Opinion

• Letters

  May 11, 2007

  Ex-Chief Rabbi’s Words Are Essentially Sorcery Rabbi David Ellenson opines about Orthodox rabbis in Israel who are saying that Reform Judaism is the cause of the Holocaust and who refuse to give legitimacy to the Reform rabbinate (“Obscene Orthodox Hatred Demands a Clear Denunciation,” May 4). This pains Ellenson — as it should — since…

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Meltdown

  The very public meltdown of the World Jewish Congress is a tragedy of historic proportions, masquerading as low farce. An organization that once embodied the Jewish people’s epic struggle against the greatest of world evils, the WJC has now been reduced to a mockery, an ugly sideshow of nasty personal feuds, name-calling and bookkeeping scandals….

  May 11, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Will Scandal Loom Large in ’08 Elections?

  Last month, the FBI raided the offices of Rep. Rick Renzi’s family business as part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into a land-swap deal that could benefit one of the Arizona Republican’s friends. Just days before that raid, the FBI searched the home of Rep. John Doolittle, apparently looking for records of a company…

  By Stuart Rothenberg May 11, 2007 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman A year after the LA fires, the lesson is clear: Our greatest disasters are often self-inflicted

  

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

  

• Dan Perry Was Maduro’s abduction a ‘Zionist’ plot? The accusation is unfounded — and incredibly telling

  

• Emily Tamkin Is Mamdani bad or good for Jews? Here’s how to tell

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Misusing Judaism in the Service of Roe

  ‘Oh, come on!” the e-mail read. “What’s a few dead children on the altar of my liberal slippery-slope paranoia?” Gruesome as the imagery was, I had to smile. The message was intended as a humorous ‘Touché” from an academic who had originally contacted me in anger. He was not only honest enough to concede his…

  May 11, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Winograd Commission’s Sins of Omission

  There are some important points missing in the Winograd commission’s discussion of the sources of last summer’s war against Hezbollah and the poor decision-making and warfighting capabilities Israel demonstrated. Failure to address three in particular — prisoners, Iran and 40 years of occupation — could help pave the way for new aggression against Israel. Last…

  By Yossi Alpher May 11, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Leveraged

  The classic warning, from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” was quite simple: “Neither a lender nor a borrower be.” Drawing on Exodus, it was meant to warn against the sin of usury. These days, alas, nobody is listening. At this moment, there are mighty financial moguls who are both borrower and lenders. Here’s the way they play the…

  By Gus Tyler May 11, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Define Zionism as the Jewish Right of Return

  From November 1975 to December 1991, Zionism was “officially” a form of racism and racial discrimination. So the United Nations famously proclaimed by a vote of 67- 35 (with 32 abstentions), and so it was for 16 years, until, by a vote of 111-25 (with 13 abstentions), the “Zionism is racism” resolution was simply rescinded….

  By Leonard Fein May 11, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  They Are Both Borrowers and Lenders

  The classic warning was that “Thou shalt neither a lender nor a borrower be.” At this moment, there are mighty financial moguls who are both borrower and lenders. Here’s the way they play the game: They are known as “leveraged” take-over artists. The term “leveraged” means that they borrowed the money for their operation. With…

  By Gus Tyler May 9, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Youngstown: An American Tragedy

  The story of Youngstown, Ohio, is the sad tale of a tragedy “made in America.” Youngstown was once one of the greatest producers of steel in the world. Today, it is a ghost town. It can no longer depend on its once thriving steel mills to provide employment for its people. In search of a…

  By Gus Tyler May 6, 2007 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Ehud Olmert Is Not Solely To Blame

  Nine months after the end of Israel’s war in Lebanon comes the Winograd Commission’s interim report — and it is being used to put a gun to the head of the wrong person. The Winograd report ignores the plain fact that the war ended in a victory of sorts; how else to explain why the…

  By Martin van Creveld May 4, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Obscene Orthodox Hatred Demands a Clear Denunciation

  Several weeks ago, the former Israeli chief Sephardic rabbi, Mordecai Eliyahu, charged that the Holocaust was divine punishment meted out against our people on account of the sin of Reform Judaism. Such an accusation is infuriating, and unleashes unnecessary hatred and incitement among Jews. But there is unfortunately nothing particularly novel about this obscenity. I…

  By David Ellenson May 4, 2007 | 3 min read