Opinion

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Today, Israel is surrounded by more turmoil than ever, and the world also presents great challenges to the United States. Iran is developing missile technology that can reach Israel, and providing ever-more-sophisticated rockets to Hezbollah and Hamas. Russia is making aggressive military movement from Ukraine… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — On Nov. 8, 2016, if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, I expect to be voting enthusiastically for Clinton for president. One reason is that she’s so competent. Another is that the Republicans are so awful. In fact, I can’t think of a modern-day… Read more »

Figure skating, private baths, passports, gold medal coaches? The new Jewish summer camp models (“Jewish camps invest in improvements for our gilded age,” AJP, 3/18/16) left me feeling dismayed. What do these activities have to do with helping our Jewish youth feel more connected to Judaism? The costs of… Read more »

(JTA) — Passover is a time for family, for tradition, and for festive celebration. It’s also a time to fix a paradox. As we read the Haggadah, we reflect on our past travails and miraculous redemption as a Jewish people. But if we look only at the past we… Read more »

(JTA) — The Israeli Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling on conversion is a truly historic decision – for Israeli and American Jewry. While the case only concerns a few individuals, the general rules and unequivocal language have wide significance for both Israeli and American Jewry. The ruling represents another… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — I am trying to imagine a conversation between Donald Trump’s people and a delegation of Reform rabbis and lay leaders. Rabbi Jonah Pesner, the Reform movement’s man in Washington, told me that Trump’s people have agreed to a “staff-to-staff” meeting to discuss Jewish concerns about Trump’s… Read more »

Jason Storch

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (JTA) — At many colleges and universities today, Jewish students are often pitted against students of color when it comes to Israel. In my three years at Vassar College, I have been told – by a Jewish student leader, no less – that supporting Israel is tantamount… Read more »

CHICAGO (JUF News via JTA) — Like so many other Jewish little girls on Purim, both my big sister and I would dress up for our annual Purim carnival as Queen Esther. The morning of the carnival, my mom would array us in regal dresses, bright red lipstick and a… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Pew Research Center poll released last week surveying attitudes among Israeli citizens confirms what many of us who work on Israeli issues already knew: Israel is a deeply divided society, first and foremost between its Jewish and Arab citizens, but also among its Jewish sectors. Ethnicity,… Read more »

  PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The recent Pew Research Center study finding that about half of Israeli Jews favor transferring Arabs from Israel reveals the fear, frustration and misery that Israeli Jews feel after being subjected to decades of Arab terrorist attacks that have killed and maimed thousands of innocents.… Read more »

PERSONAL ESSAY (JTA) — Two weeks ago, I heard a podcast in which two Jewish women named Ronna and Beverly misgendered me repeatedly and made fun of my story. This was not the first time I thought to myself, “Why did I choose this?” To be clear, I was… Read more »

(JTA) — In her victory speech after the Nevada primaries, Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said it’s time to invest in marginalized communities by “ensuring that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to work and fully participate in our society.” That may seem like the standard campaign rhetoric of… Read more »

Emily Briskman (Jewish United Fund)

CHICAGO (JTA) — The ideals of open dialogue, debate and civil discourse are pillars of university life. Today, these mainstays of higher education are beginning to crumble with fissures developing over issues of race, gender and, most recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which now threatens to topple the tower of… Read more »

In the pages of the Arizona Jewish Post, as well as other non-traditional Jewish venues, I hear and see a phrase consisting of two words which belong together like oil and water: “progressive Judaism.” The underlying philosophy of Judaism is ethical monotheism. This means that we believe in one… Read more »

(JTA) — I have Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements and noises called “tics.” My Tourette’s is relatively mild at this point, but I went through a turbulent adolescence when Tourette’s was the most defining thing about me. Between the constant movements and the loud, uncontrollable… Read more »

(JTA) – On the morning of Dec. 1, 1988, a group of about 70 Jewish women entered the sacred space of the Western Wall. The women represented all the major streams of Judaism. Some wore prayer shawls or kippahs. Some did not. One woman cradled a Torah in her… Read more »

(JTA) — The relationship between Israel and American Jews is a complicated mix of good news and bad news, and this week’s government compromise on the Western Wall, or Kotel, is a case in point: It’s a step forward in providing access for non-Orthodox Jews, but may also reinforce… Read more »

(Kveller via JTA) — I took my first baby steps into bat mitzvah planning this week, and I had a lot of feelings — but mostly a twinge of nostalgia. Somehow a girl who was once a toddler with a furrowed brow, a desperate love of Little Bear, and… Read more »

Marc Schneier

NEW YORK (JTA) — Over the past two years, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has embedded itself into the consciousness — and conscience — of America. The hashtag #BlackLives Matter emerged in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and quickly became… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When I was a law student, I took a course by a renowned professor who warned that if a prosecutor ever told us that our client only had two choices, we should walk away from the bargaining table. His point: There are always more options.… Read more »