Sellout crowd, spike in sales for author whose talk was canceled over pro-Israel moderator
Author Joshua Leifer jokes about sending a fruit basket to thank whoever shut last week’s event down
Author Joshua Leifer, left, in conversation with Rabbi Andy Bachman at the Center for New Jewish Culture in Brooklyn. Photo by Beth Harpaz
By Beth Harpaz August 27, 2024
A Jewish author whose book launch was canceled because of a conflict over a pro-Israel moderator got a sellout crowd at a rescheduled event.
“Someone asked me what should happen to the person who decided not to do the event,” author Joshua Leifer told the audience Monday. “I said I’m going to send them a fruit basket.”
Media coverage of last week’s cancellation also boosted sales for Leifer’s book, Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life.
The book ranked No. 1 and 2 in several themed categories on Amazon for days after the cancellation of the original Aug. 20 event. Its overall sales ranking soared as well.
“A blanket ban” on Zionism is not only “wrong and antisemitic, but it’s also the dumbest strategic thing you can do,” Leifer said.
But “it’s not bad for selling books,” responded Rabbi Andy Bachman, who led the discussion Monday and whose planned participation in the original event led to it being called off.
Three hundred people showed up to the rescheduled event at the Center for New Jewish Culture in Brooklyn. In contrast, only about two dozen had turned out for the original talk at the Powerhouse Arena bookstore, also in Brooklyn.
“In large part, this sanctuary is filled because of what happened,” Bachman said.
The original incident
The Powerhouse event was shut down after a bookstore employee told Leifer, “We don’t want a Zionist on our stage,” referring to Bachman. He is the former rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, and founder of the progressive group Brooklyn Jews. Bachman has come under fire in the past for defending Israel’s right to exist.
Bookstore owner Daniel Power said the worker who disinvited Bachman violated store policy and then quit before he could fire her.
Hate mail
While the bookstore employee objected to Bachman’s pro-Israel views, Bachman said both he and Leifer had been “on the receiving end of really bad emails from people, Jews,” who don’t like Leifer’s criticism of Israel.
Leifer said he has been getting multiple emails a day “that have, in all caps in the subject line, ‘You’re a kapo.’” The term “kapo” refers to Jews who served as enforcers for the Nazis and is used to insult someone viewed as a traitor.
At the same time, because the cancellation of the talk was viewed by many Jews as antisemitic, Leifer says he is now being “used cynically” by his adversaries. “People who two years ago would have blacklisted me are now saying, ‘What can we do for you, now that your event got blacklisted?’” he said.
Leifer said his book examines the “end of communal consensus around what it means to be an American Jew.” He also said that the failure of contemporary U.S. Jewish institutions to engage and represent progressive Jews in meaningful ways has intensified since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza.
Correction: The venue for Monday’s talk was the Center for New Jewish Culture.
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