Some interesting new ideas today about inequality in America. First, Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson offers an important insight into the different kinds of inequality that exist and the differing responses. Over the past half-century, he writes, public pressure for black, women’s and gay rights has brought down barriers confronting those excluded because of their…
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: … Do not do injustice in judgment by favoring the poor or deferring to the rich, but judge your neighbor in righteousness. (LEV. 19:1-15) Joshua ben Perachiah said: Judge every person to the side of merit. (MISHNAH PIRKEI…
What does it feel like to be gay and Jewish, after the Supreme Court affirmed same-sex marriage? It depends on what being gay and being Jewish means. If these identities are like teams (or tribes) to which one belongs, then this last week was a glorious time to be gay, and a basically irrelevant one…
The Supreme Court’s June 25 decision striking down key elements of a longstanding law protecting minority voting rights touched a chord with the Jewish community which has strongly supported the law although its direct impact on Jewish voters has been marginal. Jewish organizations decried the court’s 5-to-4 ruling, which deemed part of the 1965 Voting…
They deserve a vote. With that simple exhortation, President Obama cleverly married two causes that were certainly the emotional high points of his recent State of the Union address. In introducing his idea for a nonpartisan commission to “improve the voting experience in America,” he cited the hours-long wait some citizens endured last November just…
Spanish-speaking voters in Rockland and Ulster counties in New York will receive assistance at the polls this November to ensure an easy process for casting their ballots. Similar concessions, however, have not been made for the large Yiddish-speaking population of Hasidic Jews in the upstate counties. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that bilingual Spanish/English…
In Texas, Republican state officials have recently gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend their plan to break up a heavily minority state Senate district. At the same time, in New York, state Republicans are reportedly pushing a plan to consolidate another minority — Brooklyn Orthodox Jews — in just such a district. It’s…
