Opinion

• Opinion

  11 Reasons To Love — or Hate — SodaStream

  REASONS TO LOVE: 1 — It’s delicious. What Jew doesn’t like seltzer? 2 — It’s eco-friendly, saving massive amounts of otherwise virtually indestructible plastic waste. 3 — It could feasibly pay for itself. 4 — According to MSNBC, it’s the largest job provider for local Palestinian workers. 5 — It comes in invigorating Energy Drink,…

  By Elisheva Goldberg

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Israel Went From Beacon of Hope to ‘Normal’ Outpost of Reaction

  The literature on Jewish self-hate is vast; not so the literature on Jewish self-love. Max Weber once proposed that oppressed peoples develop a “theodicy of disprivilege,” a way of explaining to themselves (and compensating for) their persecution, and that the most common such theodicies rely on the assertion by the oppressed of their superior moral…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 18, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Funny: Bibi Rips MK’s Bill To Micromanage His Talks

  Benjamin Netanyahu with Likud ministers at weekly cabinet meeting, Sunday, January 12, 2014. From left: Gilad Erdan (communications); Yuval Steinitz (intelligence); Netanyahu; cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit; Gideon Saar (interior) / Getty Images When should the legislature intrude on the executive branch’s authority to conduct foreign policy by seeking to dictate the terms of sensitive negotiations?…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 17, 2014 | 2 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

  British Jews Angry Over Unpunished ‘Quenelle’

  Nicolas Anelka, center, celebrates a goal before flashing the anti-Semitic ‘quenelle.’ / Getty Images It has been almost three weeks since West Bromwich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka celebrated scoring two goals against West Ham United by doing the quenelle, the reverse Nazi salute popularized in France by comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala. Yet Anelka remains unpunished….

  By Liam Hoare Jan 17, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Conservative and Reform Rabbis Deserve Same Recognition as Avi Weiss and Orthodox

  (JTA) — The good news is in: Rabbi Avi Weiss’ conversions will be accepted in Israel. I am glad to see that the religious integrity and leadership of Rabbi Weiss has been acknowledged. Undoubtedly, this course correction on the part of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate is due in part to the hue and cry of…

  By Julie Schonfeld Jan 17, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Loehmann’s Transformed Shopping Forever — and Gave Me a Million Memories

  So long, Loehmann’s. After a series of store closings and bankruptcies over the past 15 years, the retailer has decided to call it quits, citing a sluggish economy and a failure to implement an effective e-commerce strategy as the causes of its demise. This marks the end of not just deep discounts on designer clothes,…

  By Elissa Strauss Jan 17, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ADL’s One-State Double Standard

  Chile’s El Palestino soccer club recently raised the ire of pro-Israel groups when it decided to redesign its team jerseys, replacing the numeral one with a one-state map of Palestine. Because they show the entire map of Israel as Palestine, these jerseys effectively erase Israel, making it seem like the state doesn’t exist. In a…

  By Sigal Samuel Jan 16, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Alan Webber Wants To Be Governor of New Mexico

  In 1996, Alan Webber launched Fast Company magazine as a hybrid of “Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal.” The same energy hovers around his recently announced run for Governor of New Mexico. A Tweet kicked off the campaign; a few days later, Webber confirmed the run with a simple “Yeah” in a Santa Fe…

  By Michael Kaminer Jan 16, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Are Social Conservatives Finally Growing Up?

  Sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Before I was born, these were the frontiers of the social revolutions sweeping America. The favorite moments of the Boomer generation — Woodstock, the Summer of Love — combined all three. And while the political revolution the Beatles sang about never quite came to pass, the Sixties’ changes in…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 16, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Intermarriage Rorschach Test

  Is intermarriage good for the Jews? This is not a trick question. It’s the new Rorschach test in determining how you think about the Jewish future. If you believe, as does the leadership of the Reform movement, that intermarriage is a fact of modern life, an inevitability in an open society where Jews are —…

  Jan 16, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  In Jewish Italy, ‘Diaspora’ Is a Dirty Word

  The former Jewish ghetto on the banks of the Tiber in central Rome. / Getty Images Should Jews living in the Diaspora feel ashamed of being, well, Jews living in the Diaspora? A growing number of European Jews, it seems, believe the answer is yes. But when did we start buying into this narrative? I’ve…

  By Anna Momigliano Jan 15, 2014 | 3 min read