Opinion

• Opinion

  Auschwitz Selfies? No Big Deal, IMHO

  Teenagers, selfies, and the Holocaust — you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone over the age of 30 who doesn’t have some thoughts on all three. Last week, though, the world was granted the chance to think about all three at the same time. It was reported in various places that some Jewish teenagers, while in…

  By Emily L. Hauser

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Three Jews and a Palestinian — All Just Boys

  One reason that the fate of the three kidnapped Israeli boys gripped our attention and stirred our concern is that they were immediately identifiable. Gilad, Naftali, Eyal. Names and faces, goofy grins, youthful exuberance, captured in grainy photos that quickly became ubiquitious on buttons, t-shirts, posters, billboards, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds. We didn’t know them…

  Jul 3, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Israeli Thirst for Revenge Is Profoundly Un-Jewish

  Palestinians clash with Israeli police in East Jerusalem after an Arab teen was killed / Getty Images The Torah sternly commands us to pursue justice (“Justice, justice, shall you pursue”) — but it leaves revenge to God. That thought should resonate in our ears like a thunderclap after the discovery of a body in the…

  By Hody Nemes Jul 2, 2014 | 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

  What Are You First, Jew or Journalist?

  Are you a journalist first? Or a Jew first? Shmuel Rosner, who writes for The New York Times and the L.A. Jewish Journal, asked the provocative question at the opening panel of the Jewish Media Summit, which brought over a hundred journalists from around the Diaspora to Jerusalem in late June. Had the conference been…

  By Jane Eisner Jul 2, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Unruly Hebron Clan Pushes Hamas — and Israel — to Brink

  Mourners at the fresh grave of Naftali Fraenkel, one of three Israeli teens murdered, allegedly by members of the Hamas-linked Qawasmeh family of Hebron. / Getty Images Now that the bodies of the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers have been found and laid to rest, the crisis is rapidly turning into a wickedly complex, five-sided tug-of-war…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 2, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Teens’ Funeral Changed Israeli Youth Forever

  Funeral ceremony for the three Israeli teenagers / Getty Images When the city of Modi’in was built in 1993, I don’t think the planners envisioned the scene that took place here today. Tens of thousands of Israelis — nearly the equivalent of Modi’in’s entire population — descended on the modest cemetery at the outskirts of…

  By Elana Sztokman Jul 1, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Perks of Being a Lubavitcher

  Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, seen here (at left) in 1993 / Getty Images There’s a hidden perk to being a Lubavitcher, one often not talked about but widely experienced: People like to talk to you. I’ve been called out as a Lubavitcher and brought into impromptu conversations everywhere from a small bridge over the Bled…

  By Mordechai Lightstone Jul 1, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  News Quiz: The One with Michael Douglas’s Jewish Injury

  Getty Images Michael Douglas, Russian oligarchs and a whole lot of chickens (human and otherwise) come home to roost in this week’s quiz.

  By Lenore Skenazy Jun 30, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  A Kidnapping That Made Israel Into One Family

  With news that the bodies of the three kidnapped boys — Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16 — were found near Hebron, a collective sigh of grief has been released throughout Israel. It is one of these moments that brings both tragedy and closure — the former, which Israel already has…

  By Elana Sztokman Jun 30, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Spooks Warn Pols: Don’t Strike Hamas Over Kidnap

  Israeli troops search for evidence at site where the bodies of 3 kidnapped youths were found near village of Halhoul. / Getty Images Israel’s security cabinet was due to convene at 9:30 pm (2:30 New York time) to discuss Israeli responses to the murder of the three teenagers whose bodies were found just before 6…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jun 30, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Murkiness of the Hobby Lobby Ruling

  Today, the Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. The case considered whether the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) prohibited enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s “contraception mandate” — the requirement that employers provide employees with health insurance that covers contraception — against for-profit corporations. On one level, the case pitted…

  By Michael A. Helfand Jun 30, 2014 | 4 min read