Nothing threatens Jews more than theocracy. When powerful regimes have tried to impose their beliefs on religious minorities, we’ve ended up expelled (The Spanish Inquisition), dead (The Crusades) or coerced into conversion (The Almohad Caliphate in Morocco). It’s no less true today than it was in 1492: every single brick removed from the American wall…
Was Donald J. Trump appointed by God? As the President-elect would say, some people are asking. When one starts typing “Trump appointed” into Google, one of the first suggestions is “Trump appointed by god”. Contrary to popular query, Trump was affirmed by the U.S. Electoral College, not God, with 304 electoral votes on December 19,…
After months of planning, and years of anticipation, the wedding was beautiful. Family and friends. Dancing. A real simcha. She and her family never dreamed a mental health challenge would appear after the wedding. She would be a bride! So why was she feeling depressed afterward? For some newlyweds, it may just be “post-wedding blues.”…
In Utah, the presidential ticket of Evan McMullin (a Mormon) and Mindy Finn (a Jew) has a real shot at winning the state. During our reporting on this, we found that there are a lot of Mormons who really like Jews. So why do have Mormons a soft spot for Jews? “Mormons feel a great…
You’ve heard of Jewish Buddhists — “Jewbus” — and secular Jews. You likely know Jews who favor yoga over synagogue — there are even Jews for Jesus. But Jewish Muslims? With a grim deadlock between the Israelis and Palestinians, which often takes on a religious dimension — and a rise in both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism…
When a hacker leaked a trove of internal emails from the Democratic National Committee several months ago, one of them considered the condition of Bernie Sanders’s soul — and its potential as a wedge issue during the primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. “Does he believe in a God,” asked Brad Marshall, the DNC’s chief financial…
As the summer ends, Americans get back to business, and for American Jews, there’s no bigger business than the High Holidays at your local synagogue. I have some unconventional advice for you this year: Don’t go. Instead of attending the kitschy mass performances that even your rabbi probably finds uninspiring, choose a different holiday from…
“I know my husband uses the microwave on Shabbat,” a friend told me, after I shared my story of being in a mixed secular-religious marriage, “but he makes sure to do it while I’m out of the house at shul.” While this bifurcated approach may work in the short term, where the less observant partner…
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