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 20 Years After a Bus Bombing, the Inspiration of Two Lives Unlived
My world changed on February 25, 1996. But how it changed a few months later was more important. On February 25, I was just back from a hike in New Haven’s East Rock Park when I got a phone call telling me that Matt Eisenfeld and Sara Duker had been killed in the bombing of…
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Opinion It’s Time for Jews To Pray and Preach About Abortion — Like Christians Do
I want Jews to pray for reproductive justice, and I want rabbis to lead them. On March 2, the eight-person Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, the most significant abortion case in a decade. At issue in the case is whether Texas’s absurd and completely medically unjustified restrictions on…
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Opinion This Anti-BDS Video Is Pure Hilarity — and Accidental Genius
(CORRECTED BELOW) News flash: the BDS movement does not, in fact, urge supporters to shoot Dannon yogurt containers with rifles. That, however, is how it’s depicted in a four-minute video titled “BDS or the Bible.” Social media users are already having a field day with the video — Sarah Schulman dubs it “a cross between…
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Opinion Why Jewish Republicans Should Look Past Marco Rubio — to Michael Bloomberg
What’s a moderate Republican — that is, most Jewish Republicans — to do? With Donald Trump and Ted Cruz ascendant, moderate hopes have flitted from Jeb Bush to Marco Rubio and now to John Kasich. In fact, however, there’s only one hope for moderate Republicans: Bernie Sanders. Let me explain. First, Rubio is no moderate….
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Opinion The Oscars Are Too White — and That’s a Jewish Problem
“The Jews control Hollywood.” It’s one of those anti-Semitic tropes that, we all know, contains a certain grain of truth. “Control,” no — not with that ominous, conspiratorial connotation. But “helped create”? “Disproportionately populate?” Sure. From the founding of California’s motion picture industry (well documented in books like Neal Gabler’s “An Empire of Their Own:…
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Opinion Wishing Your Opponents Dead Is Not Good for Israelis or Palestinians
This column is not about the recent anti-Israel , which partially shut down a reception featuring Israeli LGBT activists. It’s about the ugly, angry way we talk about such things. And as usual, I’m going to call out both the right and the left. As journalists and Internet trolls “discussed” the events at the conference…
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Opinion Why Most Jewish Environmentalism Is Useless — on Tu B’Shvat and Every Other Day
Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish “new year of the trees,” comes again on Sunday, January 24. In recent years, the holiday has become a much-needed day for thinking about, and taking action on, environmental issues. Too bad most of those actions will be counterproductive. For an illustration, consider the Aliso Canyon methane leak, which you probably…
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Opinion How David Bowie Made It OK To Be a Wandering Jewish Misfit
Like many Jewish kids, and many more gay kids, I grew up not belonging. I was a nerd and a weirdo. What other kids seemed to know intuitively — how to dress, how to talk — I had to puzzle out somehow, often unsuccessfully. That included sex; I didn’t know I was gay, and the…
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Opinion I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch
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Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
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FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
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Fast Forward Donald Trump thanked a ‘historic coalition’ for his election. He didn’t include Jews.
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News Analysis Gaza didn’t cost Harris the election. But her approach pointed to a broader problem
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Fast Forward Elissa Slotkin, centrist Jewish Democrat, wins tight Michigan Senate race
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