Opinion

Respect haredi life while offering criticism

A recent article by Israeli journalist Yaron London headlined “We Need Fewer Haredim” and two major pieces in The New York Times about the haredi approach to sex abuse cases highlight the challenge and the need to address serious issues emanating from the haredi world without demonizing an entire… Read more »

Ten ways lobbyists can help Israel

It’s time for pro-Israel leaders, organizations and activists to ask themselves not only, “are we doing things right?” but also “are we doing the right things?” Sadly, many pro-Israel groups and leaders are focused on the wrong things. Thus, here are some ideas for what American leaders, non-profits and… Read more »

To solve Arab-Israeli conflict, end the farce of fake Palestine refugees

Daniel Pipes

The fetid, dark heart of the Arab war on Israel, I have long argued, lies not in disputes over Jerusalem, checkpoints, or “settlements.” Rather, it concerns the so-called Palestine refugees. So-called because of the nearly 5 million official refugees served by UNRWA (short for the “United Nations Relief and… Read more »

Op-ed: Same-sex marriage campaigns should heed local sentiments

GREENSBORO, N.C. (JTA) — The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Since the May 8 vote to approve North Carolina’s Amendment One referendum, which constitutionally bars the state from recognizing as legal any marriage… Read more »

Sustaining a day school education, financially and morally

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — There is a lot of hand-wringing these days about whether the rising costs of Jewish day schools are sustainable. The discussion has been about money, but this misses the point: The largest costs of day school tuition are not financial but moral, and the key… Read more »

Op-Ed: If Passover is the question, Shavuot is the answer

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Unlike other Jewish holidays, the Torah does not specify a date for Shavuot; it is celebrated on the 50th day (seven weeks) after Passover. We moderns celebrate Shavuot on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in ancient times, when the first day of… Read more »

Incorporating aspects of two- and one-state models opens new paths

After two decades, peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians have failed to bear fruit or bring about two independent states for two peoples. Recent polls demonstrate that as a result, Israelis and Palestinians are growing skeptical about the viability of a two-state solution. However, the most commonly discussed alternative,… Read more »

For new Israeli coalition, haredi army exemptions issue is front and center

A haredi Orthodox man watching Israeli soldiers as an army ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Feb. 22, 2012. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/JTA)

(JTA) – Israel’s new unity government may not alter Jerusalem’s strategy for curbing Iran’s nuclear weapons program or do much to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It could, however, dramatically change something at home about which a huge number of Israelis care deeply: haredi Orthodox exemptions from military service.… Read more »

Put Russian-speaking Jews on the community’s radar

NEW YORK (JTA) — With the contemporary music world buzzing about Regina Spektor’s upcoming album more than a month before its release, I cannot help but think about the young musician’s rise in the context of Russian-speaking Jewry. Spektor, who came to the United States with her parents when… Read more »

Praise for creators of Yom HaShoah musical event

This year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration was, as were all of our past commemorations, moving and heartbreaking. This year’s, however, was utterly remarkable and several people are to be commended for their role in creating our remembrance. First, thank you to Melissa Hamilton, a caring, soft-spoken violist with the Tucson… Read more »

Judaism without God piece affirming for Humanist

It is remarkable how much press secular humanist Judaism is getting these days! I was delighted to read the article in the last AJP about Judaism without God (“Can religion, especially Judaism, work if you don’t believe in God?” AJP 4/20/12). A few years ago I was one of… Read more »

South Sudan is a Jewish cause

Anti-Semitism in Europe and in the Islamic world is a major problem, but we shouldn’t allow the fixations of enemies to divert us from the reality that we do have friends — and that we owe these friends our support when they fall upon dark times. The great Jewish… Read more »

Title VI should be used on true hatemongers, not political opponents

In the eyes of the Zionist Organization of America, the most depraved enemies of the Jewish people are obnoxious college campus loudmouths. As the editor of New Voices, a national magazine by and for Jewish college students, I have a different perspective. The ZOA led the campaign to have… Read more »

Jewish groups should embrace new legal protection for Jewish students

(JTA) — Imagine if the NAACP responded with skepticism to the passage of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and urged African Americans to exercise their civil rights cautiously under this law. Title VI was landmark legislation when it was passed in 1964 to remedy racial and ethnic… Read more »

Gay or straight, LGBT Seder is great experience

I was very fortunate this year to attend the LGBT Seder put on by the Jewish Inclusion Project and held at Congregation Or Chadash. I am straight, and I initially attended mainly because of a (lesbian) friend who is new to… Read more »

Health care for all admirable goal, but who pays?

Re: “The health care debate: envisioning a future that avoids ‘moral hazards’” (AJP 4/6/12), Nancy Kaufman’s goals are admirable — health care for all, especially those in our society that are the most needy. One key omission, how to pay for the huge cost of “Obamacare”? Jews have been… Read more »

Keeping Holocaust memory alive — and sacred

NEW YORK (JTA) — The destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE was the first great national tragedy in Jewish history. During the subsequent exile, four fast days commemorating the calamitous event were added to the Jewish calendar: the 10th day of the Hebrew month of… Read more »