March 22, 2025

CNN | Can Democrats Tap Into Resentment and Rage?

March 22, 2025

The State of Belief | The Rule of Law and the Chaos of MAGA

Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson joins The State of Belief podcast for a deep dive into the state of U.S. politics, the role of the rule of law in preserving democracy, and political attacks against institutions of higher education.

March 22, 2025 – The Rule of Law and the Chaos of MAGA: Jay Michaelson

February 20, 2025

Judaism Unbound | Israel-Palestine Echo Chambers

Jay joins the Judaism Unbound podcast for a conversation exploring centrism and radicalism, misinformation that circulates far and wide on the topic of Israel-Palestine, and how we might strive for a better Jewish collective relationship to this important issue

February 8, 2025

CNN | Trump’s Gaza fantasy flirts with “madman theory”

Dr. Michaelson joins Abby Phillip and the CNN roundtable to discuss Donald Trump's seemingly insane plan to expel two million people from the Gaza Strip.

October 2, 2024

Both/And Podcast | The Real Opus Dei: Human Trafficking, Cult-Like Abuse… and the Supreme Court (with Gareth Gore)

Gareth Gore, author of the shocking new book "Opus" talks about an actual conspiracy far more shocking than the imaginary ones.

September 19, 2024

Jews for a Secular Democracy | Project 2025, Christian Nationalism, and American Jews

Jay explores the implications of Project 2025, a policy agenda coordinated by the Heritage Foundation that aims to reshape American governance under the banner of Christian Nationalism.

September 17, 2024

Both/And Podcast | Why Nothing Really Matters (with Eden Pearlstein)

Jay talks with musician and poet Eden Pearlstein about how Nothing can be more than nihilistic meh, but also a generative absence, and maybe God.

August 13, 2024

State of Belief | Religious Diversity and the 2024 Election

Host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush talks with Jay about his mixed feelings about Pennsylvania’s Jewish governor Josh Shapiro ultimately not joining the ticket, and about the diverse family of Republican VP nominee JD Vance.

August 3, 2024

CNN | Josh Shapiro and American Jewish Anxiety

March 18, 2024

CNN | Do liberal Jews “hate their religion”?

In this segment from CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, Jay responds to Donald Trump's incendiary remark that Jews who support Democrats and criticize Israel's far-right government "hate Israel and hate their religion."

February 20, 2024

CNN: Comedian makes unconventional offer to SCOTUS justice

Republican Strategist Joseph Pinion and Rolling Stone Columnist Jay Michaelson join CNN's Abby Phillip to talk about recent late night shows as the hosts go after Donald Trump and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Watch here on CNN

January 25, 2024

Evolve Podcast: “The Secret That is Not a Secret” with bestselling author Jay Michaelson

Jay joins Bryan Schwartzman, Rabbi Jacob Staub, and Sam Wachs to discuss The Secret That is Not a Secret, to delve into Jay's recent op-eds on Israel, and to reflect on how he's taken care of himself during one of the most emotionally trying times of his life.

October 23, 2023

CNN: The Toxic Discourse about the Israel-Hamas War

Jay Michaelson and Natasha Alford join CNN's Abby Phillip for a frank conversation both about the war and about the targeting of Muslims and Jews in America.

October 21, 2023

The State of Belief Podcast: Religious Leaders on the Violence in the Middle East

Jay joins Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, along with Dr. Celene Ibrahim and Rev. Fred Davie, to discuss the brutal violence in Israel and Gaza.

August 9, 2023

CNN: Rage in America, A Brawl in Montgomery, AL

Videos of a fight between a group of white pontoon boat owners, a Black boat co-captain, and several bystanders have gone viral, pointing to what Jay Michaelson calls "a paroxysm of rage in America."

July 25, 2023

CNN: Are Anti-Israel Comments Equivalent to RFK Jr.’s Antisemitism?

Jay Michaelson and Scott Jennings discuss RFK Jr.'s antisemitic comments and Rep. Pramila Jayapal's controversial comment about Israel and debate whether there is a double-standard.

July 7, 2023

White Flag Podcast: Supreme Court on Discrimination vs. Free Speech

Jay joins Joe Walsh to parse the Supreme Court's decision 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which ruled that a web designer could not be forced to design a website for a same sex wedding.

July 6, 2023

CNN: “Deprogramming” the Trump Cult

Jay Michaelson discusses how people (on right and left) develop conspiratorial and group-think beliefs... and how they can be coaxed out of them.

July 3, 2023

CNN: SCOTUS Anti-Gay Web Designer Case

June 15, 2023

CNN: Trans Activist Banned from White House

June 5, 2023

CNN: On Schools Removing Bibles from Libraries

June 3, 2023

State of Belief Podcast: The Convergence of Gun Idolatry & White Christian Identity

Jay joins host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush to discuss the convergence of gun idolatry and white Christian identity, and the recent political religious efforts to influence judicial nominations.

June 2, 2023

CNN: The Moral Case for Defending Trans People

June 1, 2023

CNN: The GOP vs. Big Business?

May 19, 2023

CNN: Did the Framers intend for Gun Fetishism?

May 19, 2023

CNN: Debating GOP Position on Gun Control with Joe Pinion

December 6, 2022

New Books Network Podcast: The Heresy of Jacob Frank

Dr. Michaelson talks with Professor Schneur Zalman Newfield about "The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth."

November 23, 2022

Evolve Podcast: Why an 18th Century Opponent of Rabbinic Authority Matters Today

Jay Michaelson spent 20 years researching Jacob Frank for his new book, "The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth." Here he joins the Evolve Podcast from Reconstructing Judaism and explains why Frank’s radical philosophy may have been a precursor to how many non-Orthodox Jews relate to tradition today.

October 3, 2022

The Queernesses of Jewish Heresy

From the 17th to 19th centuries, European Judaism witnessed an eruption of ecstasy and eros in a series of heretical and quasi-heretical movements, beginning with the failed messiahs Sabbetai Zevi (1626-76) and Jacob Frank (1726-1791), and continuing through the ‘domestication’ of Sabbateanism by the Hasidism of the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760) and his followers.  These movements offered intensified spiritual experiences, complete with sublimated and non-sublimated erotic expression.  They were also, in various ways, queer, including the ambiguously gendered Sabbetai, the liberation of sexuality as harbinger of the messianic age, the leadership and power of women in Sabbatean and Frankist communities, the female messiah in Frank’s imaginaire, and sexualized worship and homoerotic/homosocial bonds among the Hasidim.

June 13, 2022

Identity / Crisis Podcast: Jews, Gun Violence, and the Second Amendment

On the Identity/Crisis podcast, Jay Michaelson joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss gun control, the Second Amendment, and what it means to be part of a political culture that cannot keep its citizens safe.