The New Jews: Moment’s Midterm Roundup
Along with a record number of women, LGBT and minority candidates running for office, Jewish representation in Congress got a slight boost this election season.
Opinion | The Tough Task of Defining Anti-Semitism
From the Editor | Dangerous Rhetoric, Dangerous Times
In 2014, four people were shot to death at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, Belgium, two years after the killings of four Jews, including three children, at the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse in the south of France. These tragedies and others like them made it clear that anti-Semitism, that pernicious prejudice, was alive and well.
Opinion | What Will It Take to Get the Haredim to Enlist?
For Israelis, bringing teenage sons and daughters barely out of high school to the army induction center to begin their compulsory military service is one of the most fraught and difficult realities of life. Underlying the cheerful, almost celebratory sendoff is the terrifying possibility of one day being forced to join the crowds at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery, part of the growing “family” who have paid the ultimate price for living in the world’s only Jewish country.
Opinion | The Many Gradations of #MeToo
In the year since the Harvey Weinstein case hit the headlines and the #MeToo movement exploded in every direction, I’ve felt increasingly distressed by the number of prominent Jewish men among the accused. Aside from the obvious names—from Senator Al Franken to conductor James Levine, from actors and journalists to Judge Alex Kozinski—one that particularly troubles me is scholar-macher Steven M. Cohen, the sociologist whose in-depth surveys have helped American Jews understand ourselves better, and who happens to be my long-term acquaintance.
Opinion | Poland and Hungary Are the Tip of the Iceberg
The news from Central Europe seems to be uniformly bad: democracy threatened, rule of law subverted, historical revisionism triumphant. It all carries a nasty 1930s flavor. To Western readers, moreover, most of that news seems to come from Budapest and Warsaw. We don’t hear much from such places as Bratislava, Bucharest or Ljubljana—and no news is good news, right? Look again.
Debate | ‘The traditional’ family was a relatively late invention’
Debate | ‘We’ve lost touch with what gives our lives shape and significance’
Visual Moment | The Beguiling Language of Dress
Ask the Rabbis | What Role Should Virtual Presence Play in Jewish Ritual and Community?
Are We Turning the Tree of Life Massacre Into Another Partisan Issue?
This is the new normal for many members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community: splitting their time between mourning the dead and protesting the hate that brought about the tragedy.