Recent Blogs

• The Two Way Street: Mar Cheshvan — The Bitter Month

  How bitter to read about prominent American Jews like Peter Beinart being detained at Ben Gurion Airport for voicing views contrary to Israeli government policy. These and other bitter policies and practices offend our morals and move Israel further from peace and from us. More and more, our rabbis are summoning the courage to condemn these outrages -- formerly discussed and informally debated at onegs and in Jewish homes -- from their pulpits. Rabbis Franken, Zemel and others care deeply about Israel and so they speak up, despite the factions that wish everyone would look the other way, while Israel, like brother Esau, sells its birthright.

• SERMON: A Message of Hope for Israel’s Future

  Choosing hope over fear: A Zionist argument in favor of the two-state solution.

• Trump’s Latest Blow Against Unaccompanied Children is Unbelievably Cruel

  This President and all his enablers must be stopped. We cannot stand silent when thousands of children are abused by our government in our name. This callous treatment of innocent and defenseless children has already blackened the international reputation of the United States. We owe it to the victims -- and to ourselves -- to end this abuse.

• The Real Lesson

  I see the lasting legacy of the Yom Kippur War in the set of national and strategic issues that Israel grapples with most acutely today. These large-scale, definitional challenges are beyond the scope of the IDF and intelligence officials. They deal with the kind of country we, Israelis, are building -- and the kind of country we aspire to be.

The GA’s ‘We Need to Talk’ Slogan Is a Desperate Plea to Save Israel-U.S. Jewish Ties, Haaretz

Chemi Shalev writes, “This year’s General Assembly (GA) of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) has already created more of a ruckus than any GA in recent memory – before it even started. The phrase ‘We need to talk,’ which adorns the invitation to the GA and its slogan, carries a loaded punch. In today’s popular culture, as Urban Dictionary says, ‘We need to talk’ is ‘The preamble to the discussion that is generally followed by the ending of a relationship.’ This was certainly not the intention of the JFNA copywriter who came up with the motto. But even if one interprets ‘We need to talk’ in the most positive way possible, it still denotes serious disagreements that can no longer be ignored. To drive the point home, the GA organizers underscored the urgency of the situation by highlighting the stark differences of views between Israelis and American Jews. Given that in recent years the JFNA has gone out of its way to eradicate any hint of discord and has dedicated the agendas of successive GA’s to non-controversial – not to say boring – issues, such as fundraising and community organizing, this year’s GA is already a watershed event in the joint history of Israel and American Jews.”

Majority of American Jews say you can support Israel and criticize its government, Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Ron Kampeas reports, “A poll commissioned by a new group founded by Jewish Democrats, the Jewish Electorate Institute, found that Jewish voters favor Democrats over Republicans, 74-26 percent. Only 25 percent approve of the job Trump is doing, while 75 percent disapprove….The breakdown shows that a majority of American Jews do not perceive criticism of Israeli government policies as inconsistent with support for Israel: 32 percent say they are supportive of Israel and its government’s policies; 35 percent are supportive of Israel and critical of some government policies; and 24 percent are supportive of Israel and critical of many of its government’s policies. That’s a majority of 59 percent who say they are comfortable supporting Israel and also criticizing its government. (Also, 92 percent of voters say they are supportive of Israel, belying the noise generated by fringe anti-Israel groups who say they are more representative of where Jewish Americans are heading.)”