CHICAGO (JTA) — As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, we’re all tasked with slowing its spread through social isolation. That’s not necessarily a big ask for someone like me. I can deal with people in short bursts but, for the most...

PHOENIX (JTA) — I am not a medical professional, an epidemiologist or an expert on pandemics. I leave the serious information in those important fields for the professionals who have the appropriate training to help us get through the coronavirus epidemic.Even...

CHICAGO (JTA) — I am an infectious disease epidemiologist who worked at the World Health Organization on epidemics in over 25 countries around the world. As a physician and member of the Jewish community, I prize the Jewish teaching that places the...

Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Mick Mulvaney was right. Mulvaney is a former three-plus-term Republican congressman from South Carolina who quit the House of Representatives in February 2017 and spent the past three years as a...

I am recently retired from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, but I still get university emails announcing various events. Recently, I received an email containing an attached flyer publicizing a panel discussion on “Considering National Security...

If I were a coach talking with a locker room full of local print journalists, here is what I would tell them: “This is our last, best shot.”This coronavirus pandemic poses a grave threat to newspapers, many of which were already teetering on the brink...

In photos and videos, Papa fades into the background. Sometimes half of his face sits outside the frame or only the back of his head appears. More than likely, he’s behind the camera, recording a birthday party or Hanukkah celebration to be kept in...

This letter has been reposted with the permission of Rabbi Reuven Fink. NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (JTA) — As so many of us are now contemplating going into a Shabbos of seclusion, I want to share a few thoughts with you. We all woke up Tuesday morning...

Over President’s Day weekend, I was pleased to help chaperone a Jewish Student Union (JSU) relief trip to New Orleans. Eight students, Rabbi Yitzchak Staum and I traveled there Wednesday, Feb. 12 to join other staff and students from all over the Midwest....

An alliance of Jewish and Catholic organizations recently scored a victory over payday lenders in the city of Florissant. In response to a recommendation contained in the Ferguson Report, Jews United for Justice (JUJ) teamed up with the National Council...

PITTSBURGH — “The Quran tells us red and yellow are the most distracting colors, the ones that should not ever be used for a prayer rug,” the imam tells us, looking down at the red and yellow rug beneath our feet in the mosque. He adds, “It was...