Bold, timely essay addresses demonization of Zionism; strategy for Jews to reclaim the term
The venerable intellectual and literary journal, The Jewish Quarterly, is expanding its distribution to North America this summer, announced publisher Morry Schwartz.
Starting with the June 2025 issue, which features a single, staggering 20,000-word essay by journalist Adam Kirsch entitled “The Z Word,” readers in the United States and Canada will be introduced to the 72-year-old publication founded by Ukrainian editor and author Jacob Sonntag in 1953. You can click here to read the essay.
The Jewish Quarterly, known as the JQ, is headquartered in Australia. Though its devoted readership is worldwide, the publication has been virtually unknown in North America.
With the release of the June issue, Schwartz hopes to change that. “The JQ has cultivated literary journalism of the highest standard for more than seven decades. Our contributors are stellar, at the very top of their fields. We address matters of urgent importance. We have long aspired to expand to the North American market and now is the time,” he said.
In this spirit, Schwartz assigned critic and poet Adam Kirsch to write about the hot-button issue of Zionism for the forthcoming issue of the JQ. The result — “The Z Word,” is a complex and comprehensive exploration of the current trend toward demonizing Zionism. In his article, Kirsch advances a strategy for Jews to reclaim the term.
Howard Jacobson, the British novelist, journalist and winner of the Man Booker Prize offered high praise for “The Z Word.”
“It isn’t easy to find a path of reason through the mendacities that engulf Zionism right now, or through the fear and heartbreak of its defenders. But Adam Kirsch, historian, Talmudic scholar and poet, keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs,” he said.
The North American launch of the JQ follows on the heels of its redesign in 2021. The March 2025 issue, by academic Cary Nelson, explored the toxic intellectual and political atmosphere on American college campuses following October 7th. Future issues of the JQ feature Tom Segev on Gaza and the Jews and Tanya Gold on the shameless exploitation of the Holocaust in popular culture.
“The JQ’s mission is not to advocate, but to investigate complex and pressing matters of politics, religion, history and culture, and to do so in depth,” stated the JQ’s editor, Jonathan Pearlman.
For further information about The Jewish Quarterly, or to arrange an interview with editor Jonathan Pearlman or author Adam Kirsch, contact Shira Dicker at [email protected] or 917.403.3989. Please click here for information about subscriptions.
ABOUT “THE Z WORD”
In the aftermath of October 7, Zionism has increasingly been used by critics of Israel as a term of derision. From university campuses to TikTok and Twitter/X, the term is employed as a self-evident slur that presumes that Zionists are racist and supremacist.
Yet, as Kirsch writes in this groundbreaking essay, the challenge for Jews today is not merely to counter attempts to distort and corrupt the meaning and origins of Zionism. The Jewish people, he argues, do not need to defend the term – they need to reclaim it.
The Z Word reckons with the current trajectory of a people: in an age in which Jewish existence is under threat, the promise of Zionism is essential.
Adam Kirsch is a poet, critic and editor at The Wall Street Journal, whose books include The People and the Books: Eighteen Classics of Jewish Literature and On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence and Justice.
Release date: June 2025
ISBN: 9781760645458
Imprint: The Jewish Quarterly
Format: Paperback Size: 224 x 149mm
Contact:
Shira Dicker
Shira Dicker Media International
9174033989
[email protected]
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RNS or Religion News Foundation.