Shaul Magid

Shaul Magid teaches Modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School, is a senior research fellow at The Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard, a Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College, and the rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue. His latest book is The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance.

Articles

Religion Dispatches

High Holidays Watch: Seth Rogen's Latest Highlights the 'American Pickle' of Living with Death

Warning: Spoilers ahead I dare say that nobody decides to watch the new Seth Rogen film An American Pickle as inspiration for the High Holidays. Like most people, my wife and I viewed it as a much…

Shaul Magid

September 17, 2020

Article

Religion Dispatches

'Cancel Culture' Is as Old as Religion, And It's Only a Thing Because of Who's Doing the Cancelling

I don’t understand “cancel culture.” I mean, I understand what people mean, but I don’t quite understand why those decrying it claim that it’s something new. I’ve often thought the term itself is born…

Shaul Magid

July 23, 2020

Article

Religion Dispatches

Keep Jews Interesting: It's Time to Stop Being Defined by Anti-Semitism

The recent publication of Bari Weiss’ new book on anti-Semitism and “bedbug-gate” have emphasized the troubling place the Jewish community has found itself in, embodied by Jewish historian Arthur Hertzberg’s proclamation that “The only thing more dangerous for Jews than anti-Semitism is no anti-Semitism.”

Shaul Magid

October 10, 2019

Article