Opinion

• Letters

  July 24, 2009

  A Price Paid in Terror for Prisoner Releases Haim Watzman correctly observes that there are terrible dilemmas involved in seeking to secure the freedom of kidnapped Israelis like serviceman Gilad Shalit (‘Gilad Shalit’s Plight, and Israel’s Dilemma,’ July 10). At the end of the day, however, logic and experience have shown that freeing Palestinian terrorists…

  2 min read
• Opinion

  What We Could Learn From Pope Benedict

  ‘Turn it and turn it again, for everything is contained therein” — so says the Talmudic compendium of wisdom known as the “Ethics of the Fathers,” in trying to describe the value of the Torah. It’s got everything you need right inside, tradition teaches. It’s the all-in-one roadmap for living in this world. After all,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 15, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Prophecy Is Not Policy

  Liberal Jewish activists profess a great regard for the prophetic tradition and its message to the modern world. In these weeks leading up to our traditional day of mourning, Tisha B’Av, our weekly haftarot are peppered with messages of disapproval for a society deaf to God’s word. And it is hard to read those messages…

  By Noam Neusner Jul 15, 2009 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry Marking Israel’s most joyous day with anguish over the country’s future

  

• Emily Tamkin American Jews have a Hasan Piker problem. Solving it is going to hurt

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  As Iran Extends Its Reach, a Lesson From Argentina

  On July 18, 1994, terrorists bombed the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and wounding 300. Since then, we have learned that the bombing was carried out at the behest of key leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Now, as we mark the 15th anniversary of that devastating assault on…

  By Daniel S. Mariaschin Jul 15, 2009 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  In Machers vs. Obama, the Youth Have Voted

  Nearly every month, it seems, another establishment Jewish organization launches some new, well-funded initiative to involve young American Jews like me in traditional Jewish institutions. As a 26-year-old American Jew, I appreciate these efforts — particularly those that focus on creating meaningful Jewish experiences that move beyond a simplistic focus on Jewish continuity. As I…

  By Isaac Luria Jul 15, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Jewish Organizations Should Spare the Change

  Innovation, we are often told, is the great savior. It will remake Detroit, cleanse the atmosphere and educate every child. Years of steady drops in the membership rolls and donor bases of many American Jewish institutions, from national advocacy organizations to community federations, have led many to conclude that innovation is also the key to…

  By Matthew Ackerman Jul 15, 2009 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Who Is an Israeli?

  The “Who Is A Jew?” question has long been with us, often quite acrimoniously. In Israel, the debate has immediate legal implications. In America, too, the question arises frequently, whether in Jewish population surveys, in responses to the offspring of intermarried Jews or even in discussions of Jewish identity. At first blush, the question “Who…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 8, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Breaking the Cease-Fire Between Science and Religion

  What is portrayed as the debate between religion and science feels increasingly like watching the very bitter dissolution of a doomed marriage. The relationship started out all roses and kisses, proceeded to doubts and regrets, then fights and silences, a mutually agreed separation, and finally to curses and maledictions: “I wish you were dead!” In…

  By David Klinghoffer Jul 8, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  UJC’s Dilemma: When To Lead?

  With the appointment of Jerry Silverman, a highly successful nonprofit and corporate executive, as the new CEO of United Jewish Communities, the troubled umbrella organization for North America’s Jewish community federations is hoping to turn a new page. So far, Silverman, most recently the executive director of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, is saying the…

  By Jacob B. Ukeles Jul 8, 2009 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Let Them Serve

  This is a tale of two militaries. The year is 1993. A new American president, untested by military service of his own, stumbles into a messy public spat with military brass over treatment of gay and lesbian service members. Candidate Bill Clinton had promised to allow citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual…

  Jul 8, 2009 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  He Took Our Measure, and Dreamed Bigger

  American Judaism lost one of its keenest, most unblinking observers with the death on July 6 of Gary A. Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco. Tobin died at the age of 59 after a long battle with cancer, and is survived by his wife, six children and a…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 8, 2009 | 4 min read