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Opinion Criticizing Israel Is The Most Zionist Thing You Can Do
The 9th of Av, on which observant Jews commemorate the destruction of the Second Temple, has never been the most popular Zionist holiday. The ingathering of the exiles and the return of Jewish political sovereignty obviated, for many Zionists, any need to mourn the Temple. Some thought the day should be left to fall into…
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Community Our Selective Outrage Over Airplane Seat Change Requests
Last week, the Twitter world exploded as an in-flight romance was live tweeted at 35,000 feet on an Alaska Air flight from LaGuardia to Dallas. Over the course of the four-hour flight, we were treated to a play-by-play from two people who had switched seats in order to sit next to each other as they…
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Community At A Border Town In Mexico, Mothers Separated From Their Children Wait — And Wait
It’s July 4, and I’ve just come home after three days’ absence. My toddler puts his little arms around my neck, lays his head on my shoulder and doesn’t move for 15 minutes. He follows me all throughout the day, yells in distress if I leave the room, bites me if I don’t pay enough…
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Community Israeli And Aboriginal Australian: An Odyssey Of Self-Discovery
A version of this article originally appeared in Plus61J, an Australian-Jewish publication. Growing up in a Jewish household in suburban Sydney, Australia, Denise Langman always knew she was adopted. Her parents made no secret of the fact they first met her as a 10-month-old at the Scarba Welfare House for Children in Bondi, a Victorian…
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Community In Cologne, Archaeologists Unearth The History Of Germany’s Oldest Jewish Community
After attending the New Waves Day 2018 concert in Dusseldorf, Germany last month, I took a train to Köln, or what we know as Cologne. It was the nearest big city, and I wanted to see if the waterfront along the Rhine was as spectacular as Dusseldorf’s. But what I saw there was even grander….
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Community To The Israeli Government, The Only Kosher Wedding Is An Orthodox One
A version of this article originally appeared in Plus61J, an Australian-Jewish publication. Several years ago, when I was living in Tel Aviv, I attended the wedding of some Jewish friends. The bride and groom went out of their way to identify as secular Israelis rather than Jewish, and consistently struggled to understand my connection with…
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Community American Jewry Is Israel’s New Opposition Party
Recently, two seemingly unrelated events transpired in the relations between Israeli and American Jewry: Last month, the Jewish Agency’s board of governors voted for Isaac Herzog (former chairman of the Labor Party), to become chairman of the organization, in a direct rebuttal of the prime minister’s choice of candidate. Next, two senior ministers avoided taking…
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Community When It Comes To The Occupation, Which Side Is The Chicago Jewish Community On?
For most of us, this was not our first Greater Chicago Jewish Festival. In years past, we have sat at our congregations’ tables or attended with our families. We share fond memories of kosher hot dogs and klezmer music, of sponsor tote bags and stress balls. For most of us, however, this was our first…
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Fast Forward ‘Rabbi rebellion’: 33 Orthodox rabbis endorse Harris
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Opinion I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch
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Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
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FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish טשיקאַווער ראָמאַן וועגן פֿרוי וואָס זוכט אַ גײַסטיקע היים אין ירושלים — דורך ייִדישUnique novel about woman who seeks a spiritual home in Jerusalem — through Yiddish
די העלדין פֿון „דאָ איז נאָך אַלץ דאָ“ טראָגט אױף זיך דעם לאַסט פֿון איר באָבעס חורבן־טראַװמע.
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Fast Forward Many Israelis are celebrating Trump’s win, seeing him as more likely to back their country
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Fast Forward Eugene Vindman, whose Jewish immigrant story played a role in Trump’s impeachment, elected to Congress
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Fast Forward Anxiety, concern and hope: How swing-state rabbis, and their communities, are reacting to Trump’s win
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