Opinion

• Opinion

  Fault Lines Season 1, Episode 4

  An intriguing take on the evolution of “Jewishness” in the Jewish state. Listen to “Season 1, Episode 4” on Spreaker. Let the world know what you think about Fault Lines – rate our episodes, and share your thoughts in a review on iTunes. Download episodes here. Subscribe to Fault Lines and listen anytime. Check out…

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  The Media’s ‘Kosher Police’ Must Stop Monitoring Ivanka’s Dining Habits

  The Washingtonian would like you to know that they’ve dug up a “kosher expert” who believes Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump don’t keep Kosher. Reporter Jessica Sidman writes, “Based on their dining destinations, it’s safe to say that the couple isn’t strictly observant.” The magazine even went to the trouble to call several of the…

  By Bethany Mandel Feb 23, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Pussy Riot: Why Women Should Be Angry At Ivanka And Melania

  Since the election, Democrats have been told what we and the Hillary campaign did, and keep doing, wrong. “Identity politics” was the issue, some insisted, as if supporting civil rights were as divisive and deplorable as white supremacy. Stop marching in silly pink hats and dropping F-bombs, Madonna and all of you, others complained —…

  By Wednesday Martin Feb 23, 2017 | 5 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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  Letters

  Letter to the Editor: Liberals Should Support a One State Solution

  I’m a longtime supporter of a two-state solution for Israel/Palestine. Paradoxically, however, I’ve become convinced over the last few years that the best way to get there is to push for a one state solution. As any parent knows, there are times when giving a child what he/she wants is the best way to convince…

  By Richard Frenkel Feb 22, 2017 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump, The Jews And The Political Weaponization Of Anti-Semitism

  (JTA) — Was that so hard? At some point in the past week, it looked like President Donald Trump was never going to use “anti-Semitism” in a sentence. It took a fourth series of hoax bomb threats at JCCs around the country and imprecations from Jewish groups across the ideological spectrum for the president to at…

  By Andrew Silow-Carroll Feb 21, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Yes, Trump Finally Denounced Anti-Semitism. But Is It Enough?

  President Trump has finally, after too long a time, denounced and distanced himself from the cascading anti-Semitism that is being directed at Jewish communities around this country. Here’s why his remarks today, first on television and then at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, are so necessary. And why they might not…

  By Jane Eisner Feb 21, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  GOP Bigots Next Plan To Gut Legal Immigration

  We know it now as one of the most scurrilous proposals in American history. But give those two Pennsylvania politicians credit. When Democratic Sen.David Reed and Republican House Member Albert Johnson introduced what became the Immigration Act of 1924, eviscerating legal immigration to the United States for Jews, Italians and others — and banning Asians…

  By Robert Lehrman Feb 21, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Political Rabbi’s Survival Guide

  On my desk, there is a small black and white photograph depicting the late Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld of Cleveland, his face bloody from a beating that he suffered at the hands of segregationists in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, during the Freedom Summer of 1964. It is now more than a half century later, and from what I…

  By Jeffrey K. Salkin Feb 21, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Our Synagogue Became A ‘Sanctuary Synagogue’

  Each Passover, as we gather around Seder tables with glasses of sweet wine and with plates overflowing with charoset, egg and bitter herbs, Jews read the words “Arami oved Avi,” which translates to “My father was a wandering Aramean.” Slavery and liberation are personal; we read the story in the first person: The Exodus happened…

  By Michael Adam Latz Feb 21, 2017 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Is PewDiePie More Like Mel Brooks Than Like Milo Yiannopoulos?

  The latest controversy over online anti-Semitism is not about white supremacists or neo-Nazis, but about a 27-year-old Swedish YouTube star who goes by the nickname “PewDiePie” (aka Felix Kjellberg). Last week, Kjellberg , who has more than 53 million subscribers for his video channel that mixes comedy with video game play and rambling cultural commentary,…

  By Cathy Young Feb 21, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Donald Trump Too Ignorant To Deal With Israel And The Middle East?

  For almost two decades, American presidents have supported a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Last week, Donald Trump questioned that commitment, thus potentially changing the course of Middle Eastern and Jewish history. Why did he take this momentous action? The most plausible answer is that he’s too ignorant to understand the consequences of what he’s done….

  By Peter Beinart Feb 20, 2017 | 4 min read