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Wikipedia called the ADL ‘unreliable.’ It’s a wake-up call the civil rights organization badly needs
In the wake of Wikipedia declaring the Anti-Defamation League a “generally unreliable” source on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, there are two paths forward for the essential American Jewish institution: defensiveness or self-reflection. I vote for self-reflection. The decision by Wikipedia editors tells users of the massively popular online information source that the ADL “should normally not...
What is Within Our Lifetime, the anti-Israel activist group behind the protests at the Nova exhibit and Brooklyn Museum?
(New York Jewish Week) — When anti-Israel activists protested outside a Lower Manhattan exhibition commemorating the victims of the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7, they were condemned as antisemitic by some of Israel’s critics as well as its defenders. On the way to the protest, masked activists had swarmed subway cars, demanding any...
Why I (finally) took down my ‘We Stand With Israel’ sign
MONTCLAIR, New Jersey — My teenage daughter saw it first, as she walked up the path after school. Someone had stuck a sheet of lined notebook paper to the “We Stand With Israel” lawn sign at the foot of our steps. Using a ball-point pen, they’d scrawled a single word in all-caps: GENOCIDE. My daughter,...
Online conference seeks role for Yiddish in the future of Holocaust studies
Since universities began offering Holocaust studies, very little of their research has focused on the role that the Yiddish language and culture played for many of the victims, survivors and other Ashkenazi Jews around the world. An upcoming online conference, Yiddish and the Holocaust: New Approaches, hopes to articulate a purposeful, innovative role for Yiddish...
To save Israel, give Netanyahu a plea deal
It’s time for Israeli prosecutors to swallow a bitter pill and save their country. They must sign a plea deal with Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s years-long trials are a kind of anomaly within Middle East politics. On the one hand, they have nothing to do with the war. On the other hand, they are determining the...
Eugene Vindman, whose Jewish immigrant story featured in Trump’s first impeachment trial, wins primary in Virginia
(JTA) — WASHINGTON — A former White House official whose Jewish Ukrainian origins played a prominent role in Donald Trump’s first impeachment hearings won a Democratic congressional primary in Virginia on Tuesday. Elsewhere in the state, two prominent Jewish Democrats failed to secure a win in a primary in the increasingly Democratic Washington D.C. suburbs...
Our Fates are Intertwined: Lessons from the Erev Rav
Each Passover, we recount our people’s harrowing escape from Egypt and the 40 years of wandering that followed. A lesser told part of the story is that the Israelites left Egypt with an Erev Rav — a mixed multitude of people from all walks of life — who set out together in pursuit of something...
The Jewish Case for Inclusion, Equity, and Justice — By Whatever Name
We recently celebrated Shavuot, the holiday marking the giving of the Torah. But when discussing Shavuot, the Torah itself never mentions the giving of the Torah; the Sages had to connect the dots. Instead, the Torah gives three names for that holiday: Festival of Weeks (Shavuot); Festival of Reaping; and Day of First-Fruits. All three...
Moving Through Mitzrayim Toward Freedom and Possibility
In Jewish tradition, we count the days between Passover and Shavuot, commemorating the days between when the Israelites moved from mitzrayim, or ‘narrow straits’ of Egypt to receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai. During this time, we reflect on the middot or moral principles needed to make this transition from slavery to freedom. In our...
Equity and Justice Values from a Jewish Perspective: The Jewish value of ongoing practice to make change in ourselves and our communities
The Jewish people’s covenantal relationship with HaShem in the Torah and in our tradition is founded and built on the ethic and ongoing practice of justice and equity. It’s clear that justice and equity were meant to be an ongoing practice for all the Israelites because HaShem created the world not as a utopian society,...
Opening Our Eyes: Embracing Complexity in the Jewish Community
In our morning liturgy, we recite the words Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Haolam Pokeach Ivrim — Blessed are You, God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who opens the eyes of the blind. This prayer is a profound invocation, calling on us to open our eyes to deeper truths about our Jewish community and broader society. The...
Affirming the Miracle of Creation
It is remarkable that while human beings share over 99% of our DNA, we often focus on our differences. Moreover, we tend to use those differences to establish hierarchy and privilege. A famous teaching of the Talmud (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5) establishes equity as a Jewish value: “A tribute to the greatness of the Holy Blessed...
‘Best friends I ever had’: Willie Mays’ treasured bond with a Jewish family
Willie Mays was in the prime of his career in 1963, but his finances were a mess. The Giants’ star outfielder had plunged into debt amid divorce proceedings, and even with more than half of his career home runs under his belt, was staring down bankruptcy. Then he met Jacob Shemano. Shemano was a banker...
Netanyahu accuses Biden of withholding weapons. White House: We ‘do not know what he’s talking about.’
(JTA) — WASHINGTON — White House officials denied withholding weapons from Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement criticizing the Biden administration for an “inconceivable” delay in delivering weapons. The exchange came following reports that the administration had pressured congressional Democrats to sign off on a major arms sale. The statements on...
ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism
(JTA) — Wikipedia’s editors have voted to declare the Anti-Defamation League “generally unreliable” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding it to a list of banned and partially banned sources. An overwhelming majority of editors involved in the debate about the ADL also voted to deem the organization unreliable on the topic of antisemitism, its core focus....
Analysis: Jewish moderators will grill Trump and Biden at CNN’s debate. What should they ask about Israel?
Israel will likely get significant airtime next week during the first presidential debate of the 2024 presidential election. Two Jewish journalists, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will moderate the matchup, hosted by their network in Atlanta, and set the stage for this summer’s national political conventions. Former President Donald Trump’s court battles, immigration and...
Who is the Jewish attorney general taking on one of the state’s most powerful Democrats?
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin unsealed a racketeering indictment against George E. Norcross III, an influential Democratic power broker in southern New Jersey, Monday. The 13-count indictment alleges that Norcross’s company used political influence with state and local authorities to take advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars in government-issued tax credits. In one...
A subway mask ban won’t fight antisemitism, but it will punish immunocompromised Jews like me
When I heard the news this week that New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a plan to ban masking in the New York City subway with the absurd claim that this public health measure endangers Jews, I was immediately brought back to the two weeks of isolation I spent with my second COVID-19 infection in...
Joe Mazzulla wants to go to Israel. Which Celtics would go with him?
Back in May, when the Boston Celtics were merely an NBA Finals contender, head coach Joe Mazzulla vowed to go to Israel with his family were the team to win it all. “If we win the championship this year, we’re flying to Jerusalem and we’re walking from Jericho to Jerusalem,” Mazzulla said in an interview...
How everyone got the Brooklyn Museum story wrong
“Antisemitism Notebook” is a weekly email newsletter from the Forward, sign-up here to receive the full newsletter in your inbox each Tuesday Many progressives are reluctant to accept allegations of antisemitism because they feel like these claims are often made in bad faith to damage their political movement. It was striking, then, to see so many prominent...
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