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…
Dear Editor, There is a fundamental misunderstanding in one of the Forward’s articles, dated October 17 and titled, “If Israel Lets In Palestinian Refugees, Will It Lose Its Jewish Character?” The five million descendants of Arab refugees from the 1948 war who continue to live in 59 refugee facilities administered by UNRWA in Israel, Lebanon,…
To the Editor: Kudos to Bethany Mandel for pointing out the travesty that resulted in Rabbi Haskel Lookstein having to forfeit giving the invocation at the RNC (“Rabbi Haskel Lookstein Would Have Schooled Donald Trump at the Republican Convention — If You’d Let Him”, July 17, 2016). I was privileged to study under Rabbi Haskel…
To the Editor: Commenting on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, Reform Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner is quoted in a June 27 JTA story reposted by the Forward as contending that “Jewish tradition teaches the importance of a woman’s ability to make her own healthcare decisions” and that Maimonides…
Ari Paul’s attack on B&H, a company built over the last 40 years on its stellar reputation for honesty and integrity, was completely misleading and based on so much bad information it’s difficult to know where to start. He and the Forward should have done a little more work before slandering our company. He quotes…
Many Jewish organizations have tried to find a way to fight back against the terrible rhetoric of Donald Trump, but Nathan Guttman’s story of May 20 lionizing the efforts of the Anti-Defamation League and other groups missed some of the most important work happening on this issue — and a crucial player: Bend the Arc. This…
To the Editor: We are three members of the Jews of Color (JOC) in solidarity with Palestine caucus organizing in partnership with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) responding to Sigal Samuel’s recent article about the JOC Convening (“Jews of Color Get Personal and Political at First-Ever National Gathering”)”). We agree with Samuel’s summary of the…
To the Editor: The so-called “Students for Justice in Palestine” group and its allies falsely claim that those who are objecting to the SJP’s actions at The City University of New York are trying to stifle the SJP’s free speech and prevent criticism of Israel (“New Challenge for CUNY Over Alleged Anti-Semitism,” April 8, 2016)….
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