Opinion

• Opinion

  One Thing New Orleans’s Poor Haven’t Lost

  As a society, we suffer from attention deficit disorder. One minute it’s Iraq, the next it’s Paris Hilton, then on to the mine disaster and thence to Darfur. We are bombarded by snippets, like a manic bumper car jostled now in this direction, now in that. Oh, we are engaged after a fashion, but our…

  By Leonard Fein

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Our Topsy Turvy Times

  Once upon a time when the sun never set on the British Empire, the crown jewel in the imperial crown was a country called India. There were many agricultural products that the empire derived from India, including opium. When the power loom for weaving textiles made its appearance, the native Indians started up a lively…

  By Gus Tyler Aug 21, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  The Roots of the Housing Crisis

  Foreclosures of homes are the big pain of the day. Millions of families who once proudly boasted that they had reached a level of earnings that allowed them to buy a house are now squirming as lending institutions threaten foreclosure. What happened? The good old days came and departed. Families, mainly middle class, who could…

  By Gus Tyler Aug 21, 2007 | 2 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman The case for Jewish optimism in 2026

  

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

  

• Dan Perry It’s a classic trick of liars and crooks — and it’s shaping Israel’s response to war and disaster

  

• Emily Tamkin The Holocaust survivor writer who can help us through this ominous era

  

The Latest

• Letters

  August 17, 2007

  Keep Debate Over Shul Renovation Civil As president of the board of directors of Holy Blossom Temple, I write this letter to let readers know that the board firmly supports our senior rabbi, John Moscowitz, and the role he has played thus far in our renewal process (“Renovation of Storied Toronto Synagogue Opens Cracks in…

  Aug 17, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Mortgages and the Jewish Question

  For most of us, the current crisis in America’s housing market is a distant echo, a barely understood series of headlines that might as well be in Greek, in a section of the newspaper often left unread. But the crisis is real. It threatens hundreds of thousands of American families who are in danger of…

  Aug 15, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Time for Uncertainty

  Elul, the last month of the traditional Jewish calendar, began this past week, straddling as usual the end of August and the beginning of September. It is a harsh season, when the first joys of summer have worn off and the comfort of fall is still far ahead. It is a time of searing heat…

  Aug 15, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Planting Tomatoes on a Hilltop Overlooking Shechem

  ‘Let’s make a garden,” my 22-year-old daughter Ayelet suggested during my weekly visit to their little home in Yitzhar, a Jewish community near the ancient city of Shechem, or Nablus as it’s called today. Nestled in the valley between two mountains, Eval and Grezim, Shechem is the place where Jacob bought property, where Joseph is…

  By Moshe Dann Aug 15, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Swiss Bank Claimants Deserve Better

  In November 2000 a group of Swiss banks settled a class-action lawsuit by agreeing to pay $1.25 billion to Holocaust victims, including $800 million to those who deposited funds in the banks prior to World War II and did not receive them afterward. The Zurich-based Claims Resolution Tribunal, or CRT, was appointed to administer the…

  By Laura Davis, and Phyllis Brochstein, and Yisroel Schulman Aug 15, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Is it Still Adultery if the Spouse Has Alzheimer’s?

  Every 7.5 seconds, an American turns 60. Member of the first wave of baby boomers are joining their parents in creating a demographic tipping point unprecedented in our history. We now see the longest living, most mobile and most spiritually challenging multi-generational cohort of older adults in American history. How we respond to this challenge…

  By Richard Address Aug 15, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  We’re Suffering From a Deficit of Authority

  You’ve heard of the trade deficit and attention deficit disorder. Well, several strands of discontent in American life can be traced to what I call the “Authority Deficit.” Whether the context is President Bush’s conduct of the Iraq war, cops unable to make city streets safe or parents struggling to rein in unruly children, authority…

  By David Klinghoffer Aug 15, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  On Armenian Genocide, Politics Trumps Truth

  On the surface, it should be an easy call. Here, for example, is the text of a cable that Henry Morgenthau, Sr., then America’s ambassador to Turkey, sent to the State Department on July 10, 1915: “Persecution of Armenians assuming unprecedented proportions. Reports from widely scattered districts indicate systematic attempt to uproot peaceful Armenian population…

  By Leonard Fein Aug 15, 2007 | 4 min read