If the notion of balance means anything, what the world could use right now is a course correction with a lot more Israel supporters.

The post Are Israel Supporters Obligated to Make the Case for Palestinians? appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I hadn’t seen my parents for a couple of weeks, and thought I was meeting them for our first post-pandemic restaurant lunch.

The post Light Lunch appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I was so nervous when I knocked on Gregg and Debbie Oppenheimer’s door last month.

The post Meet the Jewish Writer Who Created “I Love Lucy” appeared first on Jewish Journal.

As the dust settles after the Los Angeles mayoral primary, it’s clear that voter concerns regarding crime and homelessness have fundamentally remade the campaign.

The post Bass, Caruso, and the Search for the Elusive Middle appeared first on Jewish Journal.

It was January 2020, in a small café in Givatayim, when I last met with the celebrated Israeli author A. B. Yehoshua, who passed away on June 14 at the age of 85.

The post My Last Cup of Coffee with A.B. Yehoshua appeared first on Jewish Journal.

What’s wrong with ambition and pride?  In a revealing article in Mosaic Magazine titled “Homeric and Biblical Nobodies,” Professor Jacob Howland compares the idea of pride in the Jewish tradition and in Greek writing. The Bible, in Genesis, describes in detail two major building projects—Noah’s ark and the tower of Babel.  The Babel story is […]

The post Ancient Religion in a Modern World appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Despite the erosion of British international stature and the predominance of egalitarian world views, the enormity of the crowd and its enthusiasm reflect the Queen’s personal popularity.

The post A Yank’s Jubilee appeared first on Jewish Journal.

As a physician, I worry about the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade.

The post Looking for a Balanced Approach to Roe v. Wade appeared first on Jewish Journal.

George died on May 26 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 91 years old.

The post Remembering George Shapiro appeared first on Jewish Journal.

There is a teaching that every Jewish soul was at Mount Sinai receiving the Torah.

The post I’d Be Lost Without the Torah appeared first on Jewish Journal.

At a time when we’ve never been more divided, fear for our safety is reminding us that our humanity comes before politics.

The post How a Misguided Slogan is Changing American Politics appeared first on Jewish Journal.

For more than a half century, the once-robust relationship between the Jewish and Black communities has gradually withered.

The post A New Black-Jewish Coalition appeared first on Jewish Journal.

When I first saw the “For Sale” sign on the lawn, I should have guessed it would have a date with the wrecking ball.

The post The McMansion Invasion appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The Farhud (“pogrom” in Arabic) occurred in Baghdad during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

The post Have You Ever Heard of the Farhud? appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The shehecheyanu blessing reminds us to return to the real, to rediscover what makes us human, to make the old new again.

The post A World Bursting With Shehecheyanus appeared first on Jewish Journal.

One Sunday morning when I was about nine years old, my Hebrew school class was ushered into a large room to watch a film about the Holocaust.

The post An Important Lesson From the Holocaust appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Seven weeks after Pesach, when we celebrated the barley harvest, we now celebrate the wheat harvest.

The post Shavuot: The Great Marriage appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The illustrious world of Kabbalah and Mysticism as we know it was born on Shavuot in Salonika in 1533, courtesy of two outstanding Sephardic scholars.

The post Salonika, 1533: The Most Famous Tikkun Leil Shavuot appeared first on Jewish Journal.

An honest debate about rational gun laws is long overdue, and for that to happen the hyper-partisanship, extremist rhetoric, and gratuitous divisiveness need to end.

The post Pro-Life? appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Frequently forgotten are the stories, struggles and valiant rebuilding efforts of those who survived mass shootings — particularly the youth — but whose physical and emotional scars have yet to heal.

The post Survivors of Mass Shootings: Three Stories, as Shared by Their Mothers appeared first on Jewish Journal.

When Los Angeles voters go to the polls next week to begin the process of selecting the city’s next mayor, they will be looking backward rather than forward. 

The post A Tight Mayoral Race appeared first on Jewish Journal.

It is easy to forget that each of these lives represents an entire world, each face a family broken.

The post Twenty-One Worlds appeared first on Jewish Journal.

In recent years, in the aftermath of mass shootings in the United States, people have attacked the phrase “thoughts and prayers.” Their argument is valid when it comes to politicians: Our elected officials are often all talk and no action, and many of them say what they have to so they can retain their power. […]

The post We Need Policy and Change—And Thoughts and Prayers, Too appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Instead of trying to mass control weapons, Red Flag laws zero in on potential killers based on behavioral patterns we’ve seen in mass shootings.

The post To Prevent Massacres Like Uvalde, We Need More Wisdom and Fewer Hysterics appeared first on Jewish Journal.

They are so simple and yet they have eluded us since the beginning of time.

The post Four Words to Change the World appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I love taking baths. I love everything about them.

The post Go Take a Bath appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Different Jewish denominations have varying views on what it means to follow Jewish law.

The post Think What You Want, But Follow the Rules appeared first on Jewish Journal.

According to one study, almost half of Americans say they feel tired between three and seven days per week, and 35.2% of all U.S. adults sleep less than seven hours per night. 

The post Does Anybody Sleep Anymore? appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The extremely tense relationships between U.S. and Saudi leaders were a relatively low-level concern until the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The post What a Difference a War Makes appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The following is my dream list of classes I wish had existed when I was in middle school and high school.

The post Five Classes That Should Be Offered in School, But Aren’t appeared first on Jewish Journal.

There are many reasons to have a Royal Family, although there are strong sentiments on both sides.

The post Satirical Semite: God Save the King appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Is it possible that our fight against antisemitism has become so loud and alarmist that it can backfire and become counterproductive?

The post Fighting Jew-Hatred As Winners, Not Victims appeared first on Jewish Journal.

In a litigious world words have become a battlefield.

The post The Power of Speech appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Many of us have a disconnect in our lives: we claim to seek happiness, but we can’t stop looking at the last thing that will make us happy — the news, especially the bad news.

The post Why the News Can’t Make Us Happy appeared first on Jewish Journal.

When I was a sixteen-year-old at Beverly Hills High School, I was suffering from acute depression. I just didn’t know it. And neither did anyone else.

The post Low Times at Beverly High appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Ken Roth, recently announced that, after 29 years, he will be leaving the organization.

The post After Ken Roth, Can Human Rights Watch Be Repaired? appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Denigration of the Jewish state and its people is more commonly accepted than equally bigoted attacks