Opinion

• Opinion

  The Legacy of the Ghetto

  This week marks the 65th anniversary of a seminal moment in the horror that was the Holocaust: the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It was on the first night of Passover in 1943 that a tiny band of Polish Jews, teenagers and young adults, armed mostly with pistols and gasoline bombs, launched a hopeless counterattack against the…

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Getting Serious About Love

  In a recent sermon, up-and-coming rabbi David Ingber complained, “You never hear about love in Jewish newspapers.” Part of the reason for this is, of course, that love is rarely newsworthy; crisis is just better press. But it is true, in the Jewish world, that religiously, intellectually and culturally, love isn’t serious. Some of this…

  By Jay Michaelson Apr 17, 2008 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Leader of American Hasidic Dynasty Leaves the States

  When most people think of Hasidic dynasties, what come to mind are the consonant-rich Ukrainian villages after which so many are named, like Vizhnitz, Munkacz and Skver. American cities have also produced Hasidic lineages, the most famous of which has been based in Boston for a half-century and led by the charismatic Levi Yitzchak Horowitz….

  By Michael Casper Apr 17, 2008 | 3 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 How Israel became a country where teenagers murder each other in cold blood

  

• 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

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  Opinion

  Retailer Takes Caring for Employees to New Heights

  If you are an employee at a leading Florida furniture chain and have a bone to pick, you might take your grievance to human resources. Then again, you might talk over the matter over with the company’s priest, its minister, or even its rabbi. It’s not news that workplaces today look a lot different from…

  By Marissa Brostoff Apr 17, 2008 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Introducing Some of the Jewish World’s Newest Rabbis

  Like many rabbinical candidates, Sara Brandes, who is about to graduate from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, originally hadn’t planned to become a rabbi. But during a year she spent in Israel after college, she discovered that her interests — which included psychology and religion — could be combined in a single job. “I…

  Apr 17, 2008 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  For Israel’s Sake, Moderate American Jews Must Find Their Voice

  In just a few short years, the “two-state solution” has gone from presumed conclusion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an increasingly distant hope. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has himself said that without such a deal, “the State of Israel is finished.” By the dozens, Israeli dignitaries solemnly warn: The window is closing on a two-state…

  By Jeremy Ben-Ami Apr 15, 2008 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Freed From the Slavery of Illness

  When the Plague Bags come out for our Seder, the toy frogs will have a place of honor at our table. We’ll call out the names of nine plagues instead of 10. This isn’t the first time I’ve tinkered with Passover, but it’s the most sacrilegious thing I’ve done. Up until now, the changes I’ve…

  By Cindy Hecht Suna Apr 10, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Okay, Fine, There Really Are No Good Jewish Men Out There

  I’ve been told over and over again that there are no good Jewish men out there. I’ve read it in Jewish newspapers, heard it at Jewish singles events and seen it on the Web. Usually when I read the “no good Jewish men” complaint, I get mad and sometimes even write letters to the editor…

  By David Seidman Apr 10, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Passover Lesson For the Palestinians

  On the first Thursday evening in March, there was great celebration in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets, shooting guns in the air, offering prayers of gratitude and handing out candy to local children. They weren’t celebrating a religious holiday or a sports championship. They were celebrating the vicious murder of eight boys…

  By Steven Nasatir Apr 10, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  You Get the Politicians You Pay For

  It’s often said that the problem with Washington is that it isn’t run like a business. It actually is — the problem is that it’s run like Bear Stearns. Just consider the business of running elections. We’re a democracy, so this is supposed to be our core competency. If only we could make that claim….

  By Noam Neusner Apr 10, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Once We Were Strangers

  Every year at the first full moon of spring, on the 14th day of the biblical month of Nisan, Jews all around the world gather with their families to re-enact their ancestors’ flight from Egyptian slavery. Passover is the most familiar ritual on the Jewish calendar, bringing together Jews of every stripe, the devout and…

  Apr 10, 2008 | 2 min read