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By Kenneth Jacobson , JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — For those of us who closely follow the progress in America in the battles against racism and anti-Semitism, the observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday this year has particular relevance. First, the King holiday, whichContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Donniel Hartman , The Shalom Hartman Institute The foundational obligation and responsibility of every nation is to protect its people. When it comes to Israel, this obligation has a particular twist of a profoundly secular nature. Rising out of 2,000 years of powerlessness, and 2,000 years of beliefContinue Reading

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By Ben Cohen , JNS.org Back in September, President Barack Obama likened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anxieties over America’s Iran policy to “noise.” Many pointed out, correctly, that this ill-advised remark was hardly fair to one of the few countries in the world where both the government and theContinue Reading

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By Wendy Rosen , Special to JTNews With the presidential election campaign in full swing, that quadrennial question arises once more — how will the Jews vote? The majority of American Jews have been voting Democratic for some 80 years, often overwhelmingly so. Before each national election the Republicans tryContinue Reading

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By Akiva Kenny Segan , Special to JTNews On Sept. 25 The New York Times published an op-ed of significance to Jews everywhere, including Jews throughout Puget Sound and Washington State. Titled “The Sin of Sowing Hatred of Islam,” by the new president of the Union for Reform Judaism, RabbiContinue Reading

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By Rabbi Anson Laytner , Special to JTNews A response from the Jewish Federation can be found at here. Although the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s new allocations model has broadened the breadth of beneficiaries, it also presented a dilemma: More mouths around the table to feed but less foodContinue Reading

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By Executive Committee , Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle The article to which this column is responding can be found here. “Whither the Jewish Federation” raises several critically complex questions and offers insightful inquiry. But it hasn’t been “business as usual” at the Federation — quite the contrary. A closerContinue Reading

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By Edmon J. Rodman , JTA World News Service LOS ANGELES (JTA) — This year, Tisha b’Av marks not only the destruction of both Temples, but with the opening ceremony of the London Olympics just a night earlier, the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre. On this day of mourningContinue Reading

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By Marcie Natan , JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — Pride and chagrin: It’s rare that the two emotions are experienced simultaneously. But that is how we are feeling at Hadassah. We feel pride because women now hold three of our top professional positions: Janice Weinman is ourContinue Reading

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By Gil Troy , Shalom Hartman Institute The Middle East is combustible enough without adding one-sided, incendiary historical accounts to the mix. And yet, again and again, we see what we could call haute couture history — history custom-fitted to the trendy, distorted narrative that confuses cause and consequence, reducesContinue Reading

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By Rafael Medoff , JointMedia News Service Seventy years ago this month, America learned, for the first time, about the systematic mass murder of Europe’s Jews — but Allied officials and some leading newspapers downplayed the news. In late 1941 and early 1942, Western diplomats and journalists received scattered informationContinue Reading

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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

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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