SPRING 2026
Where I Stand in the Crowd: Reflections on Jewish Identity
By Moriah Schranz In the Winter edition of the 2025 Solomon Journal, I wrote about my experience as the only Jew at my public school and living far from the country’s most vibrant centers of Jewish life. As I continued my junior year of high school and began…
Flipping the Board: A Tale of Knights, Queens, and a New Balance of Power
By Claire Ambinder Kanner It was 8:15 AM on February 28 when the first bomb detonated in Tehran. Within minutes, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead. It seemed like another Middle Eastern war was starting, but that interpretation misses the real story. What happened that morning was not simply a…
Never Again
By Lea Levy “Never again, never again,” they repeat We won’t be so blind, so dumb, so weak”Never again, never again,” will the future be so bleak.Eighty-one years later, we are still living in the heatOf insults, attacks, and hate, whenever we cross the street.”Are the signs the…
A Conversation with Dr. Naya Lekht on the Hidden History of a “Respectable” Hatred: Soviet Antizionism
By Claire Ambinder Kanner Dr. Naya Lekht is a leading scholar, educator, writer, and lecturer on contemporary antisemitism, Zionism, and the Holocaust. She is the creator and host of the podcast “Don’t Know Much About,” which discusses contentious historical, geopolitical, and political topics. She is living proof that history…
Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe by Matti Friedman
By Benny Marmor Ever since I first heard the name Hannah Senesh in a seventh-grade Hebrew class, I’ve been fascinated by her story. At the time, it wasn’t her poetry that captivated me, but the way she exemplified commitment to the Jewish people. Armed with the Hebrew she…
Belonging In The Rain / שייכות בגשם
By Roslyn Glick “With water You symbolized Your might in Scripture, to soothe with its drops those in whom was blown a soul, to keep alive the ones who recall the strengths of the rain.” (Prayer for Rain) Outside my homeland, I praise the rain when it ceases…
American Art: An Expression of the Life of a People
By Joey Bender In his 1923 book The Art Spirit, American artist and teacher Robert Henri observed that “Art is the expression of the life of a people.” Henri’s principle, expressing the significance of art, remains integral to understanding American nationhood and its global impact. As the United…
The False Choice Between Jerusalem and Athens
By Zac Geminder Jerusalem versus Athens. Faith versus Reason. Science versus Religion. The narrative is always the same: opposing philosophies too different to ever synthesize. Often, the impression one gets is that they must choose between the two. Athens claims that knowledge comes from reason and skepticism, while…
