Politics

What does freedom mean to you?

April 14, 2023

The protests that have roiled Israel for months have been all about “dem-o-cra-tia.” Isn’t that another way of saying “freedom?”

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Redlines for reform

April 13, 2023

When our kids start talking about what their “redlines” are – changes that could take place in Israel that would make them reconsider their commitment to living here – I know something has gone seriously wrong.

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Flee or fight?

January 15, 2023

Flee or fight? It’s a question I’m hearing a lot these days following the formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition of fear.

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Modern-day Maccabees: Will Netanyahu’s gov’t cause an Israeli civil war?

December 28, 2022

Hanukah is a warning for anyone looking at Israel today – a dark story of intra-Jewish fighting over the religious nature of this nascent nation

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Is Covid finally over?

December 18, 2022

Covid is finally over. How do I know? I took my mask off. Not everywhere, but in more places than I have before. Am I making a mistake?

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The eternal optimist

November 19, 2022

I was devastated with the results of our fifth election in four years. But there are, in fact, several reasons to be optimistic.

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Reclaiming Zionism

November 5, 2022

After a 2022 letter at CUNY declared Israel to be a committing “ethnic cleansing,” I worried about what my son will experience in New York.

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Toss that word salad

October 23, 2022

When did we lose the ability to laugh at the linguistic changes coming at us at an ever-increasing pace? A look at modern-day “woke” euphemisms.

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New Year’s predictions from the past

September 25, 2022

When I was a teenager, every New Year’s Day, my family would gather together to make predictions about what the coming year might bring.

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Can the Talmud save us from structural stupidity?

July 3, 2022

American social psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at New York University Jonathan Haidt published an alarming article in the Atlantic magazine earlier this year that has since gone viral.  In the piece, Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid, he asked provocatively: Is social media compatible with democracy? His somber conclusion: […]

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