The Jewish Angle

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Phoebe Maltz Bovy, a culture critic and opinion editor at The Canadian Jewish News, explores the wider world of modern Jewish life, stuck between dangerous political flanks on both left and right.

9 hrs ago

Broken Pencil, Broken PEN: Hal Niedzviecki on the PEN America scandal

In a move the editor certainly knew would be unpopular among the organization's core audience, PEN America, earliy this month, published an article about the isolation and exclusion of Jewish and Israeli writers. Shortly afterwards, the organization's president resigned, and PEN America issued a statement standing by the piece while reminding everyone that it has also repeatedly condemned Israel—a sequence of events that likely pleased no one. Being ostricized from the publishing world is familiar territory for Toronto writer and cultural critic Hal Niedzviecki, the founding editor of Broken Pencil, a Canadian magazine about zines. After Niedzviecki faced repeated threats of boycotts unless he condemned Israel, he shut down Broken Pencil entirely in 2024. He now joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy to discuss how the publishing industry has imposed a not-so-silent moratorium on Jewish writers, and what the possible solutions are, including kickstarting a new community-driven grant. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://pnc.st/s/jewish-angle
Jul 13

Arno Rosenfeld: Why Democrats could excuse Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo, but not his alleged abuse of women

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner was, for a moment, a Democratic golden boy—an oyster farmer and Marine veteran whose rough-hewn authenticity thrilled progressive strategists. Then came the Reddit posts, the Nazi-linked chest tattoo he claimed not to understand, and finally the rape allegation that collapsed his campaign. But what does it say that a Nazi tattoo and edgelord posting weren't disqualifying, while an accusation of sexual misconduct was? Arno Rosenfeld, who covers antisemitism for the Forward (but is soon joining Haaretz as its Washington correspondent), joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy to unpack the strange dynamics of the Platner saga: how anti-Israel positioning became a permission slip to wave away scandal, why he became the target of two mutually exclusive antisemitic conspiracy theories at once, how "authenticity" got tangled up with a certain kind of white male gentileness, and what Platner's rise and fall reveals about antisemitism's shifting place in the Democratic Party—and whether it's still disqualifying at all. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle
Jun 30

Virginia Karnstein: The straight woman's feminist identity crisis

In May, The CJN's opinion editor, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, published her latest book, The Last Straight Woman. One of the most incisive reviews (from a Jewish writer, no less) was Virginia Karnstein, a PhD candidate whose research crosses feminism, antisemitism and vampires—and, sometimes, the middle of that unique Venn diagram. The Last Straight Woman does not focus on vampires, but it does look at the evolution of feminism and its intersection with sexual orientation and gender identity. So we invited Karnstein onto The Jewish Angle podcast to discuss Maltz Bovy's book, the history of second- and third-wave feminism, separatism, MeToo, tradwives, femcels, the changing cultural status of heterosexual women... and a little bit of vampirism. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle
Jun 16

Kara Jesella: How feminism turned against Jews

For decades, Jewish women played a central role in building feminist movements, shaping ideas about equality, activism, and social justice. Yet as of the last 30 years, they find themselves cast as symbols of privilege, whiteness, and oppression within the very spaces they helped create. How did that happen? Writer and scholar Kara Jesella joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy to discuss her new book, Feminist Antisemitism: An Intellectual History. They explore the evolution of feminist theory, the rise of identity politics and queer theory, the emergence of the “as a Jew” phenomenon, and the ways Jewish women became uniquely positioned within debates over race, power, Zionism, and belonging. The conversation traces a decades-long intellectual history that helps explain some of today's fiercest conflicts over Jewish identity, feminism, and Israel. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle
Jun 2

Josh Yunis: Should Jews focus more on Israel—or deliberately decentre it?

