Palestinian Statehood - From Agnosticism to Agreement
A few days ago I wrote an article concerning the Palestinian attempt at Statehood called: Confusion in Palestine... The Upcoming Vote. In that article (I like that word much more) I wrote the...
View ArticleJewish Holidays: Calling for Volunteers
It occurs to me that with so many folks boycotting the site this week (fight the good fight, my friends!), I'd better get this out tonight. The Jewish holiday season begins in just a couple of weeks...
View ArticleHell Yes I'm In
I have nothing but solidarity with Daily Kos' black community from what I have experienced trying to tamp down antisemitism at this site.What is Kos thinking? How could he possibly think that...
View ArticleForgiveness: "Getting Even Has Never Healed a Single Person"
I am teaching a college course on research methods and last week, I taught a lesson on ethics in research. This is one of my favorite lessons in the course because I get to discuss the details of some...
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Should I Quit the ACLU Over Durban?
I have been a "card-carrying" ACLU member since 2000, which is basically all of my adult life. I take the First Amendment extremely seriously. I especially think that the defense of our liberty from...
View ArticleWhy Israel Should Be A Jewish State
The same reason that Italy should be an Italian state, and Germany should be a German state, and Russia should be a Russian state.Peoples are entitled to self-determination. It's in the UN charter.A...
View ArticleJews Are A People. Deal With It.
Many people on this website apparently want to deny my ethnicity, culture, and heritage - to pretend it doesn't exist, or even that I have invented it. Well I'm here to tell those folks something.I am...
View ArticleThe Days of Awe
The ten days between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur - the Jewish new year and Day of Atonement are called the Days of Awe. The Book of Life is opened on Rosh Hashannah and the upcoming year is noted....
View ArticleDiverse Jewish Heritage in Music
All too often Judaism is seen as a homogeneous religion, a homogeneous culture. Yet it is, under its image of unity, an extremely diverse religion. It is one of the few religions I know where atheism...
View ArticleWhy You Should Want Israel To Be A Jewish And Democratic State
How should Israel be constituted in a just resolution to the I/P conflict? The standard consensus viewpoint that Israel should emerge as the "Jewish and democratic state" has recently received a lot...
View ArticleOct. 14, 1943: Jewish Rebellion at Sobibor Death Camp
There is an image of Jews going tamely to slaughter in the Holocaust. And it is true, for various reasons, this did happen all too often. But some Jews stood up and fought, even at times defeating the...
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#Bialys - Muslim/Jewish Harmony - I'm Choked Up With Emotion
This is one of those stories that is a rare bit of uncontroversial feel good news, and I think it deserves a short diary.Most Americans are familiar with bagels and their chewy wholesome deliciousness,...
View ArticleSwastikas and Torched Cars. In 2011. In Brooklyn.
Two days ago people around the world marked the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi orgy of public antisemitic violence and property that alerted the world to the horrors of that regime and...
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World AIDS Day: My Fabulous Disease
"So, am I HIV-positive?""Oh, you're definitely HIV-positive", said the nurse, turning away.So began a new chapter, not with a bang, or even a whimper, just a chilling new reality casually announced....
View ArticleWorld's Oldest Hate Increases As We Enter Another Year
Getting into the season, here's sufganiyot (donuts) representing each officially documented antisemitic hate crime recorded in the United States of America just over this past year (as of October...
View ArticleIt only took 1,500 years
The internet is still relatively young, not even 50 years even if you count precursors, but the concept of hypertext is much older. One of the earliest written examples of hypertext is the Talmud, the...
View ArticleOrthodox rabbis condemn violence against girls in Israel
In response to the violence against girls attending a religious school in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, well documented in this diary, a group of mostly American Orthodox rabbis has issued a statement...
View ArticleD'var Torah: VaYigash
Parashat VaYigash Genesis 44:18-47:27With apologies if anyone else was planning on posting something; the schedule didn't show anyone for this week. I also haven't had time to write anything new, so...
View ArticleJewish Teens Pelted With Eggs in the City of My Birth
A little over 32 years ago I was born in a Lakewood, New Jersey hospital. Mom and dad were living with family down there at the time, for a few years... one of my sisters was born there and then...
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