I’m a longtime supporter of a two-state solution for Israel/Palestine. Paradoxically, however, I’ve become convinced over the last few years that the best way to get there is to push for a one state solution. As any parent knows, there are times when giving a child what he/she wants is the best way to convince…
You know the old joke, two Jews, three opinions? It’s true. But when it comes to judgment, unfortunately we take it to another level entirely. Our propensity to judge one another is a sad component of Jewish culture today, which is at odds with our Jewish values. And, this judgmental culture seems to be a…
I write this letter with sadness and a heavy heart. My 5-year Israel Bond came due on February 1. Over the past few months, I have been deliberating whether or not to renew the bond, as I have done for decades. I have decided not to renew, as I cannot support the current Israeli government…
In his recent column in the Forward (“How Could Modern Orthodox Judaism Produce Jared Kushner?” ) Beinart examines Jared’s recent, little-more-than-a-week long record as a member of the Trump administration. He looks at what the administration has thus far produced, and how Jared has stood by and watched it happen. In Beinart’s telling, Jared is…
The left’s confusion about what constitutes “morality” compels us to respond to Forward editor Jane Eisner’s criticism of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) because ZOA supports President Trump’s executive order titled “Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.” Most Americans, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, agree with ZOA: Americans…
Dear Editor, “Why Won’t More Jewish Groups Condemn Trump’s Shameful Nazi Comparisons?” by Jane Eisner, from January 13, 2017, was compelling. We were justifiably fearful during the campaign when candidate Trump bullied his way through the path to the nomination. The harassment of the media and discriminatory stands against minorities, religions and disadvantaged members of…
In her recent piece, “Our Great Moral Failure in Syria,” Forward Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner calls attention to the American Jewish community for “inexcusably turning our backs on those in need” in Syria. Like Eisner, we are all grappling with the unconscionable amount of death, suffering and displacement we’ve witnessed in Syria over the past few…
In 1951, thirteen parents from Topeka, Kansas filed a class action lawsuit to allow their children to attend public schools closest to their homes. The result was a landmark Supreme Court case we now know as Brown vs. Board of Education, which overturned the doctrine of “separate but equal” – a principle of American law…
Rabbi Nathan Diament’s response to my column about Betsy DeVos perfectly reflects the short-sightedness of the Orthodox Union’s approach to this issue. The column in question was roughly 1,200 words long. Only 64 of those words addressed Orthodox organizations. Yet from Rabbi Diament’s response, you’d think the whole piece was an attack on them. In…
Jay Michaelson, in his column dated Nov. 28th, slanders Orthodox Jewish organizations for their support of President Elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education — Betsy DeVos — because we dare to support policies promoting “school choice.” We at OU Advocacy have consistently supported funding for quality public schools; we just think fairness dictates that some…
It is gratifying to see Steven M. Cohen, a prominent critic of intermarriage, say that “Efforts to welcome, engage and educate the already-intermarried are admirable and necessary.” (Which of our Grandchildren Will Be Jewish in This Age of Intermarriage, October 24) The twenty-five years of programming Steven describes, which he says still leave disheartening demographic…
די ווילנער דאָקטוירים יעקבֿ וויגאָדסקי און צמח שאַבאַד זענען אויך געווען געזעלשאַפֿטלעכע טוער.
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