Opinion

• Opinion

  Santorum’s Christian Hanukkah Greeting

  Rick Santorum is back in the headlines after his sweeping victory Tuesday in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. His success is cause for renewed attention and for a better look at this interesting nugget dug up by the New York Observer’s political reporter Hunter Walker. It is a Hanukkah card sent out by Rick Santorum’s South…

  By Nathan Guttman

  < 1 min read
• Opinion

  How Biology, Psychology Dictate Political Beliefs

  I’m not quite sure where this sort of thing takes us, but I’m noticing a growing amount of chatter on the Web about scientific research into the nature of the conservative mind. The general tone seems to be one of wondering what flaws in one’s physical makeup lead to political conservatism. It could be just…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 9, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Palestinian Unity May Turn to Reality

  To understand the new unity agreement between the two Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, it helps to recall the story of the village beggar and his cake. It happened once that the village beggar asked the rabbi for a ruble to buy some food. An hour later the rabbi saw the beggar in the market,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 9, 2012 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman ‘Remember the Liberty’ has become code for ‘Israel Is Evil’ 

  

• Dan Perry A new proposal to radically destabilize Israel

  

• Emily Tamkin Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point

  

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

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Good Books

  On behalf of PJ Library, a program dedicated to giving the gift of quality Jewish children’s literature to families across North America and doing so at a rate of 95,000 books each month, I would like to respond to Deborah Kolben’s Jan. 31 column. “Where Have All the Good Jewish Books for Kids Gone?” We…

  Feb 8, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Giving Back

  For nearly 40 years, the Jewish Communal Fund has been helping our donors achieve their philanthropic goals simply and efficiently. While our assets have grown to more than $1 billion, we take great pride in the fact that we distribute between 24% and 36% of our assets annually to thousands of qualified public charities at…

  Feb 8, 2012 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why I Filed Title VI Complaint

  Mark Yudof, president of the University of California, claims that two federal complaints against his university, alleging a hostile environment for Jewish students, are without merit. While expressing general support for the recent extension of the provisions of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include Jewish students, Yudof does not believe that…

  By Tammi Rossman-Benjamin Feb 8, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Israel’s Silent March to War With Iran

  The atmosphere in Israel is pretty surreal these days. The whole world seems to be asking whether we’re going to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities this year — the whole world except this Israeli part of it. There is zero tension in the air, and awfully little interest in the subject as far as I can…

  By Larry Derfner Feb 7, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Free Speech for Reporters, Too

  The first national conference of the BDS movement, going on now at the University of Pennsylvania, has certainly riled up people on all sides of this controversial topic, as our Naomi Zeveloff reports here. Let’s put aside for a moment whether this movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel is about undoing the Israeli…

  By Jane Eisner Feb 5, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Poverty in America: A Crisis Ignored

  Poor Jews, the saying goes, are middle-class Jews without money. The unstated assumption is that the conventional cultural standards of the middle class are not displaced by a “culture of poverty” when Jews tumble down the class ladder. It is, however, important to remember that some Jews — estimates vary, but a reasonable guess is…

  By Leonard Fein Feb 5, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Days After

  The new year begins with a blizzard of stories, reports, analyses and exhortations about the threat of a nuclear Iran and the means — if they exist — to stop it. For now, we will leave it to the experts to argue over whether a military strike can be effective, prosecuted by Israel alone or…

  Feb 3, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Create Tax for Jewish Education

  Although the salary gap in the Jewish communal world is not as disparate as that between other workers and corporate CEOs or money managers, it remains substantial. Some of our teachers and social service workers — on the front lines of Jewish continuity and caring — receive poverty-level wages, while some executives receive salaries in…

  By Leonard Saxe Feb 3, 2012 | 3 min read