There were times when Abel Horwitz needed to be escorted to his car after performing his one-man show, “Kosher Salt.” What kind of show calls for an escort? One that tackles antisemitism — and how to solve it — once and for all. “Every time I’m doing the show I’m aware that I announce publicly where I’m going to be and what time, and that makes me very nervous,” Horwitz admitted.
Thankfully, he hasn’t been physically attacked, but online harassment — mostly from trolls — has been frequent. Some friends didn’t appreciate his stance on Israel, and those friendships ended. But others surprised him. “I have a very close friend who was sending me some very aggressive and angry text messages about Israel bombing Iran to a group chat we are both a part of,” Horwitz recalled.
He responded calmly, suggested a phone call, and what followed was a series of respectful conversations, each rooted in dialogue and fact-checking. The two now engage in ongoing discussions where both sides are heard.
“He’s listening to me, trying to understand where I’m coming from, and willing to change his point of view the more he learns,” Horwitz said. “I’d much prefer to focus on friends like that than those who probably weren’t my real friends to begin with.”
“Kosher Salt” is a bold, satirical show that uses absurdist comedy to tackle the serious and deeply troubling rise of antisemitism. Blending humor with hard truths, Horwitz leans into the outlandishness of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories — at one point performing as a shapeshifting lizard from outer space — as a way to disarm the audience before confronting them with the real-world consequences of hate speech and Holocaust denial.
Rather than focus on the complexities of the current Middle East conflict, Horwitz directs attention to the broader surge in antisemitic rhetoric since 2016, and the disturbing ignorance of Holocaust history among young Americans. The show’s goal is clear: To entertain, provoke thought and spark dialogue about the persistence of antisemitism in modern society.
What led Abel Horwitz to write “Kosher Salt” began on Oct. 7, 2023. On that day, “Abandon,” a show in Las Vegas that he had co-written and produced, opened. It had taken him two years to develop and canceling wasn’t an option. After all, the show must go on.
Toward the end of the run, Horwitz went to see a production of “Indecent” by Paula Vogel, which tells the story behind God of Vengeance, the play that featured the first lesbian kiss in Broadway history. “The show came from a Jewish theater, and to watch a distinctly Jewish show and hear Yiddish spoken on stage, I just wept. I couldn’t stop crying,” Horwitz said.
He was at a breaking point in his life — drinking heavily and getting into fights with his friends and girlfriend. The overwhelming emotion he felt after watching “Indecent” made him realize something wasn’t right. He needed a change.
After hearing about volunteers traveling to Israel to help farmers who had lost their workers due to the war, he flew there in January 2024. “When I went to Israel, I said I need to sober up, and it gave me a lot of clarity. I spent two weeks in Israel picking grapefruits and oranges.”
When he returned to the U.S., he began working on “Kosher Salt.” “I knew I couldn’t just continue what I was doing. I had to speak about this — about antisemitism — and where my heart and soul are. I started as soon as I came back. I set up a meeting with the man who became my director. I signed up for a solo show workshop, and the first draft was basically everything that was going through my head.”
Antisemitism is something Horwitz has dealt with since a young age. He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico where the Jewish community was is very small, and he often felt like he stood out because of it.
“I felt like an outsider. I have a very Semitic name, and I was told repeatedly that I’m going to hell because I don’t believe in Christ. I was reminded constantly that I was different. I was very conscious when the check came in the restaurant and we needed to divide it between friends. Any notion of money, of course, got me teased.”
Horwitz recalls being called “Christ killer” and hearing people openly talk about not wanting to be “Jewed down” on a price. “Growing up, I didn’t like being Jewish. If there was a way that I could have washed the Judaism out of me, I would have,” he said.
In 2018, his relative Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz was murdered in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting — another painful reminder that being Jewish in the U.S. can be dangerous. “His murder shattered my family,” said Horwitz. “The shock and trauma of that is a wound that will never heal.”
Despite his difficult experiences with antisemitism, Horwitz approaches the subject with humor. In “Kosher Salt,” he switches characters, invites audience members on stage and uses classic Jewish wit to explore the topic. “The show is very funny. There are a lot of clown elements to it. But I also speak very sincerely. At one point, I take off the character I’m playing and show just the raw vulnerability. I’m trying to get you to fall in love with me but also feel my pain.”
Interestingly enough, Horwitz doesn’t speak about Israel, Palestine or the war in his show. He sensed that the topic puts off his audience. “My first draft of the show, I talked about what a beautiful country Israel is and that I saw Muslim and Jewish children playing on the same playground together,” said Horwitz. “One of the notes I’ve been given was that the minute I mentioned Israel, I lost half of my audience.”
After listening to audience feedback during the first performances of the show, he decided not to say “Israel” or “Palestine” at all. But even without using those “triggering” words, some people simply don’t want to hear anything related to the topic. “When I walk around and hand out flyers and tell people I’m going to solve antisemitism in 45 minutes, some people immediately shut down, and I can see it in their eyes what they are thinking. It’s not everybody. Racism against Jewish people is very real. But I also have many people who say, ‘hey, that’s cool.’”
On July 13, Abel Horwitz will perform “Kosher Salt” at the Electric Lodge in Venice as part of the inaugural Daredevil Arts Festival. “I’m working to add 10 more minutes where I talk about Jewish indigenousness to the land and the hypocrisy of people who talk about Indigenous people but then, in the same breath, refer to white European Zionist colonizers,” he said.
Horwitz hopes to take his show on a tour across the U.S., and possibly worldwide. His goal is for audiences to walk away with a deeper understanding of the real consequences of antisemitism.
“Elie Wiesel was once asked why he wrote about such a singular experience in ‘Night’ instead of the entire Holocaust,” said Horwitz. “He said, ‘I can’t speak for everybody, just for myself.’ I found that very powerful. I’m doing the same — speaking from my own experience.”
“Kosher Salt” will be performed at the Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave. in Venice, on Sunday, July 13 at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets are: $15 and can be purchased at eventbrite.com/e/kosher-salt/
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