Israel’s Minister of the Hyphen (Tablet Magazine, April 11, 2022)

Minister of Religious Services Matan Kahana arrives at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on June 14, 2021EMMANUEL DUDANDE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Matti Friedman Matan Kahana’s lonely battle to build a religious-Zionist-labor-Orthodox-democratic Jewish state It’s impossible to understand Matan Kahana, the surprise star of the current Israeli government, or to grasp the spirit of the coalition that has governed here for …

Who by Fire book events, spring 2022

Some upcoming book events (live and in person!) in the US and Canada: Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Los Angeles: Writers Bloc at the Skirball Center, 7:30 p.m. With Rabbi David Wolpe and a musical guest Sunday, April 3, 2022,Toronto: 11:30a.m., Beth Tikvah (3080 Bayview) Monday, April 4, 2022, New York: Streicker Center, 6 p.m. With author Abigail Pogrebin and a …

The New Ukrainian Aliyah (Tablet Magazine, Mar. 7, 2022)

Israel’s last wave of Ukrainian and Russian Jews is preparing to absorb the next one Matti Friedman New people with old stories are sitting on the benches in Nahariya, the beach town in northern Israel where my parents live. One woman sits in a park near the Jewish Agency’s immigrant absorption center, holding her smartphone and crying as another woman’s …

Chinese Itzik Comes to Haifa (Tablet Magazine, Jan. 10, 2022)

Beijing’s courtship of Israel has been canny and effective Matti Friedman Last week I drove up to Haifa to see with my own eyes a sight that, for most Israelis, has yet to sink in: the country’s brand new port, our third, which is beautiful, automated, efficient, and operated by the same Chinese company that runs the megaport at Shanghai. …

Israel’s Country Music Wizard (Tablet Magazine, July 8, 2021)

Kobi Oz might be the most influential musician in Israel. His songs brought Mizrahi stylings into the mainstream, painting a vivid portrait of a place coming to terms with its Middle Eastern identity. By Matti Friedman (Read the piece in Tablet here.) Who is the most important Israeli musician of the last generation? Not the most gifted or popular, but …

Jerusalem of Glue (Tablet Magazine, May 11, 2021)

  (Read the piece at Tablet here.) The idea of a complex place is anathema to the current mood in America and the West, where many people seem to be regressing to a world of childhood, of heroes and monsters. As I sit here typing by a window in Jerusalem, many seem to believe that Israel is attacking Muslim worshippers at …

Israel’s Problems Are Not Like America’s (The Atlantic, May 24, 2021)

When many Westerners peer out at the world, what they’re really looking for is a mirror. By Matti Friedman Rereading exodus, the schmaltzy 1958 best seller about Israel that became a Hollywood movie starring Paul Newman, I was surprised by something I hadn’t noticed as a teenager. The author, Leon Uris, describes a utopia of brave young pioneers in khaki shorts, farming when …

Speaking dates, November 2019

A few upcoming dates in the U.S. (click on date for more details): Wednesday, November 6 7:30-9:30 pm, Alper JCC Book Festival program, at Temple Judea in Coral Gables, FL Thursday, November 7 7:30-9:30 pm, Levis JCC Sandler Center, B’nai Torah Congregation of Boca Raton, FL Monday, November 11 1:00-3:00 pm, Columbia Hillel, NYC (details to come) Tuesday, November 12 …