Opinion

• Opinion

  Romney’s Vision of Capitalism

  Capitalism in its purest form is gambling. Ask any entrepreneur. You have an idea for a product or a service; you bet on your premonition that there is a market for it, and you roll the dice. Then you either win or lose. That’s a simplistic rendering, but it is the basic gist of our…

  By Gal Beckerman

  4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  What Would George Say?

  George Washington’s iconic letter written to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790 is finally on public display after a decade in the shadows. The timing of its emergence as the centerpiece of a new exhibit at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia is exquisite. But then, it was bound to…

  Jul 2, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Israel Confronts Strangers In Its Midst

  What shall be done about the large number of non-citizens that dwell in Israel? This question is no longer merely vexing, it is urgent, inflammatory, sometimes violent, often vulgar. The ger has a long and detailed history in Jewish texts and thought. Its conventional translation is “stranger,” but you don’t have to search hard to…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 1, 2012 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz Class assignment: Get to know your murdered Jewish neighbors

  

• Rob Eshman Liberal Zionists are under attack. A new book proves their work has never been more important

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s most dangerous war is with itself

  

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

  

• Jay Michaelson When it comes to Israel/Palestine, everyone is sure that everyone else is a bigot

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  Environment Has Day in Court and Wins

  Amid the uproar over the Supreme Court’s late-June rulings on healthcare and immigration, you might have missed what could be the most important federal court ruling of the year: a unanimous June 26 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., protecting the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas regulations. The Bush-era EPA was…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 1, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Jewish Leader of Hungary’s Anti-Semites

  If history does act with cunning, as Hegel claimed, recent events involving Hungary’s extreme right wing Jobbik remind us that it does not always keep a straight face when doing so. A better Hungary, according to Jobbik, the country’s third largest party, is a Hungary emptied of its Roma and Jewish communities. As a result,…

  By Robert Zaretsky Jun 29, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  France’s Jewish Problem

  Along with other post-industrial nations, France has long struggled with structural unemployment. Seismic shifts in its economy has led France to tolerate a level of joblessness — currently more than 10% — that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. But as events in the wake of the horrific massacre at a Jewish school in…

  By Robert Zaretsky Jun 29, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Real Problem With Student Debt

  I was greeted the other day by the charmingly nasal voice of President Barack Obama crackling through my telephone — calling to talk with me (and, surely, an undisclosed number of others) about the importance of keeping student loan interest rates low. This White House Update Call — planned for student activists working alongside the…

  By Hannah Rubin Jun 28, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Poverty in the Orthodox World

  I am writing as the executive director of a network of kosher soup kitchens, as a Hasidic man and resident of Boro Park, Brooklyn, as a working American citizen who might be thought of as “uneducated” by secular standards, and as a Jew, to weigh in on the survey just released by UJA-Federation of New…

  By Alexander Rapaport Jun 28, 2012 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Being Super Pro-Israel Doesn’t Win Elections

  Results were mixed last night for New York City congressional hopefuls who ran on their pro-Israel credentials. In Brooklyn, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries trounced Councilman Charles Barron in a Democratic congressional primary where Barron’s harsh criticism of Israel was a major issue. But in Queens, Councilwoman Grace Meng received nearly twice as many votes as Assemblyman…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jun 27, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Disastrous Ruling

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to let stand its disastrous 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission consolidated Sheldon Adelson’s position as the national leader of mega-donors in this year’s political races. He is so far in the lead that he has become the poster child for unprecedented, unfettered campaign spending, with promises…

  Jun 27, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Hath Not an Elmo Constitutional Rights?

  Elmo haters — i.e. any one who has parented a 3 year old child — were vindicated on Monday, when a man dressed as Elmo was taken away from Central Park by police in an ambulance after making an anti-Semitic rant outside the Central Park Zoo. The man, as yet unidentified, is apparently a recidivist…

  By Jordana Horn Jun 26, 2012 | < 1 min read