Ruth Wisse
Know before Who You Stand, Is Also a Politial Imperative

Ruth R. Wisse is Senior Fellow at Tikvah and Professor Emerita of Yiddish literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Her books on literature include The Schlemiel as Modern Hero (1971), The Modern Jewish Canon: A Journey through Language and Culture (2000), and No Joke: Making Jewish Humor (2013). Her writing on politics includes the books Jews and Power (2007), and If I Am Not for Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews, 1992, reissued 2026, with a note from the publisher Adam Bellow.