Opinion

• Opinion

  Haim Gouri’s Rejection of Zionist Art Prize Restored My Faith in Zionism

  Haim Gouri has won just about every literary prize that Israel has to offer. Yet, in my eyes, he made his strongest, most Zionist statement on January 5, when news broke that he had refused to accept a prize for “Zionist Works of Art,” awarded by the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport. The award…

  By Eetta Prince-Gibson

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Chris Hughes Wrecked The New Republic — and Broke One Reader’s Heart

  I picked up my first copy of The New Republic as a teenager in 1993. The cover featured a caricature of Ross Perot as a salivating bug with the teaser “Pox Populi.” The magazine was smart, cheeky, disputatious and highbrow. It was also very Jewish. It was love at first sight. Ever since college, I…

  By Daniel Treiman Jan 12, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘I Was 13 When Marc Gafni’s Abuse Began’

  With all the accounts that have come out about Marc Gafni, the former rabbi and spiritual guru, you may wonder what more I have to offer. But this story is not over, even if Gafni never teaches or abuses again. Right now there are children in the Jewish world, and in other communities, who are…

  By Sara Kabakov Jan 12, 2016 | 9 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. 

  

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  Opinion

  Recalling Neil Gandler, an Off-Beat Jewish Tech Maven Murdered for No Reason

  I usually spend the Sunday following the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas reflecting on all of the amazing new tech products I saw over the previous week. Of course I have a lot on my mind as this was the best CES I’ve experienced yet, but today I will put those reflections…

  By Jason Miller Jan 12, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Are Our Federation Dollars Funding Israeli Settlements?

  (CLARIFICATION BELOW) When Haaretz released its recent investigation into the funding of Israeli settlements, revealing that settler groups in East Jerusalem and the West Bank received more than $220 million in tax-deductible donations from U.S. organizations between 2009 and 2013, we were troubled — but not surprised. For the past year, we and our fellow…

  By Elie Leaderman-Bray and Tali DeGroot Jan 12, 2016 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  How David Bowie Made It OK To Be a Wandering Jewish Misfit

  Like many Jewish kids, and many more gay kids, I grew up not belonging. I was a nerd and a weirdo. What other kids seemed to know intuitively — how to dress, how to talk — I had to puzzle out somehow, often unsuccessfully. That included sex; I didn’t know I was gay, and the…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 11, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Right Isn’t Shy About Influencing Israel. Why Is the Left?

  Back in 2010, shortly after the first concerted attack on the New Israel Fund and Israel’s human rights community, Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher wrote a seminal article for the New York Times. He pointed out that the ultranationalist settler lobby in Israel had been unsettled in more than one way by the disengagement from Gaza,…

  By Daniel Sokatch Jan 11, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Did We Assume B’Tselem Fire Was Arson?

  When news broke last night of and its cause was not yet clear, most of us feared the worst: arson. Since then, the smoke has cleared — literally — and a preliminary investigation has been concluded. The Jerusalem fire brigade has announced that the cause of the fire was likely an electrical fault. Although the…

  By Chelsey Berlin Jan 11, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  You Think the World Is Going to Hell in 2016? It’s Actually Getting Better.

  It’s 2016, and on the right and the left, it’s the worst of times. Conservatives see moral decay, loss of American leadership, the dangers of radical Islam. Liberals see environmental catastrophe, the persistence of racism, corporate control of politics, and the wealth gap. Either way, we’re going to hell in a handbasket. But are we?…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 11, 2016 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Is Saudi-Iran Crisis a Wake-Up Call for Iran Deal Backers?

  (JTA) — Just months after the conclusion of a nuclear deal with Iran that the Obama administration hoped would help defuse a volatile region, the Middle East seems ready to spiral out of control. Protests have erupted across the region this week in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s execution of a leading Shia cleric. In…

  By Ron Kampeas Jan 10, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I’m Joining Open Hillel’s Academic Council — BDS Disagreements or No

  When I was a plucky 11-year old, I challenged the biblical account of creation at my Jewish day school in Winnipeg, Canada. Instead of getting punished, I was invited over to the high school wing to continue the debate with the senior Judaic studies teacher. As is befitting a culture of open critique, I felt…

  By Mira Sucharov Jan 10, 2016 | 3 min read