Rabbi Jay Michaelson is a contributing columnist for the Forward and for Rolling Stone. He is the author of 10 books, and won the 2023 New York Society for Professional Journalists award for opinion writing.
Jay MichaelsonContributing Columnist
By Jay Michaelson
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Opinion If Only Donald Trump Had Answered The Jewish Reporter’s Question Like This
Jake Turx: “What we are concerned about and what we haven’t really heard being addressed is an uptick in anti-Semitism and how the government is planning to take care of it. There’s been a report out that 48 bomb threats have been made against Jewish centers all across the country in the last couple of…
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Opinion It’s the Jewish Way To Demand Facts Amid Trump’s Barrage of Fake News
My word of the year for 2017 is “evidence.” It’s become clear that among the Trump administration’s assaults on Muslims, Mexicans, Australians (who saw that coming?), the environment, public education, health care, women and Jews, one of its most pervasive attacks has been against the notion of truth itself. It’s as if this administration is…
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Opinion A Leaked Copy of Trump’s Speech at the National Prayer Breakfast
The following is purportedly a leaked transcript of President Trump’s speech from the National Prayer Breakfast. Welcome everyone. It’s prayer time, so we’re going to have our little breakfast — we have some of the best pastries, really the best and pray. I love God — really do. Great guy, God, and a big supporter…
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Culture Why Andrew Ramer Is One of Our Most Righteous Men
Having spent 20 part-time years in the Jewish professional world, I’ve come to appreciate the Kabbalistic concept of the lamed-vavniks, the 36 righteous people who, hidden from view, are secretly maintaining the world by their good deeds. What I mean is, the Jewish teachers, leaders, innovators, and mensches who inspire me are mostly lesser known…
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Culture Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Explores Faith When God Keeps Quiet
When do you hear the voice of God? Contemporary believers are caught in a conundrum. If they never hear God speaking, or even acting in ways consonant with theology, then surely they must doubt God’s very existence. And yet if they do claim to hear a bat kol – a Divine voice – surely they…
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Opinion 50 Things To Fear From the Trump Administration
Looking toward 2017 can be overwhelming. The coming Trump administration presents so many potential risks, it’s hard to know which to feel anxious about. When I feel overwhelmed, I find that it helps to make lists. Here, then, in a rough order of danger, but also grouped by category, are 50 things for American Jews…
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49 Reasons Why 2016 Wasn't as Bad as You Think You Want It Darker
The musical year of 2016 was bookended by dark valedictories: David Bowie’s “Blackstar” and Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker.” Both Bowie and Cohen knew that their ends were near, and both passed on to the next realm just as their last brilliant works were released. Cohen’s final album — in particular its haunting title…
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Opinion Three Reasons Why the Electoral College Must Reject Trump
A month ago, the Electoral College blocking Donald Trump was a Democratic pipe dream. Now, the electors who will convene across the country on December 19 have a sacred duty to withhold their votes from Trump, and three constitutional reasons to do so. Such an action would be unprecedented, and our shared religious, ethical and…
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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News HIAS cuts 22 staff even as it braces for Trump immigration crackdown
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Fast Forward A synagogue that survived the Palisades fire has become a ‘refuge’ for many who lost their homes
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News When fire spread to West Hollywood, a rabbi’s mom chose to grab candlesticks
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Looking Forward She chronicled life’s magic moments — the milestones and the mundane
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