Opinion

Pride and chagrin: It’s rare that the two emotions are experienced simultaneously. But that is how we are feeling at Hadassah. We feel pride because women now hold three of our top professional positions: Janice Weinman is our new executive director and CEO; Osnat Levtzion-Korach is the new director-general… Read more »

We Jews have been victimized by persecution and hateful rhetoric throughout our history. We, of all people, need to stand up against the McCarthy-like attacks of Michelle Bachmann and her hate-filled cohorts against Muslim Americans. The hatemongers’ primary target has been Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin. During her… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – Jewish organizations have a lot of clout in this country, in no small part thanks to groups like the Anti-Defamation League. That’s partly why I found ADL National Director Abraham Foxman’s recent call in a JTA Op-Ed for a five-year, $2.5 billion campaign to support… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — As Jews, we don’t have many light-hearted holidays, but this week we’ll celebrate one of them, Tu b’Av. Casually known as the Jewish Valentine’s Day, Tu b’Av is the counterbalance to the most difficult of all our holidays, Tisha b’Av, which just passed. While we fast… Read more »

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — “My son, the doctor.” Why does every Jewish mother have to have a doctor in the family? It might be because the immigrant mentality desperately desires a secure and well-paid profession, but in fact, there is a deeper reason why Jewish mothers want a doctor son.… Read more »

My wife of 19 years, Janet, passed away on July 10 from cancer. I am a member of the Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley Arizona. I am a member of the Social Justice Committee and am planning an event on Sept 8th as a memorial for my… Read more »

We Jews have been victimized by persecution and hateful rhetoric throughout our history. We of all people need to stand up against the McCarthy-like attacks of Michelle Bachmann and her hate-filled cohorts against Muslim Americans. The hatemongers’ primary target has been Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin. During her… Read more »

MINNEAPOLIS (JTA) — As July ends and we wind down the Three Weeks before Tisha b’Av, we mourn the destruction of both Holy Temples. Unfortunately, this is not the only destruction that bears remembrance. This August marks the 67th anniversary of the only time that nuclear weapons were ever… Read more »

Over the past few days, we find ourselves grappling with the concept of silence in two contrasting ways. First, a silence of indifference, acquiescence and complicity, and second, a silence of strength, principle and memory. In the case of the Penn State tragedy, Coach Joe Paterno and others committed… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — At the end of the month, Mitt Romney will visit Jerusalem. It has become a ritual of American politics for presidential candidates to pay a visit to Israel, but this is certainly not Romney’s first trip to Israel — this will mark his fourth visit — and… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Throughout a half-century of international diplomatic work, I have learned to tell the politicians from the friends and the charlatans from the statesmen. Charlatans scream. They tell you what you want to hear and call other people names. Friends and leaders need not rely on rhetoric… Read more »

Israelis understandably feel imperiled by the misnamed “Arab Spring.” Their country’s three-decade peace treaty with Egypt is under assault, its strategic alliance with Turkey has dissolved, and its closest regional ally, Jordan, is withering from domestic protests. The breakdown in political authority has flooded Israel’s borders with a slew… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Swedish rescuer Raoul Wallenberg was born 100 years ago this summer, and his centennial is being commemorated with events in many cities across Europe and North America. On July 26, a symposium in his memory will be held at Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — There is a solution to get us beyond the seemingly endless stalemates and complications that continue to characterize the ongoing debate over Holocaust-era insurance claims. And I do not believe it can be found in the well-intentioned bill before the U.S. Congress. This different approach… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — My “Spidey Sense” is tingling! Almost half a century after the comic book superhero Spider-Man was conceived by Jewish writer Stan Lee, a Jewish actor named Andrew Garfield will don the red and blue Spandex for the forthcoming cinematic reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. As… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Several important Jewish organizations are standing behind a critical international treaty to support civil rights, dignity and hope for people with disabilities. However, grass-roots help is urgently needed to get it approved by the U.S. Senate before the political season overtakes the ability to get things… Read more »

When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told the passionately pro-Israel members of the Faith and Freedom Coalition that he would “do the opposite” of the things that President Obama has done regarding Israel, the room erupted in applause. They understood exactly what he meant because they know that the… Read more »

Gov. Mitt Romney has made some outrageous comments and taken some extreme positions in this presidential campaign. But few, if any, are more baffling than his latest statement on his plans for the U.S.-Israel relationship. Asked last weekend what he would do to strengthen America’s alliance with Israel, he… Read more »

Woody Allen quipped that when he was a kid, he used to get beaten up by Quakers. That happened to me (figuratively) just last week at the Churches for Middle East Peace Advocacy Conference in Washington. I was the only rabbi at the conference and with the exception of… Read more »

(JTA) — The 2011 Jewish Community Study of New York was released with some fanfare earlier this month. Some of the UJA-Federation of New York’s survey results came as somewhat of a surprise. After a decrease from about 2 million Jews in 1970 to 1.4 million in both 1991… Read more »