Opinion

Rosh Hashanah: What Does it Mean to be Human?

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Socrates is famous for saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” If Socrates had a preferred Jewish holiday, I believe it would undoubtedly be Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These holidays offer us an opportunity to reflect, review, and reconsider who we are, what we’ve […]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Opinion

Seeking Peace With a Dysfunctional ‘Family’

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Their offense was to shake hands with the devil. After literally shaking hands with a foreign athlete during an international competition last month, an Iranian weightlifter was barred for life from entering his nation’s sports facilities. A state senator from Dearborn, Mich., apologized to her Arab and Muslim constituents

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Bruce Ticker, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Captain Lionel Lee: Extraordinary Courage and Dedication

By Jerry Klinger A cemetery stone on a street is a strange site, even in London. It is even stranger considering that there is no body buried beneath. The black and gold stone of honored memory is for a Jewish secret agent, a member of the British Special Operations Executive, SOE, Captain Lionel Lee. Lee

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Holocaust, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion

California’s Ethnic Studies Mandate Cannot Be Fixed

By Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS) You would think that everyone understands that you can’t defend the Jews while supporting something set up to help promote antisemitism. Yet apparently, that basic truth is being ignored by those who ought to know better. The Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC) has put itself in just such

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California, Israel, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

The Potential Fall of Congresswoman Summer Lee, the Squad Member From Pittsburgh

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — After seven months on the job, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee set herself up for the winter of Summer, to borrow from “The summer of George” title of a Seinfeld segment. Earlier this month, she traded barbs with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which criticized her decision to boycott

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Bruce Ticker, Israel, Opinion, USA

The British Belsen War Crimes Trials and Leo Genn

By Jerry Klinger “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” — All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, Scene 3 A few weeks ago, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. branch placed a historical marker at Leopold John Genn’s birthplace. The marker text: Jewish Prosecutor –

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Holocaust, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion

Jews in Giuliani’s Space

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — “This is an affront to American democracy and does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system,” says America’s Mayor. Rudy Giuliani was not referring to accusations that he conspired to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. He was slamming the fact that a county prosecutor — a Black woman

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Bruce Ticker, Opinion, USA

Israel’s Pot is Simmering

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Israel’s Knesset is on its summer recess and won’t reconvene until after the Jewish holidays in October. There are several very important, unresolved issues that are simmering. They are: the fate of the reasonableness factor in making Supreme Court decisions  (and subsequent to that, the composition of the

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Israel, Opinion, Steve Kramer

Tripwires in the Tree of Life Trial…Er, That’s Trials

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — It was a paradoxical week for American Jews, as much as it was historic. The sentencing of Tree of Life synagogue killer Robert Bowers raises disturbing questions about antisemitism’s link to mental illness, the deterrence value of the death penalty and the merits of hate-crime laws. What does Bowers’

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Bruce Ticker, Opinion, USA