Sellout Crowd, Sales Surge After Author’s Talk Canceled Over Pro-Israel Moderator

A Jewish author whose book launch was canceled due to conflict over a pro-Israel moderator saw a packed house at his rescheduled event.

“Someone asked me what should happen to the person who decided not to do the event,” said author Joshua Leifer to the audience on Monday. “I said I’m going to send them a fruit basket.”

Media coverage of last week’s cancellation significantly boosted sales for Leifer’s book, Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life.

The book hit No. 1 and 2 in various themed categories on Amazon for several days after the original event on August 20 was called off. Its overall sales ranking also surged.

“A blanket ban on Zionism is not only wrong and antisemitic, but it’s also the dumbest strategic thing you can do,” Leifer remarked.

“But it’s not bad for selling books,” added Rabbi Andy Bachman, who led the Monday discussion and whose intended participation in the original event had led to its cancellation.

Three hundred people attended the rescheduled event at Union Temple, a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn. In comparison, only about two dozen had shown up for the original talk at the Powerhouse Arena bookstore, also in Brooklyn.

“In large part, this sanctuary is filled because of what happened,” said Bachman.

The Powerhouse event was shut down after a bookstore employee told Leifer, “We don’t want a Zionist on our stage,” referring to Bachman. Bachman, the former rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim and founder of the progressive group Brooklyn Jews, has faced criticism in the past for defending Israel’s right to exist.

Bookstore owner Daniel Power said the worker who disinvited Bachman violated store policy and subsequently quit before she could be fired.

While the bookstore employee objected to Bachman’s pro-Israel views, both Bachman and Leifer have 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 receiving multiple emails daily with subjects in all caps saying, “You’re a kapo.” The term “kapo” refers to Jews who served as enforcers for the Nazis and is used to label someone as a traitor.

At the same time, because many Jews viewed the cancellation as antisemitic, Leifer feels he is now being “used cynically” by his adversaries. “People who two years ago would have blacklisted me are now asking, ‘What can we do for you, now that your event got blacklisted?’” he remarked.

Leifer’s book examines the “end of communal consensus around what it means to be an American Jew.” He also discussed how the failure of contemporary U.S. Jewish institutions to engage and represent progressive Jews in meaningful ways has become more pronounced since Hamas’ October 7 attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza.

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