Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Can’t Prison Figure Out How a Minyan Works? It’s Not That Complicated!

  I guess it isn’t surprising that it’s hard to find a minyan — a quorum of 10 Jews — in a North Carolina prison. I just didn’t think that was something I’d ever be learning from the Supreme Court. But that’s precisely what Supreme Court Justice Alito told us in one of his recent dissenting…

  By Michael A. Helfand

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Both Sides of BDS Debate Get Oberlin Anti-Semitism Wrong

  Even when the BDS debate reached a crescendo at Oberlin College in 2013, I never felt unsafe on campus. It’s true that as an Israeli-American junior, and as co-founder and co-chair of the college’s J Street U chapter, I was uncomfortable publicly identifying as a Zionist. But I had access to peers, administrators and college…

  By Hadas Binyamini Mar 7, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  If It’s Trump vs. Hillary, She’s the Pro-Israel Candidate

  One of the more disappointing aspects of an all-around disappointing Donald Trump candidacy is that Republican Jews seem to be Trump-leaners. I say “seem to be” because there is limited data on how the small subset of Republicans who are also Jewish are voting in primaries. My people — that is, Russian Jews from the…

  By Karol Markowicz Mar 7, 2016 | 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 Marking Israel’s most joyous day with anguish over the country’s future

  

• 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

  Is Donald Trump Really a Hitler-Style Fascist?

  Alfred Münzer, a Holocaust survivor, is nervous: Donald Trump’s increasingly vile campaign for president is becoming increasingly viable. “I am very worried about what he says. I am much more worried by how it’s received,” Münzer told me in a phone interview from his Washington, D.C., home, as voters in nearby Virginia went to the…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 7, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  8 Reasons Why a Michael Bloomberg Run Would Be Doomed — Trump or No

  Former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg promised he’d let the nation know by this month if he’d run for president as a self-funded independent. In part, he’s seen the left-wing threat diminish with the Democratic nomination all but certainly belonging to Hillary Clinton. All but gone are hopes that 2016 would see…

  By Ari Paul Mar 7, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A Sephardic Sage Would Never Make a Woman Switch Seats

  A story is told of an incident on a bus in Jerusalem. A pretty young lady got on the bus and sat down in a vacant seat next to a Haredi rabbi. The rabbi arose in a huff and walked quickly away from the woman. At the next stop, a Sephardic rabbi got on the…

  By Marc D. Angel Mar 7, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I Went Public With My Story of Having a Baby as a Transgender Man

  (JTA) — Two weeks ago, I heard a podcast in which two Jewish women named Ronna and Beverly misgendered me repeatedly and made fun of my story. This was not the first time I thought to myself, “Why did I choose this?” To be clear, I was not asking, “Why did I choose to be…

  By Rafi Daugherty Mar 6, 2016 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump Is Practically Begging for Hitler Comparison With This Salute

  As a nation, we aren’t very good at keeping our political hyperbole to a minimum. Especially since President George W. Bush was burned in effigy during Iraq War protests. Those on the left declared Bush to be Adolf Hitler at every turn, completely desensitizing us to the comparison. Fast forward to 2016, and we are…

  By Bethany Mandel Mar 6, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump’s Manhood Is No Side Issue — It’s His Entire Campaign

  Donald Trump made American presidential history during Thursday night’s Fox News Republican debate in Detroit. He became, as far as I can tell, the first major presidential candidate ever to tout the size of his genitalia as a campaign issue. The topic had initially been raised by Marco Rubio on February 28 at a rally…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 4, 2016 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Inside the Twisted Anti-Semitic Mind of Oberlin Professor Joy Karega

  Isabel Sherrel, an alumna of Oberlin College, recently did something courageous. She decided to treat her alma mater’s assistant professor of rhetoric and composition, Dr. Joy Karega, like a human being and actually reach out. She wanted to dialogue over the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Karega had reportedly been posting about on Facebook. Karega has…

  By Matthew Gindin Mar 3, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Men Who Make Women Switch Seats Don’t Understand Torah

  To appease an ultra-Orthodox male, flight attendants on Israel’s national airline El Al asked an 81-year-old female passenger to change her seat on a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv. The man cited “the Torah” as his reason for not wanting to make inadvertent physical contact with a woman. The Israel Religious Action Center, a…

  By Roberta Rosenthal Kwall Mar 3, 2016 | 3 min read