Why Israel Matters: American Jewish Identity After October 7

About this Event

Why do so many American Jews feel a deep and abiding connection to Israel as a homeland? And why do many now feel estranged from, or even betrayed by, the human rights and social justice movements they once saw as natural allies? Dr. Mijal Bitton, a sociologist of American Jewry and a leading public voice on Jewish identity, joins Mathias Risse, Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Director of the Carr Ryan Center for Human Rights, to take up these questions. Bringing both scholarly insight and her experience as a Sephardic community leader, Bitton will reflect on the layered histories and identities that shape how American Jews relate to Israel today, and on what this moment reveals about belonging, solidarity, and the communities we count as our own. In pe…

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