Opinion

• Opinion

  A Lesson From the ACLU On How To Admit Mistakes

  As we learned from this year’s presidential race, it is hard to forgive where there is no admission of error. So it was with joy and relief that I learned, October 18, that the American Civil Liberties Union finally had owned up to a whopper — the signing of a pledge, as a condition of…

  By Kathleen Peratis

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Thou Shalt Separate Church and State

  You might think that I, as a biblical scholar and an observant Jew, would have been overjoyed that the Supreme Court recently agreed to take up the issue of displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings. After all, our nation’s highest arbiter of justice is about to give free publicity to the book I love…

  By Marc Brettler Nov 5, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  In God We the People Trust

  In agreeing recently to rule on the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays at the Texas Capitol building and two Kentucky courthouses, the Supreme Court has waded into a controversy that, for religious conservatives, is fast catching up to abortion and gay marriage as one of the gravest domestic issues of the day. It would seem…

  By David Klinghoffer Nov 5, 2004 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz Class assignment: Get to know your murdered Jewish neighbors

  

• Rob Eshman Liberal Zionists are under attack. A new book proves their work has never been more important

  

• 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

• Letters

  November 5, 2004

  Shuls Without a Prayer The picture of Szeged Synagogue mentioned in an October 29 article caught my attention, because my husband and I visited it in 2000 (“Built Judaism: How Synagogue Photography Opens Worlds”). The restored synagogue, with its cobalt blues and gold inlay, is truly awesome. I believe that Tony Curtis, the movie actor,…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Heal the Rift In Our Nation

  It wasn’t until I traveled to Florida just as the election campaign was nearing its conclusion that I understood how very deeply our nation is divided. Living, as I do, in Massachusetts — quite decisively a nonbattleground state — I have been aware only at a distance of the frequency and the brutality of the…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 5, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The President’s Mandate

  The results of this election will be analyzed, spun and dissected for years, but one cardinal message must be clear in our minds: The Republicans have become this nation’s majority party. Democrats need to look that reality in the face, absorb it and begin to plan their next moves accordingly. Four years ago, the Republican…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  What Democrats Must Do

  Democrats face a delicate balancing act. On one hand, they must use every tool at their disposal, building coalitions where possible, filibustering when necessary, in order to slow or block the worst extremes of the Bush agenda. On the other hand, they must begin a long process of reconnecting with the voters. The two goals…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Living Under Water

  There’s an old joke about the British secret service learning that the polar ice cap is melting, threatening to drown the world within six months. The queen asks the clergy to go on television and prepare the public for the End. The archbishop of Canterbury goes first, urging his flock to receive sacraments and get…

  Nov 5, 2004 | 2 min read
• Letters

  October 29, 2004

  Without ‘Peoplehood,’ Judaism Is Meaningless When I began my career as a rabbi some 25 years ago, I was told by a senior colleague to “be prepared for everything and be surprised about nothing.” Over the course of the years, I have generally followed this sage advice, and there is very little that can shock…

  Oct 29, 2004 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  When Emotion Trumps Reason

  Over and over again this year, I’ve heard people say that although they’ve voted solidly Democratic in the past, they now lean Republican because of their concerns about Israel and the Middle East. I located a few warm bodies willing to explain the feelings that have compelled them to switch. My exploratory interviews found that…

  By Bethamie Horowitz Oct 29, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Voting and Change

  It may or may not be true that this election is the most important one in living memory, as some of its more heated partisans have taken to declaring. What’s beyond doubt is that it has been the most passionate — and the nastiest. The divisions in our body politic have deepened to the point…

  Oct 29, 2004 | 2 min read