Ask the Rabbis | What Is the Jewish Relationship to Time?
INDEPENDENT: Time is an invitation. Both words share the same root: z’mahn. It is written: “The life of man is like a breath exhaling; his days are like a passing shadow” (Psalms 144:4).
Ask The Rabbis | What Should Jews Know About the Muslim Faith?
“I used to think I knew what Islam was about. Yet as I came to know more Muslims personally and learned more about their faith, I realized that much of what I knew was either flat-out wrong or grossly misguided.”
Book Essay // Refracted Identities, Mirrored Lives
Suleiman’s new book, The Némirovsky Question: The Life, Death and Legacy of a Jewish Writer in 20th-Century France, explores Némirovsky’s tragic career and the deteriorating civil society of pre-World War II France that first nurtured the writer and then ultimately turned on her. Drawing on parallels to her own life, Suleiman makes of the story a meditation on allegiance, foreignness and assimilation—one with uncanny echoes for today’s politics.
The Future of the Anti-Defamation League
“The person in my role has always had a very simple job description: Protect the Jewish people.”
Jewish Word // Blood libel
In September, Josh Marshall of the online political news outlet Talking Points Memo reached for an unexpected metaphor to express his disgust at Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric…
DNC Dispatch: “Sometimes You Just Have to Take One for the Team.”
by Amy E. Schwartz
It had been, she said, “a difficult week.” It sure had. But when Florida representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz walked into the reception...
The Curious Case of Dorothy L. Sayers & the Jew Who Wasn’t There
A devoted reader examines the odd relationship between the so-called queen of British detective fiction and her Jewish characters.
Ask the Rabbis // Happiness
Should Jews strive to be happy?
INDEPENDENT
No. Jews should never strive to be happy.
Happiness should not be something to strive for. It should be solidly entrenched...
Opinion // ISIS Commits Cultural Genocide
Militants sever the ties that connect the region to the world—and history
by Amy E. Schwartz
In 2010, Bonnie Burnham, president of the World Monuments Fund, paid a...
Ask the Rabbis // Sin
“In contrast with other views, we are not born sinners, but by virtue of the human condition and our free will, we are bound to act sinfully from time to time.”
Ask the Rabbis | Gun Control
We ask our rabbis, “Should Jews be for or against the right to bear arms?”
Inside the Germany/Israel Relationship
In the wake of the Holocaust, Konrad Adenauer and David Ben-Gurion forged an unlikely partnership. More than 60 years later, Germany continues to be one of Israel’s staunchest defenders and most dependable allies. But can the relationship withstand the rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment in Europe and the fading memories of a new generation?