Opinion

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  A Teachable Moment of Violent Hate

  The shooting attack on April 13 that took the lives of three people at Jewish institutions in Kansas City was one of those moments — which have punctuated the last few years — that remind us that it’s still legitimate for Jews to feel vulnerable in this country. Though the details are just emerging and…

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Passover Concert Part 2: Exile, Redemption & Math

  I was hoping to post Part 2 of the Passover concert before the first Seder and then log off for yomtov, but cleaning the oven took longer than I expected (don’t ask). So here it is. We’ve got some Psalms, some spirituals, some memories of Jerusalem and some visions of the Messianic Era. This time…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 15, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  A Hebron Land Grab, Just in Time for Passover

  Getty Images For the settlement movement, there is poignancy in the fact that the Hebron Jewish community has branched out into a previously Palestinian neighborhood just before Passover. It was Passover 1968 when settlers first got their foothold in Hebron, after renting out a hotel and refusing to leave. For critics of the settlement movement,…

  By Nathan Jeffay Apr 14, 2014 | 2 min read

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• Dan Perry How Israel became a country where teenagers murder each other in cold blood

  

• Emily Tamkin American Jews have a Hasan Piker problem. Solving it is going to hurt

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

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  Opinion

  4 Lessons for Jews From the Overland Park Rampage

  The tragic shootings in Overland Park, Kansas, seemed, to many of us, like a throwback to a bygone era. It’s no coincidence that the shooter was at least 73 years old. His ideology seems ancient as well: the Ku Klux Klan, Jewish banking conspiracies, hatred of miscegenation. Anti-Semitism is still with us, but usually not…

  By Jay Michaelson Apr 14, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How My Grandfather Marked Passover as a Slave

  The author and his grandfather / Courtesy of Hody Nemes The Exodus happened 3,000 years ago. But today, in the year 5774, we are still supposed to see ourselves as if we had experienced slavery and left Egypt, according to the Haggadah. For me, that’s always been a tall order. In order to feel like…

  By Hody Nemes Apr 14, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Is This Israeli Land Grab Different?

  The big story in Israel is no normal decision to build a few extra settlement homes; it is a highly unusual development for the occupied West Bank. According to an as-yet unconfirmed report, the state is setting the wheels in motion for an appropriation of nearly 250 acres of territory in the Gush Etzion settlement…

  By Nathan Jeffay Apr 13, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Real Exodus of Passover — on JetBlue to Miami

  I’m about to embark on a little Exodus of my own. I’m leaving New York City and flying straight to Miami Beach for Passover, which is where my parents live. What? You don’t feel bad for me? Much like the Jewish nation accepting the holy Torah at Mt. Sinai, Miami Beach represents sacred ground; a…

  By Mimi Minsky Apr 13, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  A Passover Concert: Songs of Liberation and Longing

  To get us in the spirit of the Seder, here are a few songs of exodus, freedom, rebellion and an only kid. We’ve got selections by Bruce Springsteen, Chava Alberstein, Pete Seeger, Moishe Oysher, Bob Dylan, Shuli Nathan, Paul Robeson, Paul Simon, Lahakat HaNachal, the Maccabeats and many more, including two late and very much…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 13, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Rejoicing at the Presence of the Wicked Son at the Seder Table

  In the varied depictions, he’s a medieval knight; a dandy in a zoot suit; a boxer with fists held high; an aloof fellow with a Hitler moustache or a mischievous one who looks like Groucho; a jester; a boy with a mohawk and a yo-yo (really!), and (as once depicted in the pages of the…

  Apr 13, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The One Move That Might Save Mideast Peace Talks

  Whatever else might come of Secretary of State John Kerry’s tottering Middle East peace effort, it will leave behind an intellectual legacy in the form of a new addition to the lexicon of high-stakes diplomacy: “Poof.” That’s the word that the secretary interjected into his April 8 Senate testimony, while narrating the missteps that led…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 11, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Should I Die for Passover?

  Photo credit: Getty Images This week is prime time for Passover shopping and cleaning. But in Jerusalem, hundreds of people will be engaged in a very different type of preparation for the festival — witnessing the slaughter of a lamb, just like in the olden days. The Seder has its origins in ancient times, when…

  By Nathan Jeffay Apr 11, 2014 | 2 min read