Opinion

• Opinion

  What Shouldn’t We Compare to the Holocaust? A Refugee Crisis, for Starters.

  Even if we can’t agree on anything else, there’s one cardinal fact that I think we can all get behind: This has been a summer of intense drama where the Middle East is concerned. Also a summer filled with evocations of the Holocaust. And they’re not unrelated. One reason for the intensity of the drama…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Ring In the New Year: Top Tunes to Atone To

  This Rosh Hashanah concert began five years ago as a sort of mood piece. I decided last year to expand it and include riffs off of some core elements in the Rosh Hashanah service itself. Some folks have been asking me to repost it, so here it is. You’ll notice that when you click on…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 14, 2015 | 14 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Refugees’ Plight Is Personal for Me — and All Jews

  They come by the thousands now. Day after day, night after night. By sea and overland. They have been coming for far longer than just this summer, but suddenly, in the past few weeks, in their tremendous numbers and their family units, their presence is finally seen. They are body to body in Keleti station…

  By Sarah Wildman Sep 13, 2015 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Why There Are Still Only Two Choices in Syria — Bad and Worse

  The mysterious visit to Moscow in late July by Iran’s international troublemaker-in-chief, the shadowy head of the feared Quds Force, may just have found an explanation. It’s either terrifying or vaguely reassuring, depending on how you read the Middle East. Specifically, how you feel about the Moscow visit will depend on whom you’d rather see…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 11, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Did New York Times Flub ‘Jewish’ Iran Vote Chart?

  (JTA) — In a chart of lawmakers who are against the Iran deal, The New York Times singled out Jewishness as an implicit cause of opposition to the nuclear agreement. The chart, posted Thursday, originally included a column with the heading “Jewish?” “Yeses” were highlighted in yellow (yellow!), while “noes” were not. Another column showed…

  By Ron Kampeas Sep 11, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Are You So Confused by J Street’s Muslim Zionist?

  I’ve been watching out for articles about Amna Farooqi, the new Muslim-American President of J Street U, since she was elected last month. There’s more than a little bit of kvelling in that for me, since I taught the first two Israel Studies courses she took at the University of Maryland when she was a…

  By Paul Scham Sep 11, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How My Catholic Husband Became a Great ‘Jewish’ Father

  Worried bubbes everywhere, take heart: Just because your daughter (or son) is marrying out of the faith, all hope is not lost. Your daughter’s Catholic husband can still be a great Jewish father. How do I know? Because mine is. While maintaining his Catholic identity, my husband has been a true partner in keeping a…

  By Jessica Levy Sep 11, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Letters

  The Answer Lies in the Refugee Convention of 1951

  Dear Editor: In , Deborah Lipstadt raises some provocative questions which she says are “unanswered.” There is one basic answer to all of them, however. The answer arose out of the ashes of the Holocaust, haunted by the memory of those who were trapped by “paper walls” inside of a genocide. That answer is the…

  Sep 10, 2015 | < 1 min read
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  Letters

  My Childhood Synagogue Made a Mistake Inviting Pro-BDS Speakers

  I read the recent op-ed regarding BDS and my own childhood synagogue with sadness. While seemingly well intentioned, this wonderful shul made a serious mistake in inviting and promoting pro-BDS speakers. The op-ed makes two central, misguided arguments. First, as Jews we have some obligation based on “an inherent rabbinic tradition of debate” to give…

  Sep 10, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Vladimir Putin Embraces Jews — But Not Gays

  (JTA) — For the Kremlin, the interfaith roundtable last Thursday at Kazan’s Hall of Culture provided the perfect propaganda moment. Before the meeting, dozens of journalists snapped pictures of Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar posing alongside the mufti and archpriest of Tatarstan — a predominately Muslim state with its capital, Kazan, 800 miles east of…

  By Cnaan Liphshiz Sep 10, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  True Test of the Iran Deal Starts Now

  Now that President Obama has secured more than enough votes to prevent Congress from overturning the Iran nuclear deal, it’s time to question whether continued opposition makes any sense at all. We’ll go further. Since a summer recess filled with intensive, expensive lobbying and frightening attack advertisements failed to make a dent in the support…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 10, 2015 | 4 min read