As the Western world grows more hostile to Jewish life—as exemplified by rising attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools, bullying and boycotts—one would think this strengthens the case for Israel's right to exist as a safe homeland for Jews. But Israel's existence, many anti-Zionists argue, is the very reason for so much antisemitism right now. On the flip side, several of those same anti-Zionists wish for Israel to disappear. But then where would the Israeli diaspora go? To the Western world—where they would open up Israeli stores that one can imagine being continued targets of protests and graffiti. These paradoxes have no easy answer. But for writer Josh Yunis, they raise the question of what it means to centre—or deliberately decentre—Israel in contemporary Jewish life. As he writes in a recent article, "On Collective Jewish Guilt", debates over Zionism, diaspora identity, and progressive politics are intensifying while many Jews feel increasingly alienated from leftist movements that once promised solidarity. Yunis joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy on the latest episode of The Jewish Angle to explain more. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle
May 19

Emily Tamkin: Can Hasan Piker be deplatformed?

Hasan Piker, a left-wing provocateur with millions of digital subscribers, injected himself back into the news cycle after appearing alongside writer Jia Tolentino to discuss the ethics of stealing food from big-box grocery stores in the New York Times. Those who keep tabs on the world's most vocal anti-Zionists will recognize Piker's name—he's been called out by the ADL and other Jewish activists for veering into flippant antisemitism, including calling Orthodox Jews "inbred" and calling Zionism a "mental illness". Due to these and other extreme positions, mainstream Jewish organizations would like to silence, or deplatform, Piker in much the same way that extreme right-wing internet activists have been. (See: Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones, et al.) But there's a problem: Hasan Piker isn't just popular, he's becoming mainstream. He has been featured in the New York Times several times before this shoplifting conversation, and he's beginning to join politicians who are soliciting his assistance on the campaign trail. This is more than just millions of subscribers on Twitch and YouTube, and it's a level beyond what Fuentes and Jones ever achieved. So what do you do with a problem like Hasan Piker? Emily Tamkin tried to parse the issue in a recent article in the Forward, "American Jews have a Hasan Piker problem. Solving it is going to hurt". She joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy to dig into the issue on this week's episode of The Jewish Angle. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle
May 5

Susan Weidman Schneider: On 50 years of literary Jewish feminism

In the 1970s, in the wake of an emerging second-wave feminism, women's magazines were expanding rapidly with a unique style. Their focus, however, tended to exclude minorities. Jewish women were seen as privileged "others", not facing the same constraints as their gentile peers. That's why the Winnipeg-born Susan Weidman Schneider founded Lilith, a Jewish feminist magazine, out of New York City in 1976. Lilith was radical in many ways, tackling taboo subjects like abortion and gay rights from a female Jewish perspective. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, Lilith has persevered as a community of literary, engaged and often mature Jewish women, hosting salons and creating a space for Jewish women to express themselves freely. To reflect on its impact, Weidman Schneider joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy on this week's episode of The Jewish Angle. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle
Apr 21

Meg Keene: The quiet muzzling of Jewish fiction writers

When best-selling author Meg Keene tried to pitch her latest novel, she was told—outright, by multiple people in the industry—that her book wouldn't sell. Not because it was too controversial, or violent, or suggestive, but because Keene herself is openly Zionist, and her book included authentic, lived-in Jewish and Israeli references and personalities. Keene isn't the only one facing this. In the last two years, mainstream book publishers have barely released any Jewish fiction—and the only Jewish fiction that does make it through tends to be anti-Zionist or hyper-progressive. It's left Jewish authors in a difficult spot, having to choose sides or be ostricized from their audiences and peers. On this week's episode of The Jewish Angle, host Phoebe Maltz Bovy speaks with Keene about the pressures facing Jewish authors today, from editorial demands to erase cultural specificity to an industry climate shaped by fear of backlash and organized boycotts. Keene worries about the future of Jewish literature and doesn't see the trends reversing any time soon, which would result in a literary ecosystem where Jewish stories are not just harder to tell, but in many cases, disappearing altogether. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle

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Trailer

Trailer: The Jewish Angle with Phoebe Maltz Bovy

Join Phoebe Maltz Bovy, a culture critic and opinion editor at The Canadian Jewish News, as she explores the modern world of Jewish life — with Jews stuck in between dangerous political flanks on both the left and right.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy, a culture critic and opinion editor at The Canadian Jewish News, explores the wider world of modern Jewish life, stuck between dangerous political flanks on both left and right.