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 Why I’m a Liberal — and I Hate the Nanny State
A few months ago I decided to research my genetic history. My partner and I were considering having children, and anyway, I was curious. So I signed up for 23andMe, which offers genetic testing by mail. All I had to do was spit into a vial, and a few weeks later I learned that I…
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News Death of the Jewish Left
For as long as contemporary American Jews can remember, our community has voted liberal, marched radical, and, to varying degrees, found ourselves on the left side of the political spectrum. But for those who favor this state of affairs, recent shifts in Jewish culture and identity offer reason to worry. First, Jewish solidarity with other…
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Culture How We Know the Bible Was Written by Human Hands
● How the Bible Became Holy By Michael Satlow Yale University Press, 368 pages, $35 ● The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis By Joel Baden Yale University Press, 392 pages, $65 ● The Formation of the Hebrew Canon By Timothy Lim Yale University Press, 304 pages, $45 According to a Gallup poll…
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Opinion Eric Cantor Killed By Monster He Helped Create
Jewish Republican Eric Cantor campaigning in 2012 / Nathan Guttman Nineteen months ago, on the eve of the 2012 elections, I asked the following question in these pages about Tea Party Conservatives and neo-conservatives like Eric Cantor: “Who’s using whom?” That question may never be answered. But like Dr. Frankenstein, Rep. Cantor has just been…
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Opinion Memo to Nathan Cummings Foundation: Don’t Abandon the Jews!
The decision by the Nathan Cummings Foundation to fire its well-known CEO, Simon Greer, sent shockwaves throughout the Jewish nonprofit world. Greer is a bit of a celebrity in his own right, and had been shepherding the NCF’s strategic realignment. At first, some speculated that the NCF board was rethinking that change in strategy, which…
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Opinion Include Me Out of This Jewish Community
Let me start with gratitude. As a gay Jewish man, I am profoundly humbled by the strides the Jewish community has taken over the last several years. Among almost all denominations, in all geographical areas, Jewish institutions have become more inclusive of LGBT people, and, I think, have been enriched as a result. But “inclusion”…
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Culture 233 Reasons Why Bob Dylan Is Right To Detest His Fans
The Dylanologists: Adventures in the Land of Bob By David Kinney Simon & Schuster, 256 pages, $25 ‘The Dylanologists” is a truly maddening book. Ostensibly, it is the story of the obsessive, sometimes paranoid fans who pore over every Bob Dylan lyric and concert, who worship, scrutinize, stalk, analyze and clearly annoy the man himself….
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Culture Why Do Jews Meditate? It’s All in the Worrying!
Dan Harris already had a lot going for him: He’s co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” and “Good Morning America,” and a respected journalist. Now he’s also a best-selling author, with his recent memoir-cum-report on meditation, “10% Happier.” The book, subtitled “How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, And…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Opinion ‘Just things’ — like what my LA neighbors have lost — are what makes houses into Jewish homes
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Opinion Celebrating Shabbat in Los Angeles: Amid the fires, a still, small voice
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Opinion ‘Home is memory’: How Jews make sense of what they’ve lost in the LA fires and what remains
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