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Benjamin Kerstein

Benjamin Kerstein is a writer, editor and novelist, and a fellow at the Z3 Institute. His latest work is Self Defense: A Jewish Manifesto (2025).

As a form of Jewish messianism, the movement will always be torn between the political and the religious.
On Memorial Day, we pay respects to our brokenness, and on Independence Day, we celebrate that it has made us strong.
There may be two kinds of Israelis, but they both need to take a long look in the mirror.
Now being rediscovered, the great psychoanalyst’s method was identical to Judaism’s understanding of the Torah.
Attempting to enact major change without a broad consensus can only result in controversy, polarization and, in the end, continuing unrest.
“Maybe we’ll split,” a left-wing friend nonchalantly told me.
Both sides of the roiling debate over reforms to the Israeli judiciary are right—and wrong.
It is usually a bad thing to call one’s opponents Nazis, but it also reminds us that evil is very real.
American Jews, whether we like it or not, have a stake in what kind of society Israel becomes.
The Nazis’ Generalplan Ost proves that while the antisemites may not be coming for everybody, they are coming for almost everybody.
If Jewish leaders won’t stand up to a powerful antisemite, they should be replaced.
The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s defense of Ilhan Omar is an expression of contemptuous privilege.