Leonard Fein
By Leonard Fein
-
Opinion Time for Tzedakah, Now More Than Ever
Charity (or tzedakah, if you prefer) is as December a phenomenon as Hanukkah, Christmas and (since 1966) Kwanzaa. The reason is not the jollity of the season so much as it is the imminent end of the calendar year and the tax-deductibility of charitable contributions. And perhaps, as well, our heightened awareness, in the dead…
-
Opinion From Pearl Harbor to Partition
There are five Big Dates I remember from my childhood — the kind of memories that include where I was at the time, memories that remain vivid after all these years. The first of these was December 7, 1941 — Pearl Harbor Day. I had no idea at all what it meant that the Japanese…
-
Opinion A Two-State Solution May Have To Wait
In a kind of “exit interview” in the Sunday, November 16, edition of The New York Times, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice summarizes her take on the Israel/Palestine conflict: “… There is a robust negotiating process, and they have made a lot of progress on how to get to a two-state solution…. On the…
-
Opinion And Now for That Other Election…
Ahhhhhhh, that deep sigh of relief now that the elections are over. Peace and quiet. Good books. No polls, no ads, no rallies, no bumper stickers, no robo-calls or lawn signs. Life can be beautiful. Oops: Not so fast. The elections are not over. There are two more to go. I refer, of course, to…
-
Opinion For America, a New Beginning
There is neither need nor reason to hold back. This is a moment for celebration. I set to the side for the moment, as I believe we are entitled to, the challenges that await president-elect Obama. I set to the side, as well, the challenges he put before us, the people, in his victory speech…
-
Opinion A Crisis of Confidence, and Much More
Four inaugurals ago, I attended the swearing-in ceremony of William Jefferson Clinton and Albert Gore. My sense, shared by many others, was that we were witness to the end of 24 bleak years in American political history, from Nixon through Carter, Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The next day, I wrote, “Rarely have such high…
-
Opinion In Berlin, Where the Past Is Present
The disposition — mine, at any rate — is to stop before each of the photographs of those who resisted, and were therefore murdered, and to read, word by word, the all too brief paragraph that conveys their story. Not, mind you, because the stories are either all that interesting or informative, but out of…
-
Opinion Olmert Speaks the Truth, 29 Months Too Late
Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said only one wildly wrong thing in his September 29 interview with Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s largest-circulation newspaper: “The time has come to say these things.” Twenty-nine months after becoming Israel’s prime minister, quite literally on his way out the door — possibly to indictment on charges of corruption — now…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
- 2
Opinion American Jews have a Hasan Piker problem. Solving it is going to hurt
- 3
Opinion How Israel became a country where teenagers murder each other in cold blood
- 4
Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
In Case You Missed It
-
News Most Jewish voters rate Mamdani poorly, new poll finds
-
Fast Forward After a Maryland teacher’s death, her 200-piece Judaica collection finds new life in a Jewish museum
-
Fast Forward British Green Party candidate tweeted about killing Zionists from Anne Frank parody account
-
Yiddish World New documentary captures the lively history of Yiddish theater in America