I don’t live in New York (I live in the Boston area), but one thing that really struck me about the survey reported on in your June 22 article, “Changing Face of New York Jewry,” was its adherence to the categories of Reform-Conservative-Orthodox, and the lumping of all other Jews in a category of “unaffiliated”…
The Forward’s June 5 story, “Jews Face Special Risks, Napolitano Says,” is commendable for its clear assessment of the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The purpose of NSGP is to support nonprofit organizations that are at increased risk of terrorist threats and to integrate nonprofit preparedness activities with broader state and local…
Kudos to J.J. Goldberg for pointing out in his June 1 column, “Biggest Election Issue? Planet’s Survival,” how critical climate change is for the future of the world, and that this should be a major issue in the presidential campaign. The view that we are rapidly approaching a climate catastrophe is reinforced by a strong…
Michah Gottlieb’s equation of contemporary efforts to redefine marriage with the efforts to emancipate American slaves in the 19th Century (“When Orthodoxy Goes Too Far,” June 8) is, to be gentle, unimpressive. While the Torah, recognizing the reality of slavery throughout most of history (including in many lands to this day), provides rules governing that…
Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips was right to broach the taboo topic of cremation among Jews (“Confronting Cremation,” May 25). The horror of cremation is driven by the obsession of religious Jews. In Israel, nothing riles them up more than autopsies, archaeological diggings at doubtful Jewish graves and organ donations from the dead. They have held many…
At a time when many Jews (particularly younger ones) are rejecting blood-based definitions of nationality, I was disappointed with the Jon Entine’s favorable May 11 review of Harry Ostrer’s “Legacies: Genetic History of the Jewish People.” No doubt, ethnicity has played a large role in who we are as Jews, yet from the prophetic perspective,…
As I attended the exceedingly raucous Jerusalem Post Conference, I read J.J. Goldberg’s column on the event with interest (“How a Policy Conference Became a Political Brawl,” May 11). While capturing the rancor, the piece distorted two key facts. Alan Dershowitz’s plea to “not ever, ever boo a president of the United States” was not…
As one who has worked with persons coping with Alzheimer’s disease and their families for over twenty years, I found Jane Eisner’s May 18 review of Sarah Leavitt’s book, “Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me,” to be nothing short of tragic. Of course, the episodes chronicling Midge Leavitt’s loss of memory, loss…
I rarely find myself disagreeing with Leonard Fein, but in his April 13 column, “American Jews Are Different, Not ‘Partial,’” his criticism of the Israeli writer A.B. Yehoshua’s distinction between “complete” and “partial” Jews (that is, between Israelis like Yehoshua and all American Jews) misses the point. Fein objects that Yehoshua “disrespects” Jews who do…
I think most people respect the real job creators who deal with all the stress that goes into making pay roll each week. Yet it seems like the little guy has something to complain about in America today. Pay for top management has gone up many times the past decades, while pay for most people…
Rachel Levmore’s May 11 op-ed, “Should the Government ‘Get’ Involved,” raises a multitude of questions. Let me address just two points. Levmore errs in stating that the proposed Maryland “barriers to remarriage” law would have protected Tamar Epstein from becoming an agunah. Epstein filed for the civil divorce and has done all she can to…
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