Opinion

• 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

  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

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry Israelis have no idea where the Iran war is going. But they know it’s part of Netanyahu’s campaign

  

• Emily Tamkin Hungary is poised to topple an authoritarian leader. American Jews have something to learn

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Should Israel Fear The Peak Oil Crisis?

  Conventional wisdom suggests that the world economy is in a slow but steady recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. Some economists, however, including Nafeez Ahmed, author of several books including “A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It,” are sounding the alarm about a looming global redux of that crisis…

  By Andrew Eil Mar 3, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  American Jews Should Move To Israel – But Not Out Of Fear

  Following a spate of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, including dozens of bomb threats aimed at Jewish Community Centers and the desecration of two cemeteries, Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog raised the alarm. The head of the Zionist Union Party called on the Israeli government to “urgently prepare and draw up a national emergency…

  By Eetta Prince-Gibson Mar 3, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Is The World Baseball Classic An Error For The Jews?

  On March 6th the Israeli national baseball team will take the field for the first game of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) against Korea, in Seoul. This is the first time Israel has qualified for the WBC and reason for Israel’s nascent baseball program to celebrate — sort of. The team that will represent Israel…

  By Lincoln Mitchell Mar 2, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Bernie Sanders Signals Liberal Push To End Israel’s Occupation — With Two States Or One

  At the J Street Conference on February 27, Bernie Sanders delivered one of the most intriguing Israel-related speeches an American politician has given in years. Read it carefully, and you can grasp Donald Trump’s radicalizing impact on the America-Israel debate. The more Trump and his advisers question long-standing taboos by shifting right, the more Democrats…

  By Peter Beinart Mar 2, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Letters

  Letter To The Editor: Recognize Continuing Dangers Of Iran Nuclear Deal

  In his recent column (“How Bibi Played Us On The Iran Deal — And We Let Him”) Peter Beinart claims Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu duped us by hyping the threat posed by the Iran nuclear deal. But who does Beinart mean by “us”? It doesn’t take a Bibi Netanyahu to recognize the dangers the accord…

  By Bob Feferman and Matan Shamir Mar 1, 2017 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Was Donald Trump’s Speech His Bar Mitzvah Moment?

  Was Donald Trump’s February 28 address to a joint session of Congress the president’s bar mitzvah speech? It’s as if the wild, unruly kid decided to rise to the occasion in a deliberate attempt to offer a glimpse of what he could be. I remember that feeling — three times, in fact. Since I have…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 1, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Anti-Semitic Attacks Are Good For Donald Trump

  More than 200 headstones overturned. Eighty-nine bomb threats and counting. We are living through a paroxysm of anti-Semitic violence not seen in the United States in two generations. But there are at least three crucial questions to which we do not know the answer. First, and most narrowly, we don’t yet know who is committing…

  By Jay Michaelson Mar 1, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump Says You Can’t Love America And Care About The World. Jews Know Better.

  President Trump delivered an unexpectedly presidential speech when he addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time last night, reciting his campaign promises in a kinder, gentler tone, gesturing at compromise and offering a gauzier vision of America than we have ever heard from him before. But laced through the hour-long speech was…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 1, 2017 | 4 min read