Sometimes, in the darkest of times, there appears a small flickering light.
Last week, I was honored to be among a formidable group that testified in the state capital in favor of HB2000, a bill promoting a week of (age-appropriate) Holocaust education...
(JTA) — Like many people, I encountered “Maus” as a middle schooler. But unlike many people, I can say that it set me on a direct path to my eventual career — as a scholar of religion, especially Judaism, and popular culture.
I was 12 when the...
In an extraordinary move to attain media synchrony, Amnesty International actually pre-positioned an “embargoed” press release to maximize simultaneous anti-Israel impact.
(JTA) — Is it appropriate to call an ancient rabbi a “legendary hottie”? To use “thirst” in the online sense? To translate one Talmudic voice replying to another as, “Oh my God, what the actual f–k is wrong with you, you misogynistic...
(JTA) — My entire adult life I have espoused and jettisoned multiple theologies and philosophies after subjecting them to the ultimate test: Would they survive Auschwitz? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, almost always with some kind of caveat. Now...
SUZANNE EPSTEIN-LANG , SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
• Published January 26, 2022
In case you have been living under a rock, there was a popular challenge on social media recently in which participants posted a photo of themselves 10 years ago, along with a current one. Though I see its pitfalls, I must admit I love social media...
The growing volume of lip service paid by the world to the memory of the Six Million is neatly matched by the complacence about or support for contemporary Jew-hatred.
(JTA) — In 1966, I was a student at Boston University’s School of Social Work when I received a phone call from a college friend. She explained in hushed tones that she needed an abortion and thought I could help her.
At that time, I didn’t know...
It’s time for a mid-January check-in. How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? I have a perfect track record for the first time in my life. That’s because my 2022 resolution was to no longer make New Year’s resolutions. I outsmarted the...
(JTA) — When I turned on my phone after Shabbat last Saturday night and read about the unfolding hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Texas, I was immediately transported to my encounter the previous evening with the unhoused man who appeared,...
ROBERT A. COHN, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
• Published January 21, 2022
At 82, I’m dealing with the harsh reality of illness and death striking down relatives and friends. Add to this the relentless news of the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the cloud of sadness can envelop the soul.
One thing we can...
(JTA) — Jews across America are still reeling from this past Shabbat when a rabbi and three congregants were held at gunpoint by an antisemitic terrorist in Colleyville, Texas.
In response to these harrowing events, many institutions have suggested...
