Jason Harris, at The Blogs

Mar 28, 2023, 7:54 AM

“We’re one but we’re not the same, We get to carry each other, carry each other…” — from the song “One”, by U2 The Israeli commentators I listen to — many of whom publish in this paper — are begging Diaspora Jews...

Jun 1, 2022, 7:00 AM

In The Valley of Hell, Where We Sacrifice Our Children

The United States is one of the few remaining cultures that regularly practices child sacrifice. Such a gruesome blasphemy might seem a dark relic of the ancient past, but the ritual is very much ongoing here in our country. In...

Jul 20, 2020, 8:22 PM

Are Jews indigenous to Israel? Yes.

In a tweet that went viral on July 7, Rabbi Andrue Kahn, Assistant Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in New York City, declared, “Let me say this as plainly as possible: Jews are not an indigenous people.” He’s wrong. The full...

Jul 13, 2020, 11:46 PM

Explained: West Bank “Annexation”

The recent headlines about Israel have blared the word “annexation,” often with a dire warning of the local, regional, and global consequences were Israel to formally adopt a chunk of territory in the West Bank known as the Jordan...

May 27, 2020, 8:06 PM

‘He was our Eichmann’

The murderers were captured 60 years apart but the message spans across time: war criminals are not safe. I had just wrapped up my Jew Oughta Know podcast miniseries on the capture and trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann when...

Feb 8, 2019, 12:03 PM

Featured Post

Oh please, Birthright is more than a ‘fluid exchange’

My most recent Birthright Israel group at the top of Masada, December 2018

The quip is a cheap shot -- some truly meaningful moments happen when Americans and Israelis just hang out together

Nov 2, 2018, 4:43 AM

A particular view for a universal act of violence

I’ve been to Shabbat services hundreds of times so I can envision exactly what the Pittsburgh congregants were doing when the murderer came for them. Although I’ve never been to Tree of Life I am intimately familiar with the...

Aug 30, 2018, 9:46 AM

My Birthright Israel frame

I just read Rabbi Philip Graubart’s excellent eJP essay, "Their Birthright Problem, and Ours" on honesty and thoughtfulness in Jewish and Israel education. He writes about a recent experience leading an Israel trip for his students in which complex...

Aug 10, 2018, 9:15 PM

Leading a Birthright Israel trip is both this and that

We all know that first impressions are essential. Which is why I have a particular complication. I frequently lead Birthright Israel trips, and my participants first encounter me at three in the morning at the airport in San Francisco....

Aug 2, 2018, 1:19 AM

Zionist history this is not

The Knesset Menorah, symbol of Israel, in Jerusalem. Photo by Jason Harris.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the recent nation-state law “is a pivotal moment in the history of Zionism and the State of Israel.” He’s wrong. The law fails to make explicit the foundational principles of Israel’s Jewish democracy,...

About Me

Jason Harris is the creator and host of Jew Oughta Know, a popular podcast on Jewish and Israeli history. He has led hundreds of young adults on trips to Israel, and holds master's degrees in Jewish studies from Brandeis University. Prior to his work in the Jewish community he served as a senior staffer to a U.S. Member of Congress. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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