Alex Press
@alexanderpress.bsky.social
Jewish (Non-)Identity, jewishnonidentity.substack.com; Always the Oddball: A Family Story, alexpress.substack.com
Some news from the past few days: the genocide continues (per Amnesty International), recorded Gaza deaths surpass 70,000, torture of Palestinian prisoners is systematic, and 32,000 people have been displaced in the West Bank.
December 1, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Some news from the past few days: the genocide continues (per Amnesty International), recorded Gaza deaths surpass 70,000, torture of Palestinian prisoners is systematic, and 32,000 people have been displaced in the West Bank.
“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will always have been against this.”
A review of Omar El Akkad’s new book.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com/p/future-imp...
A review of Omar El Akkad’s new book.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com/p/future-imp...
August 23, 2025 at 6:51 PM
“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will always have been against this.”
A review of Omar El Akkad’s new book.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com/p/future-imp...
A review of Omar El Akkad’s new book.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com/p/future-imp...
When Derek Penslar, a professor of Jewish history, was appointed as co-chair of Harvard’s Antisemitism Task Force in January 2024, all hell broke loose. But why was the appointment so triggering? “Hooked on a Feeling”: a review of Penslar’s Zionism: An Emotional State. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:42 PM
When Derek Penslar, a professor of Jewish history, was appointed as co-chair of Harvard’s Antisemitism Task Force in January 2024, all hell broke loose. But why was the appointment so triggering? “Hooked on a Feeling”: a review of Penslar’s Zionism: An Emotional State. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
Liberal Zionism: The Forward's antisemitism beat reporter, Arno Rosenfeld, is bemused by Zohran Mamdani’s formulation that Israel “has a right to exist as a state with equal rights.” As Rosenfeld puts it, “Were his opponents supposed to say that Israel shouldn’t exist as a state with equal rights?"
July 3, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Liberal Zionism: The Forward's antisemitism beat reporter, Arno Rosenfeld, is bemused by Zohran Mamdani’s formulation that Israel “has a right to exist as a state with equal rights.” As Rosenfeld puts it, “Were his opponents supposed to say that Israel shouldn’t exist as a state with equal rights?"
“Third Person Plural: The Syntax of a Moral Panic.” A review of Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender?
As a bugbear of the Right (and target of fearmongering), “gender” sits alongside “critical race theory.” Butler explores the phantasms behind the demagoguery.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com
As a bugbear of the Right (and target of fearmongering), “gender” sits alongside “critical race theory.” Butler explores the phantasms behind the demagoguery.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com
June 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
“Third Person Plural: The Syntax of a Moral Panic.” A review of Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender?
As a bugbear of the Right (and target of fearmongering), “gender” sits alongside “critical race theory.” Butler explores the phantasms behind the demagoguery.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com
As a bugbear of the Right (and target of fearmongering), “gender” sits alongside “critical race theory.” Butler explores the phantasms behind the demagoguery.
jewishnonidentity.substack.com
”It’s Not Complicated: Getting ’The Message’ on Israel-Palestine.” A review of The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (non-)identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:14 AM
”It’s Not Complicated: Getting ’The Message’ on Israel-Palestine.” A review of The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (non-)identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
“One-State, Two-State...
In the Midst of a Genocide, Dreaming of an ‘After.’ ” A review of Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, by Omri Boehm. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
In the Midst of a Genocide, Dreaming of an ‘After.’ ” A review of Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, by Omri Boehm. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
May 19, 2025 at 1:04 AM
“One-State, Two-State...
In the Midst of a Genocide, Dreaming of an ‘After.’ ” A review of Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, by Omri Boehm. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
In the Midst of a Genocide, Dreaming of an ‘After.’ ” A review of Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, by Omri Boehm. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
" 'God Wants Relationships.' But Are We Too Clingy?" A review of Judaism Is about Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life, by Shai Held. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
May 5, 2025 at 5:04 AM
" 'God Wants Relationships.' But Are We Too Clingy?" A review of Judaism Is about Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life, by Shai Held. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
"It Starts with a 'G': 'Your Friendly, Local, Anti-Zionist Jewish Anarchist' Wants to Have a Word With You": A review of "Genocide Bad," by @simkern.bsky.social. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. (Link in my bio.)
April 22, 2025 at 12:32 AM
"It Starts with a 'G': 'Your Friendly, Local, Anti-Zionist Jewish Anarchist' Wants to Have a Word With You": A review of "Genocide Bad," by @simkern.bsky.social. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Identity. (Link in my bio.)
The Struggle Is Real: Two Establishment Voices Grapple with Jewish Identity, and Identification with the Jewish State." A review of Noah Feldman's To Be a Jew Today and Elliot Cosgrove's For Such a Time as This. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Idenity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
April 9, 2025 at 9:25 AM
The Struggle Is Real: Two Establishment Voices Grapple with Jewish Identity, and Identification with the Jewish State." A review of Noah Feldman's To Be a Jew Today and Elliot Cosgrove's For Such a Time as This. Part of my ongoing exploration of Jewish (Non-)Idenity. jewishnonidentity.substack.com
In Haaretz, Hanin Majadli, examines the blackout of Gazan deaths. Meanwhile, in The Forward, Rob Eshman touts Israel's ranking "the 8th happiest country on earth" but does not consider indifference to slaughter as a way to stay happy—for him, it's just a matter of "airstrikes and ground operations."
March 23, 2025 at 12:41 AM
In Haaretz, Hanin Majadli, examines the blackout of Gazan deaths. Meanwhile, in The Forward, Rob Eshman touts Israel's ranking "the 8th happiest country on earth" but does not consider indifference to slaughter as a way to stay happy—for him, it's just a matter of "airstrikes and ground operations."
