Opinion

There’s a funny thing about anniversaries — just as we look back with nostalgia on the way things were, too, do we inevitably reflect on how things have changed in the intervening years. So it is as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — It’s not that often that Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah fall so close together on the calendar. This year they are but three days apart, providing an opportunity for some introspection on an issue that should be of concern to the entire American Jewish community:… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. It is true that the organization, now… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — In 5773, the religious wars just would not go away. In Israel, elections that extended Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister delivered big wins to two anti-Orthodox-establishment upstarts, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett. For the first time in nearly two decades, Israel’s coalition government included… Read more »

 While the bloody civil war in Syria rages on, Israel keeps a watchful eye on the Israeli-Syrian border, making sure the fighting between the rebels and the Assad forces doesn’t spill over into the Golan Heights. One of the rebel groups calls itself the Martyrs of the Yarmouk Brigades.… Read more »

This is in response to David E. Steinberg’s letter, “WWII end near before bombs dropped on Japan” (AJP, 7/12/13). I’m a World War II Navy veteran. In late spring 1945, my unit (all 10 of us) was awaiting deployment orders in San Bruno, Calif., when unexpectedly we were transferred… Read more »

    Reform leader Rabbi Rick Jacobs, shown speaking at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Baltimore, November 2012. (Robert A. Cumins/JFNANEW YORK (JTA) Try telling agunot, women who are chained to their husbands unable to obtain a get, a religious divorce, that they are equal… Read more »

FC Barcelona at the Western Wall (Tazpit News Agency)

At the Washington press conference held on July 30, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the Israelis and Palestinians will aim to reach a final status agreement to end their conflict in the time frame of nine months. He also had some words to say about the… Read more »

This week the EU took three steps that together prove Europe’s ill-intentions towards the Jewish state. First, last Friday the EU announced it is imposing economic sanctions on Israel. The sanctions deny EU funds to Israeli entities with an address beyond the 1949 armistice lines. They also deny EU… Read more »

This week’s news cycle opened with a flurry of reactions to Secretary Kerry’s announcement last Friday evening that “an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations” had been reached. On Thursday, the Israel Policy Forum sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu signed by 140 prominent American Jews… Read more »

Rashad Hussain

WASHINGTON (JTA) — During Ramadan, Muslim communities around the world experience a month of fasting, devotion and increased consciousness of their faith. They also remember those who are suffering around the world and seek an end to the forces of hatred that lead to violence against people of all… Read more »

In your June 14 issue you feature an interview with the WWII veteran Nathan Shapiro (“Nathan Shapiro: Boy cantor at 10, active senior and ‘lucky guy’ at 95”). Mr. Shapiro is quoted as saying that the U.S. “would have lost hundreds of thousands of men” more in the war… Read more »

I have just read the Shout Out column written by Michaela Davenport (“For Tucson teen, March of the Living trip is heartwrenching, empowering,” AJP 6/28/13) and was incredibly moved. I had to re-read the brief notice about Michaela as I found it hard to believe that she is only… Read more »

I read with interest the article on Tucsonans bound for the Maccabiah Games (AJP, 6/14/13) and thought you might be interested in the fact that my son Jimmy Grabb, a native Tucsonan and former professional tennis player, is going to be inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of… Read more »

On June 17, I attended a performance of Tzofim Israeli Scouts at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, an event celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary. The pleasure I had taken in previous performances of Tzofim, and which I might have taken in this event, was marred by the over-the-top volume… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital found themselves well prepared for the aftermath. Two years earlier, Israeli medical experts had helped update the hospital’s disaster response plan to deal with mass-casualty incidents. Drawing… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The recent Op-Ed in JTA championing human rights in Iran was very compelling but for two facts: It was co-authored by two of Israel’s greatest advocates, and they published it in JTA, a Jewish media outlet. As a community, we can be willing to bomb… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The June 12 Iranian presidential election was fraught with fraud and fear — candidates vetted for their loyalty to the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards, the press muzzled by the imprisonment of independent journalists, and the leaders of Iranian civil society in detention. The absence… Read more »

In reference to a news brief published in the May 17 edition: To call Wagner’s anti-Semitism “alleged” is beyond ignorant. One of the reasons that Richard Wagner was Hitler’s favorite composer was their agreement that Jews comprised a single race. For your edification you should read the virulent anti-Semitic… Read more »

In your May 31 issue, Max Lazar criticized Rabbi Schneier for urging the Israeli prime minister to make some concessions for the sake of a lasting and just peace with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza (“Rabbi Schneier misguided on Arab proposal”). Mr. Lazar considers any proposed… Read more »