Opinion

• Opinion

  Passion and Redemption

  Amid all the boiling passions awakened by Mel Gibson’s “Passion,” it’s been mostly overlooked that this movie is a critical landmark in Gibson’s personal journey as an artist. Of the 40 films with which he’s been associated over a 25-year career as actor, director, producer and writer, only three have been described as labors of…

  3 min read
• Letters

  February 20, 2004

  Harsh Tone of Bible Not Reserved for Gays Columnist David Klinghoffer, it seems to me, adds to the confusion he so scorns when he cites Leviticus and “ancient Jewish midrashic tradition” to argue that Judaism condemns homosexuality (“Communal Confusion,” February 13). Yes, the Lord is alleged to have said, by the writers of Leviticus, “You…

  Feb 20, 2004 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Wide-Ranging Interests

  When it comes to the question of what constitutes “Jewish art” or “Jewish music,” there is not and likely never will be a definitive and satisfying answer. Is any art by a Jewish artist “Jewish art”? Was Felix Mendelssohn a “Jewish composer”? Mahler? Similarly, there is no final answer to what it is that makes…

  By Leonard Fein Feb 20, 2004 | 4 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

• Opinion

  Intelligence and Wisdom

  President Bush got one thing right in his February 8 television interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Responding to the mounting furor over intelligence failures leading up to the Iraq war, Bush said there would be “ample time for the American people to assess whether or not I made good calls, whether or not I…

  Feb 20, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Double Standard on Suicide Terrorism

  At the recent conference of world business and government leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Jordan’s foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, declared that suicide attacks against Israeli citizens are morally wrong. His statement was extraordinary because Arab leaders rarely, if ever, have forthrightly labeled such killing immoral. Acknowledging as much, Muasher suggested that Arab states should have “publicly,…

  By Leonard A. Cole Feb 20, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Joe Lieberman’s Historic Run

  A decade ago, I found myself in a hotel lounge in a mid-sized American city chatting with a local Jewish leader. He spoke loudly, but every time he used the words “Jew” or “Jewish,” he lowered his voice. For an instant, I experienced an urge — similar to one I had felt in a Moscow…

  By Blu Greenberg Feb 20, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Modern-Day Mordecai

  Senator Joe Lieberman would have made a wonderful leader for this country. He is an authentic American statesman, a brilliant craftsman of public policy (witness the primary role he played in drafting the Homeland Security Act) and a serious and loyal Jew. Ruefully, support from the Jewish community, which should have been sustained and generous…

  By Menachem Genack Feb 20, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Communal Confusion

  There seems to be more confusion than ever in the Jewish world over the word “Jewish.” The lack of clarity is exemplified nowhere more obviously than in the debate over homosexuality — not that there is much debate going on among our Jewish communal leaders. Leading Jewish groups overwhelmingly favor erasing the marks of disapproval…

  By David Klinghoffer Feb 13, 2004 | 3 min read
• Letters

  February 13, 2004

  Poll Presents Geneva In a Misleading Light In her opinion article Debra DeLee, president of Americans for Peace Now, reports that 50% of American Jews polled by Peace Now said they were more likely to support the Geneva Understandings (the Israeli far left’s proposal for a full-scale Israeli territorial surrender and creation of a Palestinian…

  Feb 13, 2004 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Sharon’s Plan

  One of Ariel Sharon’s least-understood strengths as a leader is his mastery of the art of ambiguity. Despite his popular image of bulldog stubbornness, Sharon has managed throughout his career to be many things to many different people around him, maneuvering nimbly from one crisis to the next, keeping friend and foe alike forever guessing,…

  Feb 13, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Sticks and Stones

  Last August this newspaper published a front-page essay by a former speaker of Israel’s Knesset, Avraham Burg, arguing that the continuing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza was threatening to destroy the Jewish state from within. To save itself from demographic obliteration and moral decay and preserve the Zionist vision of a democratic…

  Feb 13, 2004 | 3 min read