Bethany Mandel is a contributing writer for Deseret News and is a home-schooling, stay-at-home mother of six. She is the co-author of “Stolen Youth” and an editor for the patriotic children’s book series “Heroes of Liberty.”
Bethany Mandel
By Bethany Mandel
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Opinion Ivanka Trump Gives the Israeli Rabbinate a Taste of Its Own Medicine
Being a convert to Orthodox Judaism in America is much like riding a roller coaster. The initial high many experience after completing a conversion in the mikveh is followed by an inevitable low. After uprooting and completely altering one’s life, converts reach the high of being told they will be loved and accepted by the…
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Opinion The Success of Orthodoxy Comes From Expectations and Responsibility
The differences between Orthodox Judaism and alternative streams are many, but, put simply, they revolve around a difference in expectations and the importance of feelings. For better or worse, life inside Orthodox Judaism is filled with expectations that are set out clearly by one’s neighbors, classmates and rabbis, not to mention bubbes, from childhood until…
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Opinion This Hanukkah Version of a Gingerbread House Annoys Me Like Nothing Else
Like almost every other Jewish Holiday, Hanukkah is a celebration of the fact that non-Jews tried to destroy Jews, but they failed. Also: Let’s eat! At its core, Hanukkah is about a fight against total Jewish assimilation into the prevailing culture of the day. So how do American Jews celebrate this festival that commemorates our…
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Opinion Spare Me the Terrified Jewish Sermons About Steve Bannon
American Jews have a new reason to be concerned about a Donald Trump presidency. There was already a major outcry over the anti-Semitism coming out of Trump’s campaign and his supporter base, and that concern has skyrocketed with the selection of Steve Bannon, a hero of the “alt-right” and former CEO of Breitbart, as a…
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Opinion I Bought a Gun Because of Donald Trump’s Anti-Semites — But I See Reason for Hope
This has been the most surreal election of my lifetime. The feeling of confidence slowly replaced by dread and despair as we watched Donald Trump slog toward the Republican nomination on primary nights repeated itself on election night, but on a much greater scale. Now the rest of the country understands the error in underestimating…
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Opinion Whoever is Elected, Roe v. Wade is Unlikely to Change. Here’s Why.
This piece is part of a series about the issues in the 2016 presidential election. Despite the fact that Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land for 43 years, access to abortion is still one of the major issues impacting many Americans’ vote during Presidential election years. On the Left, voters refuse…
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Opinion This Jewish Woman Is the New Face of the ‘Never Trump’ Republicans
As we’ve watched the rise of Donald Trump with abject horror over the past year, us “Never Trump” Republicans have stuck together because we’ve had to. We’ve helped each other withstand the onslaught of pressure to vote for what many Republicans perceive to be the lesser of two evils. One of the political friends I’ve…
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Opinion Hillary Clinton Made a Huge Mistake at the Debate. I Say That as an Anti-Trump Republican.
The second presidential debate was supposed to be a thrilling cage match between the two sides, framed by a half dozen of Bill Clinton’s accusers sitting in prime seats at the Washington University event. But from the moment Hillary Clinton walked on stage and made a point of refusing to shake Donald Trump’s hand, she…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Sports Texas A&M’s Sam Salz cherishes his first taste of DI college football — and the opportunity to inspire fellow Orthodox Jews
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