Best of 2025: SAPIR’s 10 most-read pieces from the past year

In 2025, SAPIR marked its fifth year with issues on the timely themes of Diversity, Activism, Chosenness, and Money. As the year draws to a close, we look back at some the most sharply argued and provocative SAPIR articles, from contributors including Toba Hellerstein, Meir Y. Soloveichik, Robert P. George, and Malka Shaw. Dive back into the 10 most-read pieces from 2025. Happy new year!

1. Toba Hellerstein: “Actually, Feelings Don’t Care About Your Facts”

“You don’t bring facts to a feelings fight,” argues Toba Hellerstein, a researcher and the founder of the consulting firm Attune Now. In a study published earlier this year, she cut against the prevailing strategies of pro-Israel activism, contending that they often end up undermining their goals. Is there a better way? Read her article, this year’s most read.

2. Mijal Bitton: “Why I Am Not a Jew of Color”

Where did the term Jew of color come from? Scholar and researcher Mijal Bitton traces the origins of the word to a combative political movement, one that’s at odds with her experience and outlook as a Mizrahi Jew. The term “feels more focused on ‘white’ Jews than on people like me,” she writes, glossing that “many of our conversations about Jews of color relied on two false assumptions.” What were they? Read her article and watch her SAPIR Conversation with Associate Editor Felicia Herman.

3. Bret Stephens: “Jews Were Chosen to Think”

If it’s a commonplace dictum that the Jewish people are the “chosen people,” a question naturally follows: chosen for what? SAPIR Editor-in-Chief Bret Stephens argues that Jews were entrusted an intellectual duty, and that the long and illustrious story of such Jewish achievement is the result of a unique heritage composed of “Jewish ideas, role models, practices, and historical experiences.” Read his essay from the Chosenness issue.

4. Ariella Saperstein: “Why Has Palestinian Activism Been So Successful?”

Across the world, activism for the Palestinian cause (and against Israel) has followed a tried and tested playbook for successful political movements, explains SAPIR Associate Publisher Ariella Saperstein. What have Israel’s opponents learned about movement-building, and why hasn’t the pro-Israel camp adopted a similar strategy? Read her essay.

5. Meir Y. Soloveichik: “Jewish Identity vs. Identity Politics”

Taking a page from a book by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik asks whether democracies can function when they contain fundamentally different cultural communities. He considers the implications of this question for multiculturalism, and asks whether it’s possible to champion strong Jewish identities while rejecting identity politics. Read his essay from the Diversity issue and watch his SAPIR Conversation with Bret Stephens.

6. Robert P. George: “An Unbreakable Covenant”

Startled by the fresh resurgence of antisemitism among some Catholic influencers, Princeton professor Robert P. George has found it increasingly urgent to explain “that Catholic teaching leaves no room for the denial of Judaism’s continued validity and significance.” Instead, George offers a nuanced Catholic perspective on God’s covenant with the Jewish people and their role in the divine mystery of salvation. Read his essay and watch his SAPIR Conversation with Bret Stephens.

7. Malka Shaw: “The Encampment Mindset”

A messy web of psychological factors lies behind students’ appetite for defiant activism, posits Malka Shaw, a therapist. She lays out why activism appeals to young adults, and why the flimsy responses of many university administrators invited escalating attacks on campus over the past year. Read her article from the Activism issue.

8. Michael Eisenberg: “Building Israel’s Trillion-Dollar Economy”

What is the next economic step for Israel? While the economic liberalization of recent decades has transformed Israel from a socialist kludge into a high-tech dynamo, the country may require a new approach to governing in order to enter a new era. Eisenberg calls on Israeli policymakers to “adopt a business-state mentality to meet the challenges of the next decade.” Read his essay from the Money issue and watch his recent SAPIR Conversation.

9. Jordan Chandler Hirsch: “The Need for a Jewish Sovereign Wealth Fund”

If the so-called golden age of American Jewry is truly ending, how can American Jews ensure that their community and its interests will be protected? Taking inspiration from the “recent success of the Gulf states in transactional America,” Hirsch proposes that a “wealth fund would allow the Jewish community to invite allies and skeptics alike into mutually beneficial investments. It could help key players solve their problems and achieve their goals, thereby securing support for ours.” Read his essay and watch his recent SAPIR Conversation alongside Ronald Reagan Institute director Roger Zakheim.

10. Edward Rothstein: “Museums and Their Discontents”

How did museums — institutions meant to be treasuries of culture — fall into the grip of reductive political grandstanding and activism? Rothstein argues it’s been happening longer than you think. Read his essay from the Activism issue.