Melissa Langsam Braunstein
By Melissa Langsam Braunstein
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Opinion Georgia Jews: Vote Republican
It’s rare to vote for U.S. Senate races knowing who holds the other 98 seats, but that’s where Georgians find themselves facing down a run-off election. And fellow Jews, if you’re still undecided, it’s time to vote strategically. With Joe Biden heading to the White House and Democrats narrowly controlling the House, a Republican-controlled Senate…
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Opinion Antisemitism is the biggest issue for Jews. Why did it never come up during the election?
The end is nigh (thank God!). This election cycle is finally coming to a close. But despite the endlessness of the 2020 presidential election, and the microscopic attention paid to a never-ending list of topics irrelevant to the lives of American voters, one issue that is of utmost importance received scant attention: rising antisemitism. It’s…
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Opinion This Year, We Jews Must Put Aside Our Differences And Stand As One Against Anti-Semitism
If two Jews have three opinions, how many opinions might six million American Jews have? We’re a boisterous, disputatious bunch, as we should be. We’re also remarkably good at dividing into tribes of those who dress or think as we do. But what if identifying first and foremost (and even only) with such subgroups is…
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Letters Jewish Continuity Isn’t Sexist — It’s Necessary
Is Jewish continuity inherently sexist? In some people’s minds, like the author of a recent op-ed in these pages, Jewish continuity is toxically identified with Jewish sociologist Steven M. Cohen. I’m neither judge nor jury, but if the #MeToo allegations against Cohen are true, and they may well be, the prominent sociologist should be held…
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Life What’s A Breastfeeding Mom To Wear To Synagogue?
Last fall, Project Runway’s Tim Gunn took fashion designers to task for not designing clothes with non-model American women in mind. Gunn focused on unrepresentative sizing, but as I try to decide what to wear to my third daughter’s baby naming ceremony (or to synagogue on Saturday mornings, for that matter) I’d expand Gunn’s critique…
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Life Jennifer Weiner Got It Wrong On Work-Life Balance Nosiness
Novelist Jennifer Weiner is peeved. Inspired by Bill O’Reilly’s ouster from Fox News, Weiner took to The New York Times late last week to mock the pugnacious TV personality for his fiction, applying standards she describes as commonplace for women writers. While I can comment only on my own writing experience, it’s clear from that…
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Life Jewish Conservative Women, In Their Own Words
I’d like to tell you a story. Picture it, a classroom in Harvard’s Kennedy School, early 2008: I often find myself in classes hearing my political party and its members caricatured. Last year, a professor informed one of my classes that Mike Huckabee would be my party’s nominee, because we all take marching orders from…
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Life Finding Personal and Jewish Significance in ‘This is Us’
In watching the heart-wrenching pilot for NBC’s This is Us, I connected with Mandy Moore’s Rebecca Pearson. Hugely pregnant with triplets, Rebecca was a woman whose life is on the verge of transformation. I identified with Rebecca as a wife and mother, who also happens to be pregnant with my own third child. However, since…
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