This Professor Gets the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act All Wrong

By Jackson Richman January 16, 2017

In The Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago, former Harvard Professor Ruth Wisse wrote about how we need to fight anti-Semitism through the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which requires the Department of Education to take the broad State Department definition of anti-Semitism into account when determining if an act can be deemed anti-Semitic in accordance with Title…

Read More...

“Denial” Describes a Case of Fact vs. Fiction

By Jackson Richman October 23, 2016

The movie “Denial” is about a court case between Fact and Fiction. Through the case David Irving v. Penguin Books Limited, Deborah E. Lipstadt, “Denial” shows how injustices like the Holocaust cannot be denied. One of the most controversial cases of the 1990s, this case distinguished scholarship from bigotry. Emory University Professor Deborah Lipstadt (played…

Read More...

Do Jews need to worry about the RFRA?

By Jackson Richman June 24, 2015

Does a kosher bakery have the right to refuse to bake a wedding cake for an intermarried couple? If the bakery is in Indiana, the answer might be yes. Indiana’s passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in March caused an uproar, especially among LGBTQ rights activists, who argued that it could encourage discrimination…

Read More...

The Value of a Chained Woman

By Rivka Joseph November 18, 2014

Deuteronomy 24:1 states, “If a man takes a wife and possesses her and she fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, he writes her a Bill of Divorcement, hands it to her and sends her away from his house.” Based on this verse of the Torah, the entire decision to divorce…

Read More...

#JSIL and the Hypocrisy of its Advocates

By Michael Goldin October 7, 2014

In recent/days weeks the hashtag #JSIL has been trending on Twitter. It has become popular amongst anti-Israel activists to the use the hashtag to promote the idea that the actions of Israel are similar to those of the so called “Islamic State” (ISIL). Users of the hashtag did not have anything particularly interesting or intelligent…

Read More...

A Glimmer of Hope for Religious Women in Israel

By Talia Weisberg September 4, 2014

Most Americans are familiar with what the media has dubbed the “War on Women,” or Congress’ relentless attacks against many basic women’s rights. Fewer know that Israel is also suffering from a resurgence of conservative ideologies and consequent rollback of feminist gains. In her book The War on Women in Israel: How Religious Radicalism is…

Read More...

5 Layers of Soul

By David G. August 29, 2014

As someone with quite an anti-authority bent, this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Shoftim, has always been one that I have struggled with. Parshat Shoftim lays the foundations for the future government of the Kingdom of Israel, establishing five different leadership roles. These roles include judges, law enforcers, kings, priests and prophets.  The former anarchist in…

Read More...

This British Student is Disappointed in America’s Healthcare Laws

By Michael Goldin July 30, 2014

The US Supreme Court’s decision in in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby has resulted in two main talking points, both of which seem odd, in particular to those of us outside the U.S.A. Firstly, the fact that the “conscience” of a legal corporation is protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1993 (RFRA); and secondly, that…

Read More...

How Hobby Lobby Forces American Jews to Reexamine Our Commitments to Religion, Pluralism, and Secular Governance

By Maddie Ulanow July 23, 2014

The case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., presented a classic conundrum in American constitutionalism: a conflict between religious expression and the lengths to which such expression may infringe on the rights of others. The case also raised controversial questions of personhood and gender equity, and ultimately seemed to pit the interests of religious…

Read More...

Force-Feeding Hunger Strikers is Wrong and Illegal No Matter What

By Michael Goldin July 10, 2014

  The context in which the force-feeding bill is passing through the Israeli Knesset is clear. Ziva Miral, a spokesperson from the Israeli Medical Association said that the practice “goes against the DNA of the doctors to force treatment on a patient…force-feeding is torture, and we can’t have doctors participating in torture.” The bill has…

Read More...

The Most Open Hillel: South Dakota State’s B’rith Sholom

By Derek M. Kwait March 19, 2014

South Dakota State University’s B’rth Sholom is more than just the only Jewish cultural club in the state. Its nine members constitute one of America’s most diverse Jewish organizations, as about half them identify as Messianic Jews, or those with Jewish practice who accept Jesus as the Messiah. “We really don’t try to segregate by…

Read More...

First Things To Teach Freed Slaves

By David G. January 24, 2014

In last week’s Torah portion, at Sinai, we accepted the need for a community, and the special place of awe-inspired individuals within such a community. God gave us some basic rules for this community, the 10 Commandments, and everything is finally looking pretty bright for the Jewish people on their journey from Egypt. Even if…

Read More...

Sacred Individuals, Holy Nation

By David G. January 17, 2014

]Often when I read the weekly Torah portion, I find myself struggling over something that I’m usually pretty sure has a simple answer. Sometimes the question might be a little out there too, like when I found myself obsessing over the word “good” in Bereishit, the first chapters of Genesis. This week, in Parshat Yitro,…

Read More...

Can You Trust a Woman in Tefillin?: The Truth About Women of the Wall

By Derek M. Kwait October 11, 2013

Women of the Wall (WoW) was founded 25 years ago as a women’s minyan at the Western Wall to meet on the first of every Jewish month. A few years ago, some of WoW’s leaders started getting arrested for wearing non-“feminine” (read: colorful) talitot and tefillin in violation of a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling….

Read More...

Syria Wants to Break International Law? We Have Bigger Problems.

By Eliana Glogauer September 16, 2013

On August 29, the Washington Post published an article titled “Nine Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask.” The sixth question listed in this oversimplified piece of rhetoric asks, “Why hasn’t the United States fixed this yet?” This type of question illustrates a fundamental arrogance in the attitude of Americans, with regard to…

Read More...