and Jews without the danger of dual-allegiance.
by Shaul Magid
Gaza, Zero-Sum-Gameism, and the Return of Kahanism
Why Take Kahane Seriously in this moment? In a previous Substack “The Nero Effect” I argued that much of the attention around the applicability of the term “genocide” in relation to the destruction of Gaza is misplaced and, in part, a deflection from an equally distrubing phenomenon of the transformation of Judaism into the Jewish national project, what Yaakov Yadgar called in his book
by Shaul Magid
The Nero Effect: Are We Jews Distracted by Claims of Genocide while Judaism is Burning?
Omer Bartov and Yuval Noah Harari on Genocide and Judaism We all know the apocryphal story that the Emperor Nero “fiddled” while Rome was burning in the Great Fire of 64 CE. The story, of course, is a myth, the fiddle wasn’t invented until centuries later, and although Nero was well-known for his musical talent on the lyre, he was not likely playing it during the blaze that threatened his empire. Whatever its …
by Shaul Magid
Jewish Specters of Berlin: Four Portraits
Victims of Nazism (Stolpersteine), Augustus Neander, Mohammad Assad, and Ahad Ha-Am Any Jew who has spent any time in Berlin knows that it is a city of ghosts. The grandiose architecture, the wide boulevards, the bustling markets and cafes, the music bellowing out from clubs, and the rich multiethnic tapestry of the city also holds a history, both dark and luminous.
by Shaul Magid
Israel: A Litmus Test?: The Mamdani affair – “Is it good for the Jews?”
Thoughts of a Jew For those who do not know, there is an old Yiddish joke that whenever one is asked a question about anything, the answer is always the question, “is it good for the Jews?” Very much a persecuted minority kind of humor. But humor, like victimhood, dies hard. So as a Jew, I ask the question.
by Shaul Magid
People, Faith, Nation: Exploring Judaism's Many Identities
A podcast conversation I had with Rabbi Andy Kahn of the newly revived American Council for Judaism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Q6fwSKhY9y0&fbclid=IwY2xjawK4_N9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFsTzI3OG5oM1FLR0QxZm5lAR66gRiluFlVhQz6SpkFWFZ5pkEqTXBkqgsKYJu3kfLCJBKosyqQ6k4xKUg8Hg_aem_cFp_eC4pKQ9jYkWw4XCtFA
by Shaul Magid
Is Zionism Supersessionism Part III: What Happened to Judaism?
“The Zionist Revolution has changed history and reinvented Judaism” Yossi Shain, The Israeli Century In this essay, I want to continue my previous discussions in “Is Zionism Supersessionism” Parts 1 and 2 that engaged Yaakov Yadgar’s thesis in his recent book To Be a Jewish State: Zionism as the New Judaism. In Part I (you can read it on my Substack page) I mapped out the general parameters of Yadgar’s thesis as using the category of supersessionism to adjudicate the complex relationship between Zionism and Judaism. The complexity, and precariousness, of this relationship was already noted by Arthur Hertzberg in his 1959 Introduction to his
by Shaul Magid
Between Zionism and Pro-Israelism: Why Biden, who is a Zionist, is so reviled, and Trump, who is not, is so beloved?
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" Trump’s Mideast trip may turn out to mark a transition in his administration’s policies regarding Israel/Palestine. What remains to be seen is the response of Jewish support for him based on the premise that he would allow the Israeli government to pursue whatever polices it deems fit in the war on Gaza and the occupation. It is certainly too early to t…
by Shaul Magid
What is Orthodox Anti-Zionism?
A prelude and link to podcast discussion with Rabbi Daniel Levine and yours truly One of the by-products of the last few years since October 7 and the subsequent destruction of Gaza, which sparked widespread protests, is the notion of anti-Zionism. Unfortunately, much of the discussion centered around the erroneous and misinformed comment by director of the ADL Jonathan Greenblatt when he said “Anri-Zionism is Antisemitism: Full Stop.”