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
-
Opinion Obama Won by Talking Like a Republican
This late in the campaign, everything is about swing states – and the foreign policy debate was largely about Florida, where moderate Jews could well decide who gets the state’s 29 electoral votes. On those grounds, on the basis of issues important to Florida Jews, President Obama won this debate, but in a bizarre, looking-glass…
-
Culture The Way I Was
As a Jewish gay man, I know that Barbra Streisand should be a double icon. A strong woman with a knack for musicals, she’s in the gay pantheon right next to Audrey Hepburn and, l’havdil, Madonna. And for Jews, of course, she’s the one who made it big, and did it her way: no name…
-
Culture Bob Dylan’s Best and Worst Album Covers
My relationship with Bob Dylan is similar to my relationship with Woody Allen: I’m a fan of these old Jewish guys, and I get excited when a new release is announced. Even after “Knocked Out Loaded,” even after the film “Celebrity,” I keep the faith — and when I’m treated to a “Time Out of…
-
Culture The Gospel According to Feuding Academics
The Jewish Gospels By Daniel Boyarin The New Press, 224 pages, $21.95 The Jewish Jesus: How Judaism and Christianity Shaped Each Other By Peter Schäfer Princeton University Press, 370 pages, $35 As someone who writes in the academic world and the worlds of journalism, activism and the popular press, I’ve been painfully aware of some…
-
Culture When the Right Is Right About the Left
Let me start with my bona fides. For several years, and at significant personal cost, I have spoken out about Israeli policies in the West Bank, in particular the settlements and the route of the separation barrier, which I deem to be generally illegal, immoral and harmful to both Israelis and Palestinians. I am also…
-
Opinion Censorship at the 14th Street Y!
As reported in these pages last week, the 14th Street Y pulled the plug on a controversial Shavuot event sponsored by the left-wing advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). The Y did so at the eleventh hour, and on the pretext that the Y was concerned about large crowds of attendees and media. Which…
-
Culture Bible Codes a Lie That Won’t Die
Recently, I had the pleasure of teaching at Limmud FSU (Former Soviet Union), the version of the wildly successful international learning conference geared toward Russian-speaking Jews. Held at a hotel outside Princeton University, the conference’s theme was science, with an emphasis on Albert Einstein, and the cultural and political sessions reflected the generally rational, secular…
-
Opinion Three Reasons Obama’s Right on Gay Marriage
President Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriage is good for the Jews. Why? Here are three reasons. First is the “who.” Obama’s support of same-sex marriage signals that he’s not going to let a noisy religious minority dictate public policy. This is important for all religious minorities, including the Jewish one, because that same group of…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
- 2
Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
- 3
Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
- 4
Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward How the Jewish commandment to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ could help a woman challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban in court
-
Yiddish ווידעאָ: יוטוב־פּערזענלעכקייט רעדט אויף ייִדיש וועגן אַ משפּחה־טראַגעדיעVIDEO: Youtube personality speaks in Yiddish about a tragedy in the family
מאַטי מענדלאָוויטשעס ברודער, וואָס האָט יאָרן לאַנג געליטן פֿון דעפּרעסיע, האָט הײַיאָר זיך גענומען דאָס לעבן. .
-
Music Can 6 hours of Billy Joel turn critics into believers?
-
Opinion What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
