Opinion

• Opinion

  France’s Quickly Changing Face

  Last week, as France woke up to the results of the second round of municipal elections, the on-line newspaper Rue 89 breathlessly announced: “Miracle at Lourdes!” The event, to be sure, was more dazzling than a cripple throwing off her crutches or a blind man again seeing: a Socialist had won the mayor’s race! It…

  By Robert Zaretsky

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Finding My Family’s Kabbalistic Roots in India

  “What are you doing?” I asked my grandmother. Sitting across the table from her at last year’s family Passover Seder, I had been watching with rapt attention as she peeled an egg — a commonly featured food on the Seder plate. She was handling it with a degree of carefulness that bordered on the neurotic,…

  By Sigal Samuel Apr 7, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Queer Passover Seder Helped Me Reclaim Judaism

  An alternative Seder plate holds a coconut, representing closeted LGBTQ youth. / JQ International At the time, it didn’t occur to me to be offended or concerned that I was being circled by the cheerleaders and other popular girls who held hands, bowed their heads and prayed for my soul. They were part of “Christian…

  By Stosh Cotler Apr 7, 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 An abominable new Israeli law is a death warrant for democracy

  

• Emily Tamkin We must rewrite the rulebook for fighting antisemitism — or conspiracists like Joe Kent will win the narrative wars

  

• Jay Michaelson Passover’s 4 cups of meaning

  

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  Opinion

  The Irony of Celebrating Passover in Egypt

  An Egyptian policeman in front of the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt. / Haaretz In early April 2012, two friends and I visited the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue in downtown Cairo to observe the first night of Passover in Egypt. The irony was too obvious to point out, and so we didn’t. When we arrived,…

  By Jake Meth Apr 7, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Peering Into the Minds of the Climate Doubters

  It’s a truism of science that major, transformative events provide unique opportunities to gather data. Seismologists wait for earthquakes to measure tectonic movement. Research meteorologists risk their lives chasing tornadoes to learn their mysteries. Zoologists swing into action during mating season (of the animals, silly). Climate study can work in much the same way. Take…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 7, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Ukrainian Revolution’s Unlikely Street-Fighting Rabbi

  The following interview is with Natan Khazin, commander of a Jewish squadron of fighters in the Ukrainian revolution that took place in Kiev’s Maidan, or central square. It aired on March 20 on Espreso TV, a popular Ukrainian Internet television station and was the first time that Khazin disclosed his identity in public. Khazin was…

  By David E. Fishman Apr 7, 2014 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  New Generation of Rabbis Sees and Speaks Israel

  Breaking the Silence Despite the concept of the occupation being an oddly contested one in some American political circles of late, there is much to decry about Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians in the West Bank. And while some security-minded observers focus on the need for an IDF military presence to widen Israel’s narrow…

  By Mira Sucharov Apr 7, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Free Pollard. It’s the Left-Wing Thing To Do.

  Getty Images As the debate over whether to pardon convicted spy Jonathan Pollard continues, the most vocal support for his release is coming from the conservative side: AIPAC, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, most recently, families of Israeli terror victims. Meanwhile, outlets like the Forward are arguing against the release, unwilling to send the…

  By Anna Momigliano Apr 6, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  This Oped Will Not Tell You How Great We Are

  Let’s begin with a truth: Much of what gets published by and in the Jewish communal world is pure self-promotion. Look around, and you’ll see articles, comments, essays, posts and tweets whose chief purpose is to extol the virtues of this or that Jewish communal organization or program. Most authors of this material don’t even…

  By Ken Gordon Apr 6, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  6 Things To Remember on Quebec Election Day

  On Monday, citizens of Quebec will go to the polls to vote for a new provincial government. Two main players are facing off in this year’s elections: the Parti Quebecois (PQ), Quebec’s nationalist party currently ruling as a minority government and led by Premier Pauline Marois, against Quebec’s Liberal Party, ousted from power in 2012…

  By Anne Cohen Apr 6, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Rightist Foils Bid to Open Books of Settlement Unit

  Tzufim settlement outpost, western Samaria, October 2012 / Getty Images The chairman of the Knesset’s law and legislation committee on Thursday postponed, for the second time in two weeks, a scheduled vote on a bill requiring transparency in government funding of West Bank settlements. The bill has majority support in the committee, whose membership mirrors…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 6, 2014 | 3 min read