Noam Neusner
By Noam Neusner
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Opinion Have Some Empathy for the Entrepreneur
Jewish professionals, including rabbis, are increasingly taking the food stamp challenge. For a week or even a month, these individuals spend no more than what the federal government gives the needy in food stamps — $5 a day — for all their nutritional needs. As exercises in empathy go, it’s impressive. I have known several…
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Opinion Obama Wrong on Birth Control Coverage
Say what you will about the principle of tikkun olam, but you can’t confuse it for something else. This central tenet of liberal Judaism means only one thing: Fix the world as it is, and you will be serving God. Feed the hungry. Heal the sick. Mend a broken heart. End war. Stop injustice. These…
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Opinion GOP Gets It Right on Israel
The Republican presidential contenders have campaigned hard for the pro-Israel vote. Recently they each made bold promises of fealty to Israel while addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition (save for Ron Paul, who wasn’t invited) and sparred verbally, not just over whether the United States should support a Palestinian state, but over whether the Palestinians were…
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Opinion Obama’s Charity-Tax Plan Sounds Good to Some
President Obama is getting precious little credit for his policy heroism these days. But here is one conservative ready to applaud the president for an idea whose time has come. Let’s tax charity. Absolutely. The president, in his plan to bring down the deficit, said that he wanted to bring down the deduction for charitable…
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Opinion The Poverty of Riches
In April, we learned that the poorest municipality in the country by income is Kiryas Joel, the Satmar Hasidic hamlet in Orange County, New York. To anyone who knows the community, this was no surprise. The families living there are younger, larger and more likely to be led by a full-time student of Torah who…
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Opinion Davening Barefoot
The latest craze in running is barefoot or minimalistic running — slapping on the equivalent of a thin layer of rubber soles on a sock and then pounding out 5, 10 and even 20 or more miles. Runners who have adopted the habit say it gives them a better “feel” for running. The idea of…
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Opinion Don’t Treat Conservatives Like Apostates
For several months, I have been an active participant in the community-wide campaign of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to restore civility to Jewish public life. As a result, I am routinely asked: What does civility really require of us, besides hushed voices and respectful listening in public meetings and discussions? Is this just…
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Opinion What J Street Can Learn From The Tea Party
In the space of a few days, J Street became much lonelier, abandoned by many of its admirers in the press, as it fended off criticism that its funding sources are mysterious, nefarious and downright dangerous. But the lobbying group that calls itself “the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans” is not alone. After all,…
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Forverts in English A Yiddish word I never expected to see on a license plate
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Opinion Anti-Zionism forced us to withdraw from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
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News ‘No one’s allowed to talk to me’: At UW-Madison, trying — and failing — to talk about Israel
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Fast Forward New poll: 13% of voters who switched support from Biden cite his Gaza policy
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