Trust and Truth in a Polarized Era

Mijal Bitton in conversation with Yascha Mounk about the seeming breakdown of truth and faith in this polarized moment.

October 28, 2020

October 28, 2020

Dr. Mijal Bitton is a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and the Rosh Kehilla (communal leader) and co-founder of the Downtown Minyan in New York City. Mijal received a BA from Yeshiva University and earned her doctorate from New York University, where she conducted an ethnographic study of a Syrian Jewish community with a focus on developing the field of contemporary Sephardic studies in America. She is an alumna of the

Yascha Mounk

Judaism Citizenship and Democracy, Politics, Hartman@Home, Video

Americans are experiencing a deep crisis of trust. We see our partisan opponents as dangerous, have lost faith in our politicians and increasingly struggle with figuring out what is true and what isn’t. The threats of rising populism, extremism, and polarization draw from the very foundations of our social lives, including our reliance on social media. Considering this, how are we to understand this crisis? And what are ways of responding morally – and Jewishly – to the seeming breakdown of truth and faith in this polarized moment?

Mijal Bitton in conversation with political scientist, journalist, and founder of Persuasion magazine Yascha Mounk, one of the world’s leading experts on the crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of populism.

Presented in partnership with the National Museum of American Jewish History