Don't Know Much About with Naya Lekht

On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with philosopher, professor, and author Andrew Pessin, one of the earliest Jewish academics to warn about the rise of antizionism within higher education.  Pessin reflects on his own “Herzl moment,” the point at which he recognized that antizionism is not a political critique but a modern guise of Jew-hatred. Drawing from personal...

On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Adam L. Fuller, Professor of Political Science at Youngstown State University, to discuss his new book, "The Armed Jew: The Case for Jewish Gun Ownership." While the title might sound like a call for Jews to take up arms, the book is, in fact, a compelling exploration of how a people long defined as “the people of th...

On this episode of Don’t Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht asks, Why have so many Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups failed to counter the antizionist narrative? While antizionism evolved into a sophisticated campaign of disinformation, Jewish advocacy often treated it as mere misinformation, a problem of mistaken facts rather than deliberate deception. Naya breaks down how this misunderstanding...

On this episode of Don’t Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht is joined by James Lindsay, a leading voice on the rise of the “woke right.” Together, they unpack the origins of this movement, examine who may be driving it, and, most alarmingly, discuss why young American patriots are embracing Marxist frameworks rooted in grievance narratives, leaving them vulnerable to dangerous antisemitic and antizi...

On this special episode of Don’t Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht is joined by two of her former students, Shaya and Misha Keyvanfar. Shaya is a junior at UC Berkeley, majoring in Global Studies, while Misha is a senior in high school. Naya sits down with them to get a sense of how college and high school students today think about power, capitalism, Israel, and why traditional Jewish advocacy str...

On this episode of Don’t Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht speaks with Daniel Levine, Rabbi of Orange County Hillel, Lecturer in Jewish Studies at UC Irvine, and host of the  Rabbi Daniel Levine YouTube podcast. Drawing on his knowledge of Jewish history, texts, and working with Jewish college students, Daniel examines the trend within the non-Orthodox Jewish community of centering Israel and Zioni...

On this episode of Don't Know Much About , blogger, marketer, and journalist Hillel Fuld joins Dr. Naya Lekht to reflect on the unique moment facing the Jewish people in the aftermath of the greatest tragedy since the Holocaust: October 7. Fuld offers a fresh perspective on Jewish history that pushes us to look ahead: Where is this surge in antisemitism leading? Can America withstand the risi...

On this episode of Don't Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht speaks with Dillon Hosier, Chief Executive Officer of the Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN), about how California lawmakers, legislators, and advocacy groups have been unprepared to address the challenges of Ethnic Studies. Their conversation explores how activist groups have weaponized “diversity” to advance hidden agendas,...

On this episode, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Freedom Foundation litigator, Shella Alcabes, to discuss the case for being a proud, unapologetic neoconservative in an era where ‘America First’ too often turns into Jews last. We unpack the rise of antisemitism on the right, the dangers of retreating from global leadership, and why confronting Jew-hatred requires moral clarity, not isolationism. Cla...

What if everything you thought you knew about history, education, and Israel was built on a lie? On this episode of Don't Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Natasha H. Pein, a Soviet-born survivor of state-sponsored antizionism. Natasha recounts how Soviet antisemitism shaped her fierce commitment to truth, education, and Jewish advocacy. In 2025, she launched PIE4ALL.org, an ini...

In this episode of Don’t Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Sharon Nik for a timely conversation about the rise of antisemitism on the political right. Together, they trace the emergence of the "woke right" and explore how cultural cues—including fashion trends—can serve as surprising predictors of political shifts. Sharon also shares her powerful personal journey: fleeing I...

What does Theodor Herzl have to do with dodgeball, and why does it matter for Jewish advocacy today? In this thought-provoking episode, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Nicole Bernstein, co-founder of PeerK12, to explore the state of Jewish grassroots leadership in the U.S. From the playground to the political arena, Naya and Nicole examine how Jewish identity, Zionism, and antisemitism intersect in...

In this episode of Don’t Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht explores how modern antisemitism on the "woke right" resembles left-wing conspiracy frameworks—despite often being cloaked in patriotism and Judeo‑Christian rhetoric—and challenges the assumption that love of country shields against blame-driven ideologies. With historical perspective and cultural clarity, Naya highlights how grie...

In this powerful and deeply personal episode of Don’t Know Much About , award-winning journalist, writer, and speaker Tabby Refael joins host Dr. Naya Lekht to explore how stories shaped her identity as a Jewish Iranian refugee and columnist. From bedtime tales in post-revolutionary Iran to columns in the Jewish Journal, Tabby shares how storytelling saved lives, preserved culture, and built resil...

On this episode of Don't Know Much About , Dr. Naya Lekht tackles a difficult but necessary topic: the failure of Jewish leadership. She explores what it truly means for a Jewish organization to fail—and, just as importantly, what it means to succeed. Identifying recurring patterns in Jewish behavior in the diaspora, Naya offers a sobering analysis of why Jewish organizations often fail to re...