As Marshall Breger and Jack Bemporad point out in September 22, 2015, the Vatican has come a long way in healing the wounds it has inflicted on Jews and Judaism. But perhaps Jews haven’t responded because there is a great deal more to be done if the Vatican really wants to establish its bona fides:…
Dear Parent: I recently read in the Forward about a father (Neal) whose son has decided not to celebrate his bar mitzvah. There is no question that for many of us and our children the moment on the bima is full of meaning. Reading Torah, teaching a D’var Torah, leading the service. Our children learn…
Dear Editor: Lipstadt’s on the moral and political issues concerning policy on the Syrian refugee crisis raises four issues that trouble the author. One of the questions the author asks, is the “extent to which these new immigrants will commit to democratic principles.” This argument was raised several times at a Rosh Hashanah dinner I…
Dear Editor: In , Deborah Lipstadt raises some provocative questions which she says are “unanswered.” There is one basic answer to all of them, however. The answer arose out of the ashes of the Holocaust, haunted by the memory of those who were trapped by “paper walls” inside of a genocide. That answer is the…
I read the recent op-ed regarding BDS and my own childhood synagogue with sadness. While seemingly well intentioned, this wonderful shul made a serious mistake in inviting and promoting pro-BDS speakers. The op-ed makes two central, misguided arguments. First, as Jews we have some obligation based on “an inherent rabbinic tradition of debate” to give…
Many provisions of the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran are not satisfactory, which leads to the conclusion that the agreement itself is unacceptable. The most important issue is totally intolerable – namely, the proposed 10- to 15-year duration of the agreement. For some reason, opponents of the agreement don’t put this at the top of…
In response to Neal Pollack’s article The beauty of Judaism is that Elijah became bar mitzvah when he turned 13, whether he chose to mark the occasion with an aliyah or a celebration or not, just as he will be old enough to vote, drink or drive when he reaches those chronological milestones whether or…
Elan Ezrachi is correct in his assumption that teen trips to Israel must be subsidized if we want to see a significant increase in teen travel to Israel (“Why We Need to Subsidize Teen Travel to Israel”, August 24, 2015). However, based on our four-plus decades of running Youth to Israel Adventure (Y2I), our fully-subsidized…
For better or worse Israel Advocacy is now and must be on the agenda of nearly every Federation. We are with Israel in time of war and peace, advocating, lobbying, visiting and being supportive in every way we can. A Federation board can never reflect every perspective and we acknowledge the validity of many points…
What does Charles Schumer want from his — but hopefully soon-to-be-reconsidered — vote against the Iran deal? We used “distrust but verify” on all arms control deals with the Soviet Union — that is, with an untrustworthy “evil empire” that covered one sixth of the land surface of the entire earth — over decades, and…
The conflicts in Syria have increased the complexity of the Middle East and exacerbated the instability in the region. Terrorists have taken advantage of the instability, and have made dramatic territorial gains in Syria and Iraq. They now threaten two minorities — Kurds and Druze. The Kurds, who are non-Muslims, are starting to receive military…
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