Samuel J. Abrams
ARTICLES BY: Samuel J. Abrams
The Case for Israel Will Be Won at Homes and Kitchen Tables, Not on Social Media
The Harvard Institute of Politics released its 52nd Youth Poll. Most of the headlines focused on the despair - only 13 percent of Americans aged 18...
To Fight Antisemitism, Rebuild the Core Curriculum
Walk into almost any college classroom today and try a simple exercise: ask students to explain when, why, and by whom the modern state of...
How to Respond to the Moment: After the Rupture, the Rebuild
I often teach with photographs. In my Politics and geography course, I not only present arguments, data, figures, and charts, I show pictures – of...
How to Improve and Build US-Israel Ties for the Long-Term
The current war with Iran, sparked by US-backed Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, will have consequences far beyond the battlefield. Most of...
Why Vanderbilt Is Getting Jewish Life Right and Others Aren’t
This spring, at Vanderbilt University, more than 600 students gathered for a Passover seder - not in a campus center or dining hall, but on the football...
Before They Can Defend It, They Must Know It
Before Passover, I took my son to Borough Park to buy a new Haggadah, part of a small annual ritual and one more way into...
Lessons From the Classroom: By the Time We Try to Teach Democracy, It’s Already Too Late
Ronald Reagan warned that freedom is fragile -- that it must be taught, protected, and deliberately passed from one generation to the next. For years,...
When a Jewish Landmark Disappears, So Does Jewish Presence
Another major Jewish institution has collapsed - and the implications reach far beyond San Francisco. The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) has closed and is selling its...
Why Negative Narratives About Zionism Are Reshaping American Opinion
Support for Israel in the United States is in part a battle of narratives. Pro-Israel advocates emphasize democracy, pluralism, and Israel's role as a refuge...
New York Jews Don’t Need Rhetoric; They Need Equal Justice Under the Law
New York City’s new antisemitism czar, Phylisa Wisdom, has introduced herself with the language of inclusion: “expanding the communal table,” “pulling up additional chairs,” convening stakeholders,...
Redeeming the Time, Rabbinically
We live in a culture that is very good at avoiding ultimate questions. Death is kept offstage. Time is treated as infinite. The modern self...
Misguided Super Bowl Ad: Antisemitism Isn’t a Sticky Note — It’s an Institutional Failure
It is an odd sign of the times that one of the clearest statements about antisemitism this year came not from a university president or...
When Society’s Good Intentions for Jews Replace Equal Citizenship
A secular Manhattan school responded to October 7 by holding a Shabbat gathering. The head of school spoke with moral seriousness. Jewish families felt seen....
As Campuses Reopen in 2026, Jewish Students Face a Deeper Institutional Failure
As college campuses re-open for the Spring 2026 semester, university leaders are eager to project calm. Protest encampments have been cleared. Media attention has drifted....
