Opinion

• Opinion

  More Credit Where Credit is Due

  Many of us were grateful that the public editor of The New York Times, Arthur Brisbane, chose to devote his column today on the issue of crediting publications such as ours for the work we do. The case in point concerned The Times’ two-part series on sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn, and…

  By Jane Eisner

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Stopping Them From ‘Tuning Out Israel’

  Just about wherever I go these days, or so it seems, I encounter 20-somethings who have tuned out of Israel. I know that there’s a difference between anecdotes and evidence, but when a series of uninvited anecdotes all point in the same direction — well, that’s a lot of smoke, and it makes sense to…

  By Leonard Fein May 20, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jew vs. Jew Soccer Showdown

  The world’s most important sports event of the year is coming on Saturday, May 19. American Jews may feel a little left out when the UEFA Champions League Final kicks off, even though soccer is this country’s fastest growing team sport and and an increasingly popular draw on TV here. But they shouldn’t ignore it….

  By Dan Friedman May 18, 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

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  Opinion

  Confronting cremation

  'This conversation is difficult because it involves facing death.'

  By Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips May 18, 2012 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  When National Anthems Matter

  We’ve been thinking here a lot about the Israeli national anthem these days, and experimenting with some alternatives. But it’s also useful to be reminded why an anthem means so much to its citizens on a visceral, emotional level. And reminded we were when sent this feelgood of feelgood stories today. A wheel-chair bound Israeli…

  By Gal Beckerman May 17, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  London Jews Relieved at Livingstone’s Loss

  In April, a new phrase entered the London Jewish lexicon. The phrase is simple: “I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m Jewish.” It is a statement of political assertiveness that comes with a resigned smile, a semi-apologetic shrug of the shoulders and a half turn-up of the palms of both hands. It was said in response to…

  By Dave Rich May 17, 2012 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The Communal Cost of ‘Free’

  The first ever New York ELI talks, the Jewish version of the now famous TED talks, debuted on May 14 with a provocative and inspired monologue by David Bryfman. Australian born, casually dressed, he took to the stage before a hundred or so invited guests to challenge the conventional wisdom that the best things in…

  By Jane Eisner May 17, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Who Took Over Bill Kristol’s Body?

  Emergency Committee for Israel board member Bill Kristol told an Upper West Side audience last night that President Obama has “moved back to the center” on Israel. The statement, one of a number of kind words Kristol had for Obama, came just two months after ECI released a video calling the president’s Israel policy “dangerous.”…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 16, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Failure of Leadership on Child Sex Abuse

  On a recent Sunday morning, I glanced at my newspaper and had another “cringe” moment. The story on the front page of The New York Times, like the Sholom Rubashkin, Bernie Madoff and Baruch Goldstein stories before it, exposed an underworld of evil with Jews at the center. This time, the papers focused on child…

  By Misha Galperin May 16, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Should Gaza Become Part of Egypt?

  Is Egypt Palestine? It is a tired (and discredited) claim that Jordan is Palestine. But now there is a new one: that Egypt is. I inadvertently pushed a button I didn’t mean to push earlier this week in a conversation in Gaza City with a group of Islamists, mostly Hamas officials and their supporters. I…

  By Kathleen Peratis May 15, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Presidential Questions on Peace Process

  The battle for the philo-Israel vote is taking familiar shape as both major candidates and major parties do their best to pledge fealty to Israel at this hour of maximum peril. President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney are outdoing each other when it comes to their rhetoric. Obama says he’s got Israel’s back. Romney…

  By Noam Neusner May 15, 2012 | 4 min read