Opinion

• Opinion

  Observing Yom Kippur on the street — and remembering those lost to violence

  This week, Jews around the world will observe the second Yom Kippur of the Covid era. Despite the uncertainty of the never-ending pandemic, it remains a time for taking stock of the year that was and holding out hope for better times ahead. For far too many, 5781 was a year defined by too many…

  By Tamar Manasseh

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  I served in Afghanistan as an Army chaplain. Jewish wisdom can help us process what comes after withdrawal

  When the US was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, I was the same age as the current cadets at West Point are now. After graduating from college, I assumed I would leave the dangers of Afghanistan to our military and focus on studying for the Jewish clergy. Growing up on the Upper East Side, Judaism…

  By David P. Frommer Sep 10, 2021 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  I was the NYPD’s only Jewish chaplain at ground zero. Here’s what I learned on 9/11

  The NYPD's only Jewish chaplain recalls the sights and sounds of 9/11

  By Alvin Kass Sep 9, 2021 | 5 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson A Yom Kippur confessional for 2025

  

• Rob Eshman When did Donald Trump become a liberal Zionist?

  

• Nora Berman The terrifying Nazi precedent for Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension — and the reasons to stay hopeful

  

• Dan Perry Trump is finally absolutely right about something in the Middle East

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  I was RBG’s rabbi. Her legacy demands we fight for human dignity and reproductive rights.

  Grief is a complicated animal. I have often described its presence to my congregants as a mountain — sometimes it is across from you and you can see it, sometimes you are climbing it, sometimes you have summited it and sometimes it is just right on top of you. We do not control it, we…

  By Lauren Holtzblatt Sep 3, 2021 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Our hate crime reporting system is broken

  In the first hours of 2020, I called the NYPD to confirm that a Jewish 15 year-old had been held up at knifepoint on a public bus. “Wow. There’s a lot of this stuff happening. What the hell,” was the officer’s response. He confirmed the incident, and told me I had missed another: in South…

  By Laura E. Adkins Sep 2, 2021 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Want to fill seats in shul? Take a lesson from southern evangelicals

  It will not surprise anyone that Christianity is alive and well in the South. Take a stroll on a Sunday morning in Little Rock and you’ll see groups of young, markedly hip people with tattoos and asymmetrical haircuts gathering and chatting every few blocks. Children are everywhere, and the cheer is so contagious, you’d think…

  By Masha Shpolberg Sep 2, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Last Rosh Hashanah, we lost RBG. This year, her legacy is in jeopardy

  When people across the country woke up on Wednesday, they opened their eyes to a new era of injustice. As of midnight Central Time, legal abortion was effectively banned in the state of Texas, and it’s clear the rest of our country could be headed in that direction. Although the U.S. Supreme Court had the…

  By Sheila Katz Sep 2, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Our rabbis, our heroes

  While many have enjoyed a restful summer, August was a blur for Jewish professionals. Most were locked inside offices, wondering how to hold the space for a liturgy that asks us “who shall live, and who shall die” while facing wildfires, hurricanes and a deadly pandemic that has decimated our communities. Just as it seemed…

  By Jen Gubitz Sep 1, 2021 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  YU’s institutional silence harms all students — and I know change is possible

  In many ways, I was an outsider at my elite boarding school: I was a Democrat, I was Jewish, and the wealth and conservatism of my peers were unlike anything I’d previously experienced. Yet there was something else that separated me from my classmates, which I kept private: I was bisexual. Our student handbook specifically…

  By Nora Berman Aug 31, 2021 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Three ways Jewish values are helping me embrace a healthier ‘new normal’

  Like most people, I thought I would be happy to return to normal this summer. I was grateful to be gathering with family to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday in person. I enjoyed eating in restaurants again and making travel plans instead of sanitizing my groceries. But underneath that initial elation, as I stored my…

  By Lisa Trank Aug 30, 2021 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  I left my Hasidic community. ‘Schitt’s Creek’ helped me put things in perspective.

  (JTA) — This article originally appeared on Alma. A year ago, I was watching “Schitt’s Creek” with my wife. It was the last season, second to last episode, so things were already emotional. Then there was that scene. The one where David is sitting on the car with his best friend Stevie and looking at…

  By Elad Nehorai Aug 30, 2021 | 5 min read