Defining Antisemitism

Since long before today’s headlines, antisemitism has been a persistent force shaping Jewish life in America and beyond. That historical throughline feels newly urgent: recent events, including the war in Gaza and the resulting protests, as well as increased activity by far-right groups like the Proud Boys, have brought questions of how to identify, define, and prosecute antisemitism to the fore. Bard College President Leon Botstein, Rabbi Joshua Davidson of New York’s Temple Emanu-El, Professor Debórah Dwork, and The New York Historical's Louise Mirrer come together for a timely conversation examining what antisemitism looks like in today’s America and how its past informs its present.

Leon Botstein is the Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities and President of Bard College. Rabbi Joshua Davidson is the senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in New York. Debórah Dwork is an author and director of CUNY Graduate Center’s Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity. Louise Mirrer (moderator) is president and CEO of The New York Historical.