‘Triumphalists’ Don’t Have ‘Heavy Hearts’ Predicting the future of the Jewish community can be a dangerous exercise, as historian Jonathan Sarna correctly points out (“Saying Kaddish Too Soon,” June 5). However, when you look at the intermarriage statistics and the resulting loss of Jews, and then apply these numbers to future generations, it’s hard to…
Settlement Growth Is Legitimate, Natural Your June 12 editorial “Unnatural Growth” contends that there’s “nothing natural, or acceptable, about ‘natural growth’” of Jewish communities in the West Bank, and that, in focusing on this issue, President Obama isn’t being unreasonable, whereas Prime Minister Netanyahu is. Not so. There are communities of between 10,000 and 35,000…
On Judaism, Israelis Are Pro-Choice There are a couple of points worth noting with regard to your important article about the fight for religious pluralism in Israel and for fair treatment for the Masorti (or Conservative) and Reform movements (“Conservative Jews Decry Bias in IDF,” May 29). While you suggest there are only 40,000 Conservative…
Secret Ballot Remains As the rabbinic student intern for the Jewish Labor Committee this year (and an attorney for 25 years), I have carefully studied the provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and the labor legislation it would amend. It puzzles me to repeatedly hear the inaccurate contention that EFCA would eliminate the…
At Home in the South I felt obliged to respond to Allison Gaudet Yarrow’s article “Southern Fried Jewish Bride” in your May 1 edition. I am a Jewish woman living in Macon, Ga., the city where Yarrow was raised. I have lived in this city for 35 years, having moved here from the Midwest. My…
Jewish Media Should Cover Abuse Issue Thank you for your very important, very well-written May 8 article “One Man’s Harrowing Path From Abuse to Survival.” First, may I say to the subject of the article, Pinny: I am so sorry for your suffering — and all this right after your mother died! It is paralyzing…
Limiting Deduction For Rich Will Hurt Poor In his May 1 opinion article “When Charity Isn’t Charitable,” Peter Singer highlights an important fact of which most of us who work in the philanthropic sector are well aware: Much charitable giving and much foundation giving do not really benefit the needy. He is correct that this…
Same Old Story, From Jersey to Pennsylvania The story you told in your excellent article “On the Jersey Waterfront, Jews Return, but Jewish Community Still Struggles” is not in any way an isolated one (April 24). I live in Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill County, within this state’s anthracite coal regions. Here we once had a number of…
Spiritual Pros, Cons There are exciting policy implications in the new Synagogue 3000 study by Steven M. Cohen and Lawrence Hoffman, “How Spiritual Are America’s Jews?” as reported in your April 17 article “Study: Young Jews More Spiritual, Yet More Divided?” The authors of the study conclude that stressing spirituality will broaden Judaism’s appeal to…
40% Foolish on Iran Your account of the J Street poll that reports 40% of American Jews would favor an American attack on Iran if it were on the verge of going nuclear is no less disturbing than any other bad news we’ve heard recently (“Israel, U.S. Pursue Divergent Path on Iran,” April 3). Does…
An Ungenerous Epitaph An otherwise useful article on the problems facing United Jewish Communities unfortunately misrepresents American Jewish communal organizational history (“UJC’s Future at Stake as Local Charities call for Dramatic Cuts,” April 10). Your article characterizes UJC’s predecessor agency, the Council of Jewish Federations, as merely a “trade organization, convening the federations’ General Assembly…
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