This past week, the Trump administration inaugurated one of its signature foreign policy accomplishments: the official relocation of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was a striking moment, with the celebration coinciding with the killing of scores of protestors in Gaza. The embassy move and the withdrawal from the Iran Deal were…
In the span of less than a week, President Donald Trump will have upended American foreign policy in the Middle East and delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu everything he’s ever wanted from a White House. By announcing last Tuesday that he is shredding the Iran nuclear deal, and by unilaterally moving the American…
Ever since the late 1960s, Israel has been a defining feature of American Jewish identity. But for the first time in fifty years, this is changing. Wedge issues have been alienating liberal Jews from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish, pro-Orthodox, pro-settlement platform, issues like prayer accommodations for Reform and Conservative Jews at the Western Wall…
Rev. William J. Barber II, a black minister and one of the country’s foremost progressive organizers, addressed a huge audience of Reform Jews on the opening night of the denomination’s biennial gathering — where he called on the Reform movement to join him in his newly-launched campaign to fight poverty. For many, Barber’s speech at…
Are there Jewish prayers specifically for Thanksgiving? Absolutely, says Alan Brill, a professor of Jewish Studies Seton Hall University who writes about history and trends in Jewish spirituality and practice on his blog — it’s a tradition with a long history. In a post this week, Brill ran through more than two century’s worth of…
A new Messianic school in Dayton, Ohio, is prompting some backlash among the Jewish community. According to a recent Dayton Jewish Observer report a so-called Messianic Jewish group named Ahavat Torah Yeshiva is ramping up online activity — but not clearly indicating to potential members that the group does not follow traditional Judaism and believes…
I am a Jew. I’m certainly not going to win any awards for “World’s Best” anytime soon. But this is the religion and culture I have identified with for the entirety of my life. At the same time, I feel zero attachment whatsoever to the state of Israel. Nil. When I hear news related to…
The Public Religion Research Institute (PPRI) released a report last week on “America’s Changing Religious Identity.” Many of the findings were of particular interest to the Jewish community. Below are the 10 most fascinating things we learned about the changing nature of the American Jewish landscape: 1: Jews Are No Longer The Most Educated Religious…
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