Opinion

• Opinion

  When I Drifted Off the Path

  A cottage industry of memoirs detailing their writers’ journeys from restrictive “ultra-Orthodox” upbringings into the embrace of resplendent enlightenment and freedom has sprung up in recent years. Reading samples of the genre always reminds me of my own abandonment of the Jewish religious tradition in which I had been raised. I was 12. My apostasy…

  6 min read
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  Opinion

  3 Ex-Security Chiefs Slam Bibi for Caving to Right

  Three of Israel’s most senior ex-defense officials came out last week, almost simultaneously, with blistering attacks on the security policies of the Netanyahu coalition. Appearing in separate forums, the three — former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi — each charged that the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 24, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Terror Rocking Jerusalem Is Not About God

  Israeli emergency services cleans the sidewalk at the scene of the Jerusalem attack / Getty Images Four ultra-Orthodox Jews at prayer and one Druze policeman, murdered by two Palestinian young men armed with knives, axes and a gun. The heart grieves for the families of the victims and the suffering of the injured. This past…

  By Lara Friedman Nov 23, 2014 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Gavin Newsom isn’t waffling on Israel — he’s voicing sensible ideas in an era of outrage

  

• 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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Don’t Let the Billionaires Decide

  In mid-November, two billionaires with a shared interest in Israel but radically different domestic politics shared a stage, airing their views on critical challenges facing Israel and the United States, from Iran to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Because Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban can — and do — spend tens and even hundreds of millions of…

  By Jeremy Ben-Ami Nov 23, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Can She Believe in God?

  The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. Read the discussion and vote below for what you think is the best response to this particular quandary. You can email your own questions, which will remain…

  Nov 23, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  First Relief, Then Tracing the Roots of Bloody Har Nof Attack

  News of terrorist attacks in Israel can strike us in many different ways. For some the first reaction is anguish; for others it’s rage. There are those who look on with mixed feelings, horrified at the bloodshed yet wanting to understand what drives the killers to such crimes. For still others, it’s that very ambivalence…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 21, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Anti-Semitism Creeps Into Europe’s Daily Routines

  Ten years ago the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe convened a conference on European anti-Semitism. Last week it met to assess what had happened in the past decade. The signs are not good. While a good part of the meeting was dedicated to official presentations by the participating nations, it was what one…

  By Deborah E. Lipstadt Nov 21, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  VIDEO: What’s More Offensive — ISIS Or Israel?

  What do American students hate more: ISIS or Israel? Media personality Ami Horowitz took to the University of California, Berkeley campus to find out — by way of a strange experiment. Hint: It involves flags. The students’ vitriolic reaction to the Israeli flag, as compared to the ISIS flag, is striking. A few caveats, though: First,…

  By Sigal Samuel Nov 20, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Showdown Over Nazis at Museum of Jewish Heritage

  Eric Lichtblau and his new book, “The Nazis Next Door.” It’s not often that a museum director gets booed on his own stage. Yet that’s what happened to David Marwell in the auditorium of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in downtown Manhattan, when an event on New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau’s new book, “The…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Nov 20, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Terror Is Different This Time

  Somehow a line has been crossed. The November 18 attack inside a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem feels different, cuts deeper, frightens me more and even angers me more. It is because it was an attack on Jews. In prayer. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not diminishing the pain and injustice caused by…

  By Jane Eisner Nov 20, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How a German Town Duped the Neo-Nazis

  Every year, residents of the small German town of Wunsiedel are forced to deal with thousands of neo-Nazi activists marching in their streets. Rudolf Hess, who was Hitler’s deputy, was buried in the Bavarian town in 1988. Since then, it has been a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis. Wunsiedel residents tried it all. They protested and…

  By Yael Even Or Nov 19, 2014 | 2 min read