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 Mike Pence’s Love Of Israel Is Dangerous For Jews
Vice President Mike Pence may have just become the first Christian visitor to Israel not to set foot inside a church. Palestinian Christians boycotted his visit this week, still furious over the Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, so Pence never saw Bethlehem, or Nazareth, or the Holy Sepulchre. Instead, like a…
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Life Be ‘Naughty’! Shop At Stores That Don’t Only Embrace Christmas.
As you’re doing that last-minute Hanukkah shopping, the Liberty Counsel, a relatively small Christian Right organization best known for defending Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, has a few ideas for you. For several years the Liberty Counsel has prepared a “Naughty or Nice” list of retailers who celebrate the “holidays” in general (naughty) and those who…
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Opinion How To Survive Your Trump-Supporting Relatives This Holiday Season
With the high holiday season upon us, many liberals – especially younger ones – are girding themselves for battle with their Trump-supporting relatives. “Uncle Irv,” I called these people last Spring, after a particularly irritating right-winger with whom I ‘celebrated’ the Seder for many years. Uncle Irv can be particularly challenging at this time of…
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Film & TV The Heretical Gnosticism Of Darren Aronofsky’s Most Daring Film
I chose to see Darren Aronofsky’s latest film, “mother!” without reading anything about it. All I could infer from its posters was that it would be scary, and all I could tell from Facebook was that my friends had strong opinions about it. Little did I know that I’d be watching two hours of mystical…
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Opinion 4 Reasons Republican Jews Are Still In Denial About Trump
In a milquetoast statement released on August 16, the Republican Jewish Coalition at last revealed itself to be living in complete delusion. The statement was released after Donald Trump first blamed “many sides” for the violence in Charlottesville, and then issued an aide-written statement condemning racism, only to double down on his original position, stating…
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Opinion Shame On You, Jewish Voice For Peace, For Targeting Pro-Israel Gays
I’m going “on record” condemning Jewish Voice for Peace’s tactics at the Israel Day Parade. Protesting the parade, even from inside, is something I totally respect. And I have never marched in the parade myself, since I consider it to be overly nationalistic and jingoistic, as well as needlessly confrontational. However, JVP also endangered the…
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Opinion Dead Wrong: Roger Ailes’s Destructive Legacy
Here’s how he might have covered it: Roger Ailes, whose scandal-ridden career ended in disgrace when years of sexual harassment allegations finally caught up with him, died this week — some say of shame, others of the morbid obesity that plagued him throughout his life. Of course, that would be both unfair and vulgar. Ailes…
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Opinion Armed And Dangerous: After Firing James Comey, Trump Will Weaponize The FBI
It’s clear what Donald Trump got rid of in his “midnight massacre” firing of FBI Director James Comey: an investigation into his ties to Russia that is somewhere between pesky and a prelude to impeachment. Less well observed is what he gained: the weaponization of the FBI, soon to be headed by a Trump loyalist,…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Culture In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Opinion What a remarkable Torah rescued from Iran — then LA’s fire — can teach about community amid devastation
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Fast Forward Israel’s judicial overhaul is back. So are the protests.
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Opinion After 15 months of war, Israelis are all scaffolding, helping hold each other up
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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