By Jerry Barrish, , Seattle I wish to commend the JTNews and Charlene Kahn for the coverage of the disbanding of the Jewish Club of Washington (“Mission complete: Club’s disbanding marks the passing of a generation,” May 11). I was especially pleased at seeing the photo of Klaus and PaulaContinue Reading

By Rocky Silverman, , Seattle Rebuttal to the plea: “Justice, justice we will pursue and make history“ by Rabbi Zari Weiss (Rabbi’s Turn, May 11). With all deference not to offend the rabbi, Washington State has same-sex partnership laws that contain over 170 rights and responsibilities in its provisions forContinue Reading

By Robert Wilkes , Special to JTNews Most American Jews agree; Israeli settlements on the West Bank are an impediment to peace. Not me. In my view, settlements hasten peace. Before you order me boiled in matzoh ball soup, consider this. Those who fault Israel for the failure to achieveContinue Reading

By Rabbi Ron-Ami Meyers , Congregation Ezra Bessaroth Various theories are advanced in our classic literature as to why on Passover, chametz — leavened products — are so reviled: Some suggest they represent haughtiness, while the Talmud views it as symbolic of man’s “evil inclination” that draws him away fromContinue Reading

By Gershom Gorenberg, , Jerusalem In his letter (“Difficult decisions,” April 27), David Shayne misrepresents my views and my comments during my recent visit to Seattle. The subject of my talk was not the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic stalemate, and I did not assert that Israeli settlements and Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence areContinue Reading

By Margie Coles, , Seattle Thank you for your coverage of author Gershom Gorenberg (”Unraveled from the jaws of victory,” April 27) who spoke about preserving Israel’s democracy on April 17 to a packed house at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle. I would like to add a few commentsContinue Reading

By Janis Siegel , JTNews Columnist While Israel celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israeli innovations all too often seem to fall “under the radar” of most of the general public today. The country’s contributions include medical research, new technologies, advances in biotechnology,Continue Reading

By Rabbi Donniel Hartman , Shalom Hartman Institute For everything there is a season — a time to mourn and a time to celebrate, a time for introspection and a time for congratulation, a time for self-correction and a time for appreciation. As a people and as a nation weContinue Reading

By David Shayne, , Seattle Last week, I attended a talk given by Gershom Gorenberg, who authored the nuanced and well-written “Accidental Empire,” a history of Israeli settlements following the Six-Day War. I am sorry that I cannot say as much for his talk. Like many on the Zionist left,Continue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I don’t know what to think after seeing the Oscar-nominated Israeli movie, “Footnote.” On one hand, it was exhilarating to see the inside world of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and to have a glimpse of the intricate inner workings of Talmud study. OnContinue Reading

By Wendy Elisheva Somerson, , Seattle The article “A chronology of the cancelled invitations to gay and lesbian Israelis“ (March 30) left out important details. As one of the people who was present when the LGBT Commission made their decision to cancel the StandWithUs event and who later spoke atContinue Reading

By Mark Bloome, , Seattle We suffered a great public opinion defeat with the City of Seattle LGBT commission’s egregiously bad decision not to meet with the Israeli LGBT group (“A chronology of the cancelled invitations to gay and lesbian Israelis,” March 30). While I know that all sorts ofContinue Reading