By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — American Jews: Who are they? How many are there? Do they comprise a community? If so, what are the lines of division among them? What about their attitudes and behaviors about Israel? It’s impossible to answer any of these questions with certainty. There’s a lot of information, but it’s […]
American Jews: A Muddled Picture Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Opinion, USA
By Heidi Gantwerk SAN DIEGO — A few weeks ago I had the privilege of listening to Deborah Lipstadt speak in conversation with Rabbi Jason Nevarez in a wide-ranging discussion about security, antisemitism, racism, Holocaust denial, and Jewish identity. She was asked how she stays standing given all the ugliness she deals with and teaches
A Stronger, More Rooted San Diego Jewish Community Read More »
Heidi Gantwerk, Opinion, San Diego County
By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — We live in a hyperculture: the internet, email, cell phones, and texting are all speeding up our interactions. It’s not only faster, it’s also more complex, leaving behind people like my mother, who, when asked to push a number on her phone in order to continue
Shyness in Our Hyperculture Has Been Exacerbated by Isolation Read More »
Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz, Opinion
By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Never would we expect Nazis assaulting an American Jew near Disney World. Or anywhere else in this nation. Yet authorities report that Nazis did in Orlando nearly two weeks ago what Nazis commonly did in Germany 85 years ago. Furthermore, the victim – identified as David Newstat, a student
Dissecting the Ongoing Wave of Antisemitism Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Holocaust, International, Middle East, Opinion, USA
By Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D BOCA RATON, Florida — In May, while Hamas was firing more than 3,000 deadly rockets from Gaza with the express purpose of murdering Jewish Israelis, members of academic communities around the world were falling over themselves to express their solidarity, not with the beleaguered citizens of the Jewish state again
Amnesty International’s Pseudo-Scholarship Read More »
International, Middle East, Opinion, USA
By Shoshana Bryen (JNS) U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides spoke before the conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel this week. He was charming and reassuring, and stressed the bipartisan nature of American government support for Israel. “We have unbreakable ties, and we will reinforce them.” Unfortunately, he also took a large
By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — On February 1, Amnesty International, claiming to be a movement of 10 million people, published a report headlined, “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity.” A couple of days before then, Israel managed to obtain a copy, and began a campaign that
Amnesty’s Report Assures Distortion on Israeli Arabs Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Opinion
By Jerry Klinger YBOR CITY, Florida — It’s a simple, small concrete gray hexagonal paver. The words Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, contracted for line count restrictions, are etched in a slightly off-centered recess. The paver is on the sidewalk, in front of the former Buchman store at 1910 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City,
Ybor City, the Pavers, and the Jews Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA
By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel “The View” featured a discussion about a Tennessee School District’s decision to remove a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from its middle school curriculum. Whoopi Goldberg asserted, “The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race.” Goldberg made a mistake that revealed her ignorance about the
Whoopi’s Immaculate Misconception Read More »
Holocaust, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Opinion, USA
By Elie Klein JERUSALEM — As a kosher foodie living in Israel, I am intimately familiar with the ever-potent power of novel and nostalgic comfort food. Within minutes of hearing about the newest offerings at our favorite restaurants or the childhood treats that clandestinely crop up on our grocer’s shelves, Israel’s Anglos hunt them down
Will We All Scream for Inclusion? Read More »
Middle East, Opinion, Travel and Food
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — In the same week as the Israeli government announced a rise in the price of fuel and electricity, several major food importers and manufacturers in Israel proclaimed that they would also be raising prices. For once, instead of the usual passive acceptance of their fate, consumers in Israel
Israeli Consumers Revolt Read More »
Business & Finance, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, OpinionBy Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Silly sideshows dominate much of the news on Israel and other Jewish and general issues. So much so that keeping up with them amounts to “posing problems that would cross a rabbi’s eyes,” to quote Tevye as he croons “If I were a rich man” in the musical “Fiddler
Silly Sideshows, From Whoopi Goldberg to Amy Wax Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Holocaust, Opinion, USA
Published by Miami Herald No, Gov. Ron DeSantis, it’s no coincidence that, only days apart, antisemitic flyers were hurled out of a passing car in Miami Beach while in Central Florida neo-Nazis staged rallies last weekend. At not one, but two gatherings in public spaces — an Orange County highway overpass and in an Orlando
DeSantis Rhetoric Enables Hateful Acts Like Nazi Rally Read More »
Holocaust, Opinion
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Whoopi Goldberg was wrong but as far as I’m concerned, the folks at ABC and The View were too harsh when they suspended her for two weeks. Let me explain. In a discussion of the Holocaust on The View television show, Goldberg commented that the Holocaust wasn’t racist
OpEd: Whoopi Goldberg’s Mistake Wasn’t So Terrible Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Theatre, Film & Broadcast