By Mitchell Bard, JNS
• Published January 12, 2023
(JNS) It seems that every Jewish organization claims it is fighting antisemitism. Yet, it is clear that they are failing. Many reasons account for the spread of this cancer. One is that some Jews are antisemites or have taken positions that are antisemitic....
(JTA) — Israel’s new governing coalition has been called the “most right-wing” in the nation’s history. That’s heartening to supporters who want the country to get tough on crime and secure Jewish rights to live in the West Bank, and dismaying...
(JTA) — On Dec. 29, Israel swore in Benjamin Netanyahu’s sixth government. The Likud leader became Israel’s prime minister once more, and one week later, Israel’s long-anticipated judicial counterrevolution began.
In the Knesset Wednesday, newly...
Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content Officer
• Published January 4, 2023
Ushering in a new year can be filled with excitement and anticipation as well as a feeling of renewal. It is with this spirit in mind that the Jewish Light is pleased to welcome a new digital columnist, Sheri Glantz. Glantz, 60, began writing "The Sunny...
Rabbi David Rosen, JTA
• Published January 3, 2023
(JTA) — I was first introduced to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI, in the late 1980s when he was visiting Jerusalem. Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, was eager for me to meet with the cardinal, telling me that I would discover...
Barbara Ballinger and Margaret Crane, Special For The Jewish Light
• Published January 3, 2023
We've written about a new year as a time to make obligatory resolutions in a quest to be better people. We know that resolutions can be about almost anything and even now, a few days past Jan. 1, you may already have broken one, two or a few of yours....
(JTA) — About a decade ago, I served on my synagogue’s rabbinic search committee. Normally I am allergic to any activity at which minutes will be taken, but it was a great experience, thanks to the care and intelligence that my fellow committee members...
(JTA) — Jewish eras can be defined by events (the fall of the Second Temple, the Inquisition, the founding of Israel) and by ideas (the rabbinic era, emancipation, post-denominationalism). A community reveals itself in the things it argues about most...
Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief
• Published December 21, 2022
Sunday night I did something I don’t often do these days. I watched a movie — with commercials — on “regular” TV. It happened to be “The Sound of Music,” one of my all-time favorites, which clocked in at four hours on ABC.
I realize I could...
By Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh, Spe
• Published December 20, 2022
Editor’s Note: This commentary is a composite of participants’ responses to the Newmark Institute trip to Washington, D.C. Quotes from those responses are interspersed in the text below in italics.
“This was a life altering experience...
By Amy Fenster Brown, Special For The Jewish Light
• Published December 18, 2022
Happy Hanukkah! The candles are lit, the wax is dripping, the latkes are sizzling, and the house will smell like it for a week. Let’s celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah with eight random thoughts, one for each night, from my brain to yours.
I don’t...
Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, JTA
• Published December 15, 2022
(JTA) — As a young child I often wondered why people light the hanukkiah, or Hanukkah menorah, in so many different places. Some light the candles on their front porches and driveways, some in the streets, others at in city parks, and a very select...
