Opinion

• Opinion

  13 Stories That Rattled the Shtetlsphere in 2013

  We’ve got all the Jewish names that lit up 2013, for better or worse — and everything in between. There’s Titi Aynaw, the trailblazing first black Miss Israel who parlayed her pageant win into a “dream date” with President Barack Obama. You might not recognize Jake Davidson’s name but the day school kid from Los…

  By Anne Cohen

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Peace Now Was Wrong To Exclude Einat Wilf

  Peace Now members call for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire on January 10, 2009. / Getty Images Former Knesset member Dr. Einat Wilf was recently invited and then uninvited by the influential Israeli NGO Peace Now to participate in its annual “Conference of the Left” meeting. In attempting to justify the abrupt reversal, Yariv Oppenheimer, the organization’s…

  By Gerald M. Steinberg Dec 18, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I Am Making ‘Aliyah’ to Reform Jewry

  (JTA) — I grew up Jewish. Simply Jewish. My late father, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, raised us in an observant Orthodox household. Our lives were filled with beautiful ritual and we celebrated the wonder of a familial spiritual connection. That said, we also danced along the fine line of progressive Judaism. My father’s Torah was an…

  By Neshama Carlebach Dec 18, 2013 | 4 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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Now They Come for the Gays

  The Jewish community should feel a sense of déjà vu as it witnesses the government-sponsored persecution of LGBT people in Russia. We should respond with a statement of determination nearly as familiar to us as the Shema: Never again. In the 1960s, with our awareness of the Holocaust very fresh in our memory, American Jews…

  By Sharon Kleinbaum and Yelena Goltsman Dec 18, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Blood-Libel Trial of Mendel Beilis Reverberates a Century Later

  One hundred years ago, czarist Russia was convulsed by the “Beilis Affair” — the trial of my grandfather, Mendel Beilis, on charges that he ritually murdered a Christian child and used his blood to make matzo for Passover. Beilis was arrested in Kiev by the czarist secret police and imprisoned for more than two years,…

  By Jay Beilis Dec 18, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why I Support the Academic Boycott of Israel

  On Sunday, the American Studies Association, of which I am a member, voted to support the academic boycott of Israel called for by Palestinian civil society. Included in their announcement of the vote are the statements of 13 scholars in support of the vote, among which I am included. Here is my statement: I am…

  By Eric Cheyfitz Dec 17, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Calling Out the Overpaid

  When the Madoff scandal slammed the Jewish communal world like a ferocious storm just five years ago, there was a lot of talk about the need to strengthen governance of those not-for-profits who lost millions of dollars because of lax oversight of their investments. This past summer, when once-esteemed charity executives were charged with thefts…

  Dec 17, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Exodus at the 92 Street Y

  Well, I certainly never had that happen before. In years of moderating sometimes heated public conversations, never has a panelist just walked off the stage. But that’s what Commentary editor John Podhoretz did Monday night. And I’m still trying to figure out why. Of course, I expected a feisty evening when the venerable 92nd Street…

  By Jane Eisner Dec 17, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Long Is the Road From Jerusalem to Damascus?

  Have you ever tried Google Mapping the directions from Jerusalem to Damascus? I have, and the site’s recommendations came as a bit of a shock. I decided to look up the travel route after reading Mairav Zonszein’s blog post about how the recent snowstorm in Israel reminded her of that country’s geographical connectedness to the…

  By Michael Kaplan Dec 16, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  News Quiz: Lady Gaga, Alan Dershowitz and Bibi

  Lady Gaga, Alan Dershowitz and Bibi? Yes, it’s time for the Jewish News quiz again. This week also featuring a brand new pastry!

  By Lenore Skenazy Dec 16, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Is the Israel of Today Becoming 1980s South Africa?

  Today’s college students were not yet born when Nelson Mandela, F.W. De Klerk, Yasser Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin shared Time’s “Man of the Year” award in 1990. As the world mourns Mandela and celebrates his legacy, it is worth looking back at that moment — and looking toward the future that it might signify. There…

  By Jay Michaelson Dec 16, 2013 | 4 min read