Opinion

• Opinion

  How Should a Rabbi Talk About Israel?

  What should a rabbinic voice on Israel sound like? How ought religious leaders speak – among themselves, within their communities, out in the world – about the divisions and conflicts, the difficult issues that Israel faces, the challenges that she presents, as well as the good news? A number of premises underlie my questions. Rabbinic…

  By David Ackerman

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi Advisor Accuses Pope Francis of ‘Nailing Entire Jewish People to the Cross’

  Last week, the Vatican edged close to formal recognition of a Palestinian state, finalizing a treaty in which for the first time, the Holy See makes explicit reference to a “state of Palestine.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry, while voicing disappointment at the move, was unusually circumspect in its initial response, stating that the use of the…

  By Bradley Burston (Haaretz) May 18, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s Segregationist Founder

  ‘The danger we face is that the great majority of those children whose parents did not receive an education for generations will descend to the level of Arab children,” Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared at a July 1962 meeting. He was speaking with the head of a teachers federation on the question of…

  By Seth J. Frantzman May 18, 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

  The Change-the-World Shabbat Dinner

  Good deeds. I’ve been struck by how many Jewish holidays carry the message that we should be helping someone else. On Rosh Hashanah, we recite that tzedakah — charity — along with prayer and repentance, will lessen the severity of God’s decree. The Yom Kippur fast is meant to cleanse our souls, yes, but also…

  By Abigail Pogrebin May 17, 2015 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  Why the New York Times Is Wrong on Reporting While Jewish

  It’s a question every reporter for a Jewish publication has encountered. At least once a day. How do you ask someone about their religion? For many, faith is a private issue, one they’d rather not discuss, or are reluctant to engage in a detailed discussion about. Still, as a reporter covering Jewish issues for a…

  By Nathan Guttman May 16, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  To Win Next Time, the Israeli Left Needs To Return to the Tents

  In the last Israeli election, this past March, the center-left had a plan. If only we could increase voter turnout among our traditional supporters we could win, said politicians and campaigners. This plan failed. As the results show, elections in Israel are not determined by the traditional supporters of the center- left, upper-middle class Jewish…

  By Rami Hod May 15, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A ‘Fight of the Century’ Over ‘Pinkwashing’ and Israel

  The Internet is still recovering from Mayweather vs. Pacquaio, but I’ve been fantasizing about a different “fight of the century” starring two outspoken LGBT agitators: Lucas versus Spade. I’ve just read two extreme position statements on Israel/Palestine, both from within the LGBT community. One, from the right, was directed at me in an op-ed by…

  By Jay Michaelson May 15, 2015 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  Getting Jewish Students Out of Comfort Zone Isn’t ‘Anti-Semitic’

  You can learn a lot from students if you stop telling them what you think they ought to know, and let them tell you what they know already. Jeff Salkin’s recent op-ed, however, encourages a kind of Jewish education that would fill students with “the Jewish narrative” (as if there’s only one) that they could…

  By Ari Y. Kelman May 15, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Brassy Jewish Woman 2.0: Pamela From ‘Louie’

  The brassy Jewish woman — let’s call her the BJW — has long been a standard character on both stage and screen. Going all the way back to the likes of Molly Picon, the BJW has been played by such comic greats as Joan Rivers, Fran Drescher, Susie Essman, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and, most…

  By Elissa Strauss May 14, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Reclaiming Ashkenazi Culture? Sure. But Not Without Some Tough Love

  So, has received a lot of discussion over the past few weeks on certain sectors of the Jewish blogosphere – far more than I expected. Much of this discussion has revolved around the fact that certain aspects of Ashkenazi culture themselves have largely been erased from the “mainstream” – be it Yiddish, certain foods, certain…

  By Jonathan P. Katz May 14, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  If You Defend Charlie Hebdo — Do Same for Pamela Geller

  Ever since the terrorist massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine last January, it’s been getting harder and harder to decide exactly who the bad guys are and what we’re fighting about. At first it seemed obvious. A pair of gunmen, evidently French Muslims with links to Al Qaeda in Yemen, burst into the Paris offices of…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 14, 2015 | 5 min read