Opinion

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  An Immoral Use of Jewish Power in Upstate New York

  New York State’s legislative session is in full swing, and thousands of Jews from across denominational lines are expressing their support for two bills that, on the face of it, don’t seem to have anything to do with typical Jewish issues like Israel or liberal social causes. But these bills — A.5355 and S.3821, as…

  By Ari Hart

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Gloss Over Muslim Role in Iraqi Pogrom

  In her for the Forward, Shayna Zamkanei correctly asserted that American (and European) Jews are largely unaware of the Farhud, the Baghdad anti Jewish pogrom of 1-2 June, 1941. The flourishing Babylonian Community which existed for 24 centuries is also largely unknown in the West. Jews felt very much at home in Iraq and considered…

  By Shulamit Binah Jun 1, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Introducing the Frumqa — Jewish Women Under the Burqa

  No, this isn’t a dementor, or a modern art installation. This isn’t even, as you are more likely to expect, a Muslim woman wearing a burqa. It was on a sweltering hot day, of 80 degree weather, that photographer Yakov Lederman saw this sight in Beit Shemesh — a Jewish woman and her two daughters, a…

  By Lior Zaltzman Jun 1, 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 Is this Netanyahu’s Winston Churchill moment?

  

• 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

  

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  Opinion

  How Much Yiddish Do You Know? Hopefully More Than Buzzfeed.

  Imagine if a quiz on a popular website asked “How Much Spanish Do You Know?” and then proceeded to provide its readers with a list of words alternating between misspelled Spanish curses, some real words that weren’t actually Spanish and pure gibberish. It’s hard to imagine such a quiz being published outside of the realm…

  By Jordan Kutzik Jun 1, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Loving Israel, Hating How It’s Treating Ethiopians

  Much has been written and said about the social and economic disparities between Ethiopian Israelis and the general Israeli population. The numbers are nothing short of shocking. For example, 40% of Ethiopian men serving in the Israel Defense Forces have spent time in military jails, an incarceration rate 760% higher than their proportion in the…

  By Shmuel Legesse Jun 1, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Who Gets To March in New York’s Celebrate Israel Parade?

  The organizers of New York’s Celebrate Israel parade say that it’s the largest gathering of its type on the planet. It attracts leading politicians like the Kiddush table attracts hungry Jews after Sabbath services. It commandeers famed Fifth Avenue for a mile, and the spillover events make Central Park feel as if it’s a synagogue…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 1, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  So Apparently, My Name Means ‘Chickenshit’ in Hebrew

  I was signing the lease to my new apartment in Israel when my landlord asked to see my passport. He looked down at my work visa, which was pasted on a page inside, and then looked back up at me. “Oh,” he said. “This is a very bad name in Israel.” My last name, Zeveloff,…

  By Naomi Zeveloff Jun 1, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Hebrew School Ambivalent

  “Do we have to go to Hebrew school today?” my middle son whines, snorting and stomping about. “I hate it!” I take a deep breath and try not to roll my eyes, but I fail. It’s an old fight. One I’m tired of. I think back a few days, calculating. Did they go Sunday? My…

  By Alisa Schindler May 31, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Memories of an Iraqi Pogrom and What It Means Today

  Besides indulging in dairy and abstaining from sleep, Shavuot signifies the offering of the first fruits in the Land of Israel, the receiving of the Torah and the story of Ruth the Moabite. For Iraqi Jews, however, Shavuot also represents a time of personal commemoration of the Farhud, the “violent dispossession” that rocked the ancient…

  By Shayna Zamkanei May 30, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The 95% Doctrine of Climate Change

  In November 2001, faced with unconfirmed reports that Pakistani scientists might be helping Al Qaeda get a nuclear weapon, Vice President Dick Cheney articulated what became known as the Cheney Doctrine: If there’s even a 1% chance that the unimaginable might happen, it must be treated as a certainty and acted on accordingly. “It’s not…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 29, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Bibi’s Rubik’s Cube Cabinet Creates Chaos — and Danger

  Two weeks after his new cabinet was formally sworn in, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still juggling cabinet assignments as he struggles with the Rubik’s Cube of his fourth governing coalition. Newly appointed ministers have been furiously jockeying for position and influence, forcing the prime minister to carve up existing ministries and move sub-bureaus…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 28, 2015 | 5 min read