Opinion

• Opinion

  Donald Trump’s Cabinet Is A Nightmare For Women

  Every four years, our country produces a new administration, and every four years, women wonder what’s in it for us. We want government policies that will protect us against discrimination, help us earn a decent living, ensure that our children are well fed and educated and foster the overall well-being of our families. In an…

  By Nancy K. Kaufman

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Frightening Human Cost Of Trump’s Latest Muslim Ban

  On March 6, President Trump issued his Travel Ban 2.0 — officially called “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.” Like its predecessor, which federal courts largely blocked, the latest travel ban brands refugees and other foreigners as a dangerous menace to our country and restricts the entry of…

  By Jason Dzubow Mar 7, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Myopic American Jews Ignore European Cousins Under Fire

  Last week, liberal rabbi Danya Ruttenberg wrote a popular tweet storm, addressing the anti-Semitic attacks against the American Jewish community. Ruttenberg posited that while there may be in increase in non-violent actions against American Jews, we are not as vulnerable as other communities and thus we should support those in the more helpless Muslim and…

  By Bethany Mandel Mar 7, 2017 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

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

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  What To Do When Your 7-Year Old Cheers ‘Trump’ In An Arab Neighborhood?

  Like many parents, I wanted my 7-year-old son to witness the Women’s March to protest the new Trump administration. Aside from the historic value of the extravaganza, I imagined he might not have the opportunity to see many mass protests once our dictatorial, thin-skinned president stifles dissent in the name of “law and order.” But…

  By David Wallis Mar 7, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why It’s Moral To Defy Trump’s Immoral Crackdown On Immigrants

  “An unjust law is not a law,” the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from his Birmingham, Alabama, jail cell. The letter is well known – less so the fact that King was writing to fellow church leaders who disapproved of his breaking the law in the name of civil rights. I was saddened to…

  By Jay Michaelson Mar 6, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Trump’s Latest ‘Raving’ Tweets About Obama Wiretap Might Be His Worst Blunder Yet

  Donald Trump’s relatively calm and controlled speech to Congress last week caused several analysts, including this one, to wonder whether the President might turn a corner and henceforth stop his loony outbursts. It took only a day or two for Trump to respond with a resounding and emphatic “No!” His series of spectacularly raving tweets…

  By Chemi Shalev (Haaretz) Mar 5, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Purim Is No Laughing Matter In The Post-Truth Era

  For centuries Purim, which celebrates the narrow escape of the Jews of ancient Persia from an edict of extermination, has been played as comedy and carnival in which a serious story of near-genocide is deflated through costume and parody. But this year, Purim does not seem quite so humorous. There is too much at stake….

  By Richard Hirsh Mar 5, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Letter To The Editor: It’s Time For Synagogues To Get ‘Politicalized’

  In a recent article published in the Forward, editor-in-chief Jane Eisner wrote about her unease at the prospect of synagogues getting involved in growing Sanctuary Movement. “Unease” doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt upon reading her editorial. The crux of Eisner’s argument: this “nascent movement of churches, mosques and synagogues to become sanctuaries,…

  By Brant Rosen Mar 4, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jeff Sessions Followed Jewish Law By Recusing Himself

  Recusal due to conflict of interest has a long history in the annals of Jewish justice. It is a common argument to disprove or to diminish someone’s point of view. The Hebrew expression to describe this argument is Nogeiya B’davar. Literally translated, it means touched by the item, but it actually means involvement in the…

  By Micah Halpern Mar 3, 2017 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How To Have Empathy In The Trump Era

  As the national atmosphere became increasingly divisive during the presidential election, some begged the question: Where is the empathy for others? The theory was that our ever-expanding national divide was due to a failure among voters to relate to each other not as ethical rivals, “deplorables” or the “crooked elite,” but as partners in the…

  By Lana Adler Mar 3, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I ‘Thank’ The Anti-Semitic Thugs Who Vandalize Jewish Cemeteries

  It actually had the opposite effect. The toppled headstones, shattered on the ground, divided the letters of the names commemorated there so that they could not be read. Actually, they brought greater attention to the lives of those buried in the hallowed ground. Images of haphazard destruction, of wanton vandalism, knocking over some and not…

  By Beth Kissileff Mar 3, 2017 | 3 min read