Opinion

• Opinion

  Behind the Boycott

  Time was when a boycott demanded personal sacrifice as an expression of protest. That’s how the name first was coined, when Irish tenant farmers and tradesmen in the late-19th century refused to deal with the agent of an absentee landlord named Charles Boycott. And that’s how it has continued in the popular imagination: blacks in…

  2 min read
• Opinion

  Forgive Us

  The anger and incivility that characterizes our national discussions of late — on health care, presidential power and a host of other tender topics — is a troubling sign of a fraying social compact. The fabric that binds together the Jewish community is also fraying, as poll numbers show a widening gap between the attitudes…

  Sep 23, 2009 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  On Health Care, Our Fundamental Principles

  For me, a child of the 1980s, Patrick Swayze’s name will always conjure that magical moment in “Dirty Dancing” when be growls “no one puts Baby in a corner” and whisks Jennifer Grey (a nice Jewish girl) onto the stage. Captured then in his youth and grace, it seems all the more shocking that he…

  By Elissa D. Barrett Sep 23, 2009 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry An Israeli media mainstay is crumbling. Will liberal democracy go with it?

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Knesset Moves To Ease (or Is it Tighten?) Conversion Rules

  While the attention of world Jewry was riveted on the United Nations, Israel’s Knesset quietly gave initial approval on September 22 to legislation that’s intended to ease the process of conversion to Judaism in Israel. The bill authorizes local rabbis to perform conversions at the request of would-be converts, permitting converts to seek out friendly…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 23, 2009 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Reading Goldstone: Breathe Deep and Get a Grip

  It’s getting a bit frightening watching the unfolding of the Israeli government’s campaign to discredit the Goldstone report on suspected Gaza war crimes. The spluttering, frantic rage, the contradictory arguments, the transparent drafting of Diaspora Jewish organizations to put their credibility on the line — it adds up to a demeaning performance that can only…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 18, 2009 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Time for an Embargo on Iran

  The time has come to prepare an oil embargo against Iran. In April, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that one option available to the United States, should Tehran refuse President Obama’s offer of engagement, is to pursue “crippling” sanctions. Although the Obama administration recently agreed to participate in a new round of talks…

  By Abraham Foxman Sep 16, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Demagoguery vs. Human Rights

  Normally I don’t feel the need to comment on Hugo Chavez’s rhetorical gestures. I’ve got my hands full responding to the ideologues and provocateurs in my own neck of the woods. But when the Venezuelan president comments on this past winter’s Israeli military operation in Gaza, on the same day that B’Tselem releases a major…

  By Jessica Montell Sep 16, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Joys of Socialized Medicine

  Oddly, it was only after President Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress that it dawned on me for the very first time that without Medicare these past years, I would by now be either bankrupt or dead. There are two reasons I’d never before thought of that. The lesser of the two is…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 16, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Goldstone Throws Down the Gauntlet

  Israel’s international isolation and vulnerability is several degrees deeper following the September 15 release of a United Nations war crimes report on the conduct of last winter’s Gaza war. How serious the damage will be depends in considerable measure on how Israel chooses to respond. Initial signs are not encouraging. The report offers a 575-page…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 16, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Doing Well, Doing Good

  In releasing ambitious guidelines to marry new ethical standards with the traditional laws of kashrut, the leaders of the Conservative movement are taking a bold step to align it with a Judaism that cares as much about social justice as it does about ritual practice. But the success of this endeavor depends on whether rank-and-file…

  Sep 16, 2009 | 3 min read
• Letters

  September 25, 2009

  With Ehud Olmert, What Could Have Been Your September 11 article “Hidden in Olmert Indictment Are Charges That He Swindled U.S. Jews” reported that pro-Israel organizations allegedly “unwittingly ponied up tens of thousands of dollars in false travel expenses for Olmert that he used as a personal travel fund for himself and for his friends…

  Sep 16, 2009 | 2 min read