Opinion | Israel’s Nation-State Law Is Not Just Bark
photo: Dafna Talmon After the passage of Israel’s nation-state law, which anchors the Jewishness of the state in Israel’s “basic
Opinion | Israel’s Vote Goes to the GOP
The Israel picture, while barely a trifle to most Americans, is almost everything to us. We consider only one question: Will the next Congress be supportive of Israel, and of President Donald Trump’s support for Israel?
Context | Is Judaism Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?
Where you stand on most issues depends on where you sit. It’s a truism that dates back far before our polarized age. Women’s issues tend to pose this problem with particular clarity; you might say that it’s not so much where you sit as what set of organs you sit on.
Anti-Semitism Watch | The Waltz of the Austrian Far Right
In January, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) hosted its annual Academics Ball, where women in gowns and men in tuxedos and three-piece suits dance and socialize in Vienna’s splendorous imperial palace. Attendees also proudly dress in the colors and regalia of their Burschenschaften—student fraternities founded during the 19th century, some of which espouse pan-Germanism.
The Search for the Elusive Jewish Cocktail
By the time Prohibition began, Jews did make up a significant portion of the alcohol industry—most often in the whiskey business, working as distillers or distributors. But a smaller cohort of Jews also made their mark as cocktail bartenders.
Is Israel an ‘Apartheid State’? Depends on Your Goal
Does the nation-state law cement Israel’s status as an apartheid state? And what does that mean?
Book Review | President Carter
After Jimmy Carter became president, he moved beyond long and firm support for Israel rooted in his belief in biblical Christianity to sympathy and support for the Palestinians and other Arabs, according to his top adviser in those years.
Book Review | Concrete Boxes: Mizrahi Women on Israel’s Periphery by Pnina Motzafi-Haller
We are waking up to the fact that Mizrachim now make up more than half of all Israeli Jews. And not only do Mizrachim come from a different part of the world, but they also continue to view Zionism, Judaism, religion and gender very differently than do Jews of European descent.
Book Review | Against the Inquisition by Marcos Aguinis
Little known in English, Aguinis has been a Latin American literary powerhouse for 50 years, turning out elegant, prize-winning bestsellers that have explored everything from Argentine history to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the life of Maimonides, all to the praise of his largely non-Jewish audience.
How Will Pro-Israel Evangelicals Shape U.S. Policy?
In Trump-era Washington, pro-Israel and Jewish conferences can be divided into roughly three categories: those on the left who gather to lament, centrist groups that do their best to avoid any mention of the president, and groups on the conservative end of the spectrum for which the Trump presidency is nothing short of a dream come true.
A Haredi Rabbi’s Rumination on Racism
Like many of his generation, Mr. Paskow harbored some deep, overt racial prejudices against what he referred to as shvartzes, Yiddish for “blacks.” It was 1969, and race riots in a number of cities provided the elderly shulgoer with ample fodder for his racial railings.
The Top 5 Books
We asked experts and aficionados to recommend their top five books on timely and intriguing subjects—from trends in American Judaism to Jewish romance.