As I type this, I have four tabs open on my computer to articles by Jewish American thinkers, ones by no means a monolith politically, but each one unconvinced that the Trump administration’s crusade against antisemitism is actually in the service of American Jews. (I use “crusade” intentionally.)
I find these articles both heartening and distressing. Heartening, because I share their views. I don’t believe in sending people to gulags even for really bad op-eds, let alone banal ones. (I could open my own column on this topic and be the fifth tab.) And I’m always glad to see confirmation of my statistics-bolstered hunch that American Jews didn’t sign onto this. The sentiment of ‘Not in My Name’ is no longer the unique purview of antizionists or nonzionists, now that it is less immediately about Israel’s actions than those of the United States. It’s entirely consistent to think Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, and that people who disagree with that position have the right to walk down the street without being abducted.
But these pieces are distressing as well, because they serve as a reminder that at the end of the day, there are like five of us Jews—a Jew for each tab open on my laptop. Our symbolic importance to the broader world so massively overshadows our numbers or (sorry, antisemites) our influence. Pro-Israel (in any sense, to any degree, including warm feelings towards its people) but anti-Trump is ultimately a niche position that no larger entity must cater to.
What actual Jews view as self-advocacy has never been entirely aligned with what others do on behalf of The Jews. Powers-that-be will take our side, or not, based on unrelated factors. But the new philosemitism—a distorted mirror of the new antisemitism—has taken on a life of its own since January. While there are some Jews and Jewish organizations among those egging Trump on, the idea that this is all happening at the behest of Jews is absurd.
Yet this is how the outside world sees it. And not just the outside world. It looks like The Jews got Trump to do their—our—bidding. There is now this set of heroic political prisoners, unfairly arrested by the U.S. for what seem to amount to antisemitic thought crimes.
The most efficient way to show your opposition to Trump is to show your adherence to an omnicause that casts Jews as privileged oppressors. Yet the way to demonstrate your adherence to him is to raise your arm in a Nazi-esque salute and voice your support for the German far-right. Which leaves American Jews where, exactly?
Meanwhile, in what can feel a bit like a parallel universe, Jewish Canadians continue to fight the good fight against antisemitism. Where U.S. Jews, like other Americans, live in a post-Jan. 20 world, in Canada, it is still post-Oct. 7 here in Canada. We at The Canadian Jewish News are on the latest-in-antisemitism beat—not all we cover, but we do cover it, and how can we not? Antisemitism is a real phenomenon. But also, vibes never really shift, or not consistently, so we’re also still wading in 2010s waters, calling out microaggressions. Looking for antisemitism in trace amounts, when the real thing is often staring us in the face. Yet we’re in this awkward environment where the calling-out of antisemitism leads to shrugs from powers-that-be in Canada, while cross the border and they’re scanning would-be immigrants’ social media for ill feeling towards Jews.
What a time, then, to be starting a new podcast. The Jewish Angle, brought to you by The Canadian Jewish News, is my meagre attempt at wresting questions to do with Jews and how we see the world back. Back to Jews, but also just, back to people who are actually thinking about Jews as human beings, and not as abstractions. People who, Jewish or not, refuse to see Jews as avatars for phenomena.
What qualifies me to host this series? I was born with the timeless Jewish-communal-media quality of seeking out the Jewish angle on everything. I am an unapologetic Jewish provincialist, because principle-of-the-thing I see provincialism as a part of being human. I did a French-French Studies doctorate and wove a Jewish angle into I want to say every term paper I wrote. I can find something Jewish to say about absolutely any sitcom. (A marketable skill I’m sure you hope your own children acquire.)
I am as prepared as anyone to hold forth on everything from who’s the next Philip Roth to the relative prominence of Jewish women as girlbosses versus tradwives. I am comparing-contrasting the Canadian and American experiences—and toss in the French-Jewish as well—like it’s my job, so how fortunate for me that it literally is that thing.
As has hopefully come through in my columns since starting at The CJN in September 2022, I’m interested in big cultural shifts and their implications for Jews. In the constant—the asymmetry between others’ interest in us and our own objective place in the world—but also the contours of how we fall in and out of favour, and with whom, and how we respond (or how we act, independent of others’ perceptions). The most urgent part of a news organization documents occurrences as they happen. (Front page news, in quaint terms.) My role, as opinion editor, is a bit different: I look at what’s been reported, at The CJN and elsewhere, and zoom out, to make sense of our times—and where we’re headed.
I am also only one person. I’m not going to hand-wring over the ways I’m not the representative Canadian Jew because (a) not what I’m here for and (b) no one is that thing. But in the spirit of two-Jews-three-opinions, The Jewish Angle will have guests, so it will not just be me blathering on.
That said, not every guest or topic on The Jewish Angle will be Jewish. But everyone who agrees to be on it is willing to accept that people will Google their names plus “Jewish” and get a result. In today’s political and cultural atmosphere, that’s not nothing.
Subscribe to The Jewish Angle wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll have more updates on Substack and The CJN’s own daily newsletter.
Bonjour Chai, which Phoebe co-hosted for the past couple years, has now concluded its run: Avi Finegold will be helming Not in Heaven, a podcast about current Jewish communal, religious and spiritual lives and times, alongside weekly panelists Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl—also premiering soon.
The CJN’s opinion editor Phoebe Maltz Bovy can be reached at [email protected], not to mention @phoebebovy on Bluesky, and @bovymaltz on X.
