Opinion

• Opinion

  Why I Am Pro-Life and Support Planned Parenthood

  I am one who believes that women ought to be able to access safe and legal abortions in accordance with the graduated restrictions built into Roe v. Wade, still the law of our land. I also consider myself pro-life. This is not a contradiction, nor a semantic jujitsu. It is a studied opinion supported by…

  By Jane Eisner

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I Hired a Belgian Butcher to Circumcise My Son

  (JTA) — They warn you that parenting means doing a bunch of stuff you never imagined yourself doing. I had always assumed this applied to saying to children things like, “You watch your tone of voice, young lady” or, “Let’s not eat things we find in our underwear.” But in my case, the moment came…

  By Cnaan Liphshiz Nov 30, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Racist Israeli Hanukkah Video Mocks Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews

  Today, November 30, is a special day in Israel. It’s “,” the day that the country commemorates the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries. It’s also supposed to be the day when the Israeli government recognizes its own historic discrimination against Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. How awkward, then, that today is also the day a…

  By Sigal Samuel Nov 30, 2015 | 2 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

  Want To End Israeli Occupation — Without BDS? This New Guide Tells You How.

  Israel supporters who are deeply troubled by occupation are often in a bind. If the non-violent tool of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel is considered treyf by most of the Jewish community, and if many Israel supporters themselves are loath to invoke a blanket boycott on the country, then what can they do?…

  By Mira Sucharov Nov 30, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  This Canadian Synagogue Invited Muslims To Pray After Their Mosque Was Fire-Bombed

  Finally, some heartwarming news. A Canadian congregation in Ontario to use its synagogue as a place to worship after their mosque was fire-bombed in a suspected hate crime following the Paris attacks. The attack, which caused an estimated $80,000 worth of damage, rendered Masjid al-Salaam mosque — the only one in Peterborough, Ontario — unusable. That’s…

  By Anne Cohen Nov 30, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  What a Syrian Hanukkah Custom Can Teach Us About Refugees

  Some Sephardic Jews with roots in Aleppo, Syria, have a special Hanukkah custom. On each of the eight nights of the holiday, they light an extra flame. This custom has been passed down in families whose ancestors were forced to flee Spain as refugees, when the Alhambra Decree of 1492 set in motion their expulsion…

  By Franz Afraim Katzir Nov 30, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What Donald Trump Can Learn from Hanukkah

  It’s that time of year again. The Thanksgiving turkey carcass is stripped clean. The snow boots are retrieved from the back of the closet. And politicians are renewing their annual complaint that Americans don’t say “Merry Christmas” anymore. Actually, Donald Trump first tackled this issue months ago, campaign visionary that he is, promising that we…

  Nov 30, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  4 Mistakes To Avoid When Talking About Radical Islam

  Much of what has been said in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris has been sterile — when it has not been obscene. So many of the responses have been so sadly predictable. On one side stand the apologists and wishful thinkers, who insist that the murders have “nothing to do with Islam”;…

  By Shai Held Nov 30, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Jews From Arab Lands Got Their Refugee Day — But Is It Zionist?

  On November 30, the State of Israel will mark for the second time an annual day commemorating the exodus of Jews from Arab countries, otherwise dubbed “Jewish Refugee Day” or “Jewish Nakba Day.” For many Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern descent, this day is a long-sought form of recognition: The Israeli government is finally recognizing…

  By Shayna Zamkanei Nov 29, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Women of the Wall Must Continue — Terror Attacks or No

  On Hanukkah we sing, “Banu Hosheh Legaresh” (We came to drive out the darkness), as we remember the unlikely victory of the Maccabees against the Assyrians in Jerusalem. So too, Judith led the defeat of Holofernes, against all odds when the Israelites were in a very dark place of despair, having almost given up hope….

  By Shira Pruce Nov 27, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Does Hillary Clinton Have a Haim Saban Problem?

  Haim Saban, one of Hillary Clinton’s top donors, may be aligned with the Democratic Party. But when it comes to Mideast politics, he’s far from a progressive. That doesn’t set the billionaire Israeli-American entertainment magnate apart from many other Democrats — see, for example, Sen. Chuck Schumer — who are Israel and Mideast hawks, but…

  By Ali Gharib Nov 27, 2015 | 3 min read