From Haaretz: The Israeli defense minister tells the people of Gaza, already displaced, starving, and immiserated, that they "will pay the full price" for the actions of Hamas and suffer "complete ruin and destruction," unless they "expel" it—an impossibility, of course. Genocidal intent on display.
March 20, 2025 at 1:19 AM
From Haaretz: The Israeli defense minister tells the people of Gaza, already displaced, starving, and immiserated, that they "will pay the full price" for the actions of Hamas and suffer "complete ruin and destruction," unless they "expel" it—an impossibility, of course. Genocidal intent on display.
"What's Left of Jewishness?: Four Manifestos from the Edge of the Communal Tent." A review of Shaul Magid's The Necessity of Exile, Joshua Leifer's Tablets Shattered, Peter Beinart's Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza, and Daniel Boyarin's The No-State Solution jewishnonidentity.substack.com
February 22, 2025 at 6:15 AM
"What's Left of Jewishness?: Four Manifestos from the Edge of the Communal Tent." A review of Shaul Magid's The Necessity of Exile, Joshua Leifer's Tablets Shattered, Peter Beinart's Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza, and Daniel Boyarin's The No-State Solution jewishnonidentity.substack.com
When neither Judaism itself nor Zionism can any longer be taken for granted, what's left of Jewishness? Introducing a new series. jewishnonidentity.substack.com.
February 22, 2025 at 6:10 AM
When neither Judaism itself nor Zionism can any longer be taken for granted, what's left of Jewishness? Introducing a new series. jewishnonidentity.substack.com.
In the crucible of Covid isolation, the trifecta of autistic traits kept forming and re-forming: social difficulties, sensory sensitivities, repetitive behavior. The final chapter of Always the Oddball is now available at alexpress.substack.com (Posted, with regret, amid L.A.'s horrific wildfires.)
January 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
In the crucible of Covid isolation, the trifecta of autistic traits kept forming and re-forming: social difficulties, sensory sensitivities, repetitive behavior. The final chapter of Always the Oddball is now available at alexpress.substack.com (Posted, with regret, amid L.A.'s horrific wildfires.)
What connects my parents, Daniel Mendelsohn, Judith Butler, Sigmund Freud, and the lady downstairs? Chapter 11 of Always the Oddball is now available at alexpress.substack.com.
January 2, 2025 at 7:42 AM
What connects my parents, Daniel Mendelsohn, Judith Butler, Sigmund Freud, and the lady downstairs? Chapter 11 of Always the Oddball is now available at alexpress.substack.com.
Choosing an identity different from the one assigned at birth takes many forms. Trans-ing, chapter 10 of Always the Oddball, is now available at alexpress.substack.com.
December 27, 2024 at 1:31 AM
Choosing an identity different from the one assigned at birth takes many forms. Trans-ing, chapter 10 of Always the Oddball, is now available at alexpress.substack.com.
The Russian Revolution, Nazism, Stalinist convulsions, the siege of Leningrad, the Vichy regime—Simeon Zeiber‘s four children each found ways of surviving the cruelty of the twentieth century. Para-histories, chapter 9 of Always the Oddball, is now available on Substack (link in bio).
December 20, 2024 at 5:39 AM
The Russian Revolution, Nazism, Stalinist convulsions, the siege of Leningrad, the Vichy regime—Simeon Zeiber‘s four children each found ways of surviving the cruelty of the twentieth century. Para-histories, chapter 9 of Always the Oddball, is now available on Substack (link in bio).
My great-great-grandfather had eight brothers. All had different names. None were soldiers in the Russian army. Evasions and Refusals, chapter 8 of Always the Oddball, is now available on Substack (link in bio).
December 20, 2024 at 5:36 AM
My great-great-grandfather had eight brothers. All had different names. None were soldiers in the Russian army. Evasions and Refusals, chapter 8 of Always the Oddball, is now available on Substack (link in bio).
The Sheitel in the Drawer: On Crossing Over and Coming Out into the Light. Chapter 7 of Always the Oddball considers the proverbial eshet chayil (“woman of valor”), from Ellis Island to an upstate bungalow colony. Now available on Substack (link in bio).
December 20, 2024 at 5:01 AM
The Sheitel in the Drawer: On Crossing Over and Coming Out into the Light. Chapter 7 of Always the Oddball considers the proverbial eshet chayil (“woman of valor”), from Ellis Island to an upstate bungalow colony. Now available on Substack (link in bio).
From a magical Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone to an unforgiving river in Russia and a horrifying scalp treatment, youthful brushes with the uncanny and with mortality itself create the stories that never let go. Chapter 6 of Always the Oddball is now available on Substack.
November 29, 2024 at 7:37 AM
From a magical Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone to an unforgiving river in Russia and a horrifying scalp treatment, youthful brushes with the uncanny and with mortality itself create the stories that never let go. Chapter 6 of Always the Oddball is now available on Substack.
The first chapter of Always the Oddball concerns a long-ago conversation with my father's cousin Steve and its queer reverberations. (alexpress.substack.com)
November 18, 2024 at 7:42 PM
The first chapter of Always the Oddball concerns a long-ago conversation with my father's cousin Steve and its queer reverberations. (alexpress.substack.com)
There are so many ways to be an odd person. Which kind of odd are you?
November 17, 2024 at 4:36 AM
There are so many ways to be an odd person. Which kind of odd are you?
Unfortunately, these charts remain evergreen.
November 17, 2024 at 1:19 AM
Unfortunately, these charts remain evergreen.