Opinion

• Opinion

  We Are All Pamela Geller

  Well, now we know what it takes to stop Pamela Geller’s crusade against terrorism: an actual victim of it. Condemned by such noted liberals as the ADL, Dinesh D’Souza, and the Daily News, banned by the Great Neck Synagogue (but embraced by Chabad), Geller is the anti-Muslim wacko who takes ads on buses and subways…

  By Jay Michaelson

  5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  No, Pamela Geller, the Qur’an Is Not Anti-Semitic

  Pamela Geller, left; Qur’an, right / Getty Images Soon you will see ads, courtesy of Pamela Geller, in the New York City subway system that state, “Islamic Jew-Hatred: It’s in the Qur’an.” Is she right? It’s easy to understand why many Jews might think so. Anti-Semitism has become a frightening force in much of the…

  By Reuven Firestone Sep 29, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Is the Israeli Left Anti-Democracy?

  In Haaretz, Moshe Arens has accused the Israeli left of not accepting, first, that Israeli democracy is working fine, and second, the specific “verdict of the electorate.” Arens’ framing of Israeli democracy is flawed because he leaves several important points out of his description. To begin with, the Israeli left doesn’t wonder why the system…

  By Brent Sasley Sep 29, 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 The moral degradation of Israel’s far-right is even worse than you think

  

• 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

• 
  Opinion

  How This Summer Made Me a Racist

  Israelis hide in a concrete pipe used as a shelter during a Palestinian rocket attack / Getty Images This summer, I heard the word “we” over and over as Jews around the world (appropriately) condemned the horrific murder of Palestinian youth Mohammed Abu Khdeir. “We Jews don’t do this,” they claimed, even as empirical evidence…

  By Leah Bieler Sep 29, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  News Quiz: Which Politician Just Put Their Foot in Their Mouth?

  Robert Ransdell’s campaign slogan on view in Kentucky / WLWT Naked pictures! Brisket! How to pick up girls! We are starting this new year in style, here at your weekly news quiz. Dive in!

  By Lenore Skenazy Sep 29, 2014 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Breadcrumbs and Gedaliah: My Post-Rosh Report

  I remember, as a kid, feeling that the Unetanetokef prayer (“Who will live and who will die”) didn’t apply to me. “Who by sword” seemed archaic; “Who by water” remote. But that prayer becomes alarmingly vivid as we get older. This year it felt as if every peril leapt off the page. “Who shall see…

  By Abigail Pogrebin Sep 29, 2014 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Can We Talk About Climate Change?

  The organizers’ official count of participants in the People’s Climate March in New York City on September 21 was 400,000, but some thought it was even higher, so clogged were the Manhattan streets, so steady the flow of people, so joyful and determined the mood. It was a diverse crowd in some respects — age,…

  Sep 29, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  All That Divides Us as We Atone

  The Season of Repentance is shaping up to be a tough slog this year. Of course, when Yom Kippur comes, Jews will gather in our millions in synagogues across the globe to recite the prayers together and bask in the warmth of family for a few hours. In fact, it’s the one moment in the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 29, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Hearing a Mother’s Pain on Rosh Hashanah

  An almost impossibly difficult year is coming to an end, and a new one, filled with new hope and new possibility, is upon us. As we do each year on Rosh Hashanah, we will stand together and listen to the piercing cries of the shofar. This year more than ever, it’s important that we stop…

  By Shai Held Sep 24, 2014 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Do Jewish Actions Ever Cause Anti-Semitism?

  Jewish graves daubed with anti-Semitic slogans in a German cemetery / Getty Images Is anti-Semitism ever a response to things that Jews do? Jeffrey Goldberg thinks saying “Jews… Jewish organizations, or the Jewish state” ever cause anti-Semitism amounts to blaming the victim. Thus he attacked Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, for…

  By Raphael Magarik Sep 24, 2014 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  VIDEO: Making the Holiday Sweet — With Bees

  Sweet Tradition from Jewish Daily Forward on Vimeo. As we are getting ready to dip our apple slices into honey for a sweet new year, beekeeper Liane Newton ensures that the precious queens and worker bees make it safely through the winter. Newton runs nycbeekeeping.org a nonprofit that provides resources and a support system for…

  By Martyna Starosta Sep 23, 2014 | < 1 min read