Opinion

• Opinion

  Israelis Back Shalit Release Deal 6-1

  After seeing, hearing and reading the flood of anguish and outrage that’s followed Israel’s decision to free 1,027 terrorists in return for one captured soldier, you might be astonished to learn that Israelis approve of the deal by a nearly 6-to-1 margin, according to a poll published in the Jerusalem Post October 18. The Dahaf…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Israel Should Listen to American Jews, Too

  As tempers flare anew in the never-ending debate over American Jews’ loyalty to Israel, I’m happy to report that an important new voice has weighed in, offering a genuinely fresh approach to the question. And not just any voice. I’m talking about one of Israel’s leading authorities on loyalty, Knesset member Avi Dichter, former head…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 14, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Occupy-ing Sukkahs, Across the Nation

  Less than a week after a Yom Kippur service drew hundreds to the anti-corporate Occupy Wall Street protest in downtown Manhattan, Jewish activists are building sukkahs at Occupy protests in nine American cities. Activists say that the sukkahs, temporary dwellings in which Jews are commanded to live during the holiday of Sukkot, will bring a…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Oct 13, 2011 | < 1 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry Israelis have no idea where the Iran war is going. But they know it’s part of Netanyahu’s campaign

  

• Emily Tamkin Hungary is poised to topple an authoritarian leader. American Jews have something to learn

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Protests Are Spreading Across an Angry Globe

  It took all of nine weeks for Israel’s summer protests to cross the oceans to America. What began on Rothschild Boulevard (or, truth be told, in Tahrir Square, in Cairo) on July 14 and moved from there to dozens of cities and towns in Israel came to New York City’s Wall Street on September 17…

  By Leonard Fein Oct 13, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why ‘Occupy Judaism’ Is Turning Point

  Charles Finney was America’s best-known preacher in the 1830s when he invented the altar call. At the end of a revival meeting, he’d invite worshippers stirred by the gospel to come before an altar placed in front of the hall and publicly swear their commitment to Jesus Christ. Finney did this to showcase — critics…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 13, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Everyone’s Son

  One versus 1,027. As of this writing, those are the cold, hard numbers of the proposed exchange: one Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. This lopsided equation is, in a raw sense, a point of tribal pride. See how much a Jewish life is worth. See how far the State of Israel will go to…

  Oct 13, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Gilad Shalit’s Release Restores Heart of Israel

  It is impossible to overstate the intensity of emotion felt in Israel at the news of Gilad Shalit’s impending release. Many of us have been glued to the television screen with unrelenting tears in our eyes since we first heard about the imminent deal. It feels like we just let out a collective breath, like…

  By Elana Sztokman Oct 12, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How FDR Helped Save Jews of the Holy Land

  Adolph Hitler addressed a cheering Reichstag on January 30, 1939, and offered a prophecy: He warned that if there were to be another war, it would end with the annihilation of European Jewry. The massacres that accompanied Germany’s war on Poland later that year, followed by Germany’s invasion of Western Europe in 1940 and the…

  By Robert M. Morgenthau and Frank Tuerkheimer Oct 12, 2011 | 8 min read
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  Opinion

  Gilad Shalit Release Welcome, But at What Cost?

  Gilad Shalit is finally on his way to freedom. Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on a prisoner exchange, which reportedly will see Shalit return to Israel within a matter of days while Jerusalem frees about 1,000 prisoners. This is certainly welcome news, especially for Shalit’s family and loved ones. But the sheer amount…

  By Brent E. Sasley Oct 12, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When Home Is a Blessing

  When I grew up, Sukkot felt like an after-thought following the intensity and purpose of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. No one in my Reform community in a lower-middle-class suburb of New York City ever built a sukkah; instead, we decorated the one at the synagogue — stringing together dried cranberries and making endless links…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 11, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Inspirational Yom Kippur at Occupy Wall St.

  A large, open plaza across from Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, where Occupy Wall Street has made its encampment for three weeks, proved to be the perfect setting for Kol Nidre on Friday night. Earlier in the week, when Daniel Sieradski, Occupy Wall Street protester and self-styled “new media activist,” wondered on Facebook and Twitter whether he…

  By David A.M. Wilensky Oct 10, 2011 | 2 min read