We’re delighted to host an intimate conversation between Neal and David Barak-Gorodetsky, author of a compelling new book about a “road not taken” for liberal American Jews and Zionism.

Judah Magnes was an early 20th Century American Zionist leader, liberal rabbi, and the first chancellor of Hebrew University. “Like a prophet unable to suppress his prophecy,” Magnes brought his uniquely American pragmatism and call for a just society to the young Jewish Yishuv in Palestine. He was a fish-out-of-water: some Jewish leaders regarded his politics as conciliatory and dangerous; allies like Martin Buber credited him with restoring their faith in politics. In this candid new biography, Magnes is presented in all his complexity, and we gain a broader perspective on early peacemaking efforts between Jews and Arabs, the American Jewish role in the history of the state, and the charged realities of Israel today.

DAVID BARAK-GORODETSKY is Israel Institute Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago and Director of the Ruderman Program for American Jewish Studies at Haifa University.

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