Opinion

• Opinion

  Mah Ramsey Got Arrested

  I had an illegal abortion in 1964, and I have hardly mentioned it in the last 52 years. I might have mentioned it to my former husband. I know for sure my four adult children didn’t know because I told them one by one on the day I decided to write this piece, and asked…

  By Kathleen Peratis

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Hillary Clinton and the Haggadah Made Me a Feminist

  I am not ambivalent about Hillary Clinton. I have never had a problem with her “likability.” I have never had an “enthusiasm gap.” I’ve never felt that there was “just something about her.” Most “somethings” about her I happen to love. I covered the 2008 election closely — daily, hourly, minute by minute in real…

  By Rachel Sklar Jun 8, 2016 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Hasids May Have a Decent Legal Point About Single-Sex Swimming in Brooklyn

  The Jewish world has recently been abuzz over the latest clash between law and religion, revolving around — of all things — a public swimming pool in Brooklyn. Waves have reached beyond the community; an editorial in The New York Times provoked Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt to take up cudgels in an opinion piece for the New…

  By Michael A. Helfand Jun 8, 2016 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman A gunman attacked a Michigan synagogue. Here’s what happens to the community next

  

• Dan Perry Israelis and Americans deserve to know why they are still at war

  

• Emily Tamkin We must rewrite the rulebook for fighting antisemitism — or conspiracists like Joe Kent will win the narrative wars

  

• Jay Michaelson Antisemitism is exploding on the right but the Jewish establishment is focused on the left

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  How (Not) To Wield Jewish Privilege in Israel

  As Israel reels from yet another rightward lurch in its governing coalition, the question again arises: Can the first Jewish state in thousands of years be democratic and liberal while retaining its distinct religious and ethnic character? Even as staunch a defender of the Zionist enterprise as Moshe Ya’alon is uncertain of the answer. In…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 8, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish Values Tell Us To Back Equality for Transgender People — It’s in the Torah

  Citing both changing social practice and Jewish values, the international association of Conservative rabbis last week passed a resolution calling on Jewish institutions and government agencies to embrace the full equality of transgender people. Some see this as a departure from tradition. But, as the resolution claims, a stronger case can be made that full…

  By Matthew Gindin Jun 6, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Andrew Cuomo Is Worst Possible Face of the Anti-BDS Movement

  Pro-Israel activists who are battling the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) against the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory emphasize the freedom and democracy of Israeli society and juxtapose it to the intolerance of the BDS movement. With his new anti-BDS bill, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made it that much harder for…

  By Ari Paul Jun 6, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Things We Can Do About the Western Wall Impasse — and One We Shouldn’t

  Now that the long-awaited plan to create a proper egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall has been put on hold, again, here are five actions that American Jewish leaders can take — and one course of action that they should not, under any circumstances, follow. Option 1: Lay low. This is the Israeli option….

  By Jane Eisner Jun 6, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jerusalem Day and the Misuses of Religion

  On the eve of the June 1967 war, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook uttered the audacious (and unwittingly prophetic) lament that Israel did not yet rule over all the former Mandatory Palestine: “Have we forgotten those parts of Eretz Yisrael which are not in our hands? Where is our Jericho? And where is our Hevron? And…

  By Michael Lesher Jun 5, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Broken Guardrail of Democracy That Let Donald Trump Get This Far

  How did we get here? How did it happen that voters in the world’s greatest democracy are forced to choose a president from the two most disliked candidates since modern polling began? Our question, how we got here, is actually two separate questions. For Democrats: Why is Hillary Clinton so disliked by so many Americans?…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 3, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Apologize for Being Jewish — to the Left or the Right

  There should be a conversation in the Jewish community about the conversation that is being had about us. If you’ve missed it, here’s what it sounds like. On the hard left, populated largely by fans of Bernie Sanders, the Jews are too powerful, too privileged and too white to deserve any protections against bigotry, ad…

  By Noam Neusner Jun 2, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Did Bernie Sanders Choose the Wrong People To Push Democrats for Shift on Israel?

  George W. Bush paved the way for Republicans and Democrats alike to recognize Palestinian statehood. In June 2002, Bush introduced his Road Map to Peace, becoming the first American president to officially endorse an independent Palestinian state. In 2004, for the first time in their history, both parties incorporated Bush’s new stance in their official…

  By Chemi Shalev (Haaretz) Jun 1, 2016 | 5 min read