Author: Jason Lustig

Dr. Jason Lustig is a scholar of modern Jewish history and culture, and he is a Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard's Center for Jewish Studies. He is the host and executive producer of Jewish History Matters. You can learn more about Jason and his research on his personal website, www.jasonlustig.com, and can follow him on Twitter at @JasonLustig.

The Kishinev Pogrom with Steven Zipperstein

Antisemitism, Eastern Europe, Jewish History, Modern Jewish History, Russia, Zionism

Steven Zipperstein discusses the Kishinev pogrom and its afterlife in modern Jewish history and memory: the tremendous influence of Kishinev on how Jews have seen the world, the dangers of misinformation and propaganda, and how one event can shape a generation. Ultimately, the pogrom highlights how and why history matters: how the Kishinev pogrom has become so influential in modern Jewish history, and also the tension between the public memory of the pogrom and the actual historical events themselves. Today, we’re in an age when actual facts and details do matter, but the Kishinev pogrom shows the power of myth and memory too.

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Holocaust Memory and the Digital Age with Jeffrey Shandler

Archives, Holocaust, Jewish History, Modern Jewish History

Jeffrey Shandler joins us to talk about Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age: Survivors’ Stories and Memory Practices: How Holocaust memory and memorialization is changing in the digital age, the history and meaning of testimony and the Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, and what the future holds in store for these memory practices.

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Modern Jewish Thought with Samuel Moyn and Eugene Sheppard

Book Series, Jewish History, Jewish Thought, Modern Jewish History, Pedagogy, Politics, Projects and Initiatives, Zionism

Samuel Moyn and Eugene Sheppard join us to talk about the expansive vision of what constitutes modern Jewish thought that they are exploring through the various books in the multi-volume book series Brandeis Library of Modern Jewish Thought, published by Brandeis University Press. Listen in for our conversation about how the series came together, what they have tried to achieve with it, and what it means to push the boundaries of modern Jewish thought.

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American Jews and the Israeli Settler Movement with Sara Yael Hirschhorn

American Jewish History, Israel, Modern Jewish History, Zionism

Sara Yael Hirschhorn joins us to discuss her book City on a Hilltop: American Jews and the Israeli Settler Movement, and the big questions that it raises for how we understand Israel, American Jewry, and those American Jews who have moved to Israel and participated in the settler movement beyond the Green Line in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Sinai Peninsula: Why so many Israeli Jewish settlers are of American origin, how we can understand them as real people and not caricatures, and how looking closely at this group can help unsettle assumptions or preconceived notions about the nature of the settlements in the occupied territories.

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Moving Beyond “Chrismukkah” with Samira Mehta

American Jewish History, Religion

Samira Mehta joins us to discuss her book Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States and the meaning and complexities of interfaith marriage: Why it matters beyond the question of continuity, how it relates to broader social and religious trends, and how thinking through interfaith marriage can help us to understand our world at large.

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Why American Jewish History Matters with Hasia Diner

American Jewish History, Historiography, Holocaust, Migration and Mobility, Modern Jewish History

Hasia Diner joins us to talk about the big issues that have driven the field of American Jewish history and her work in particular, how we understand American Jewish history in two contexts—in the context of Jewish history as a whole, and within the framework of American history—and also how the field has changed, what lies ahead, and why it matters today.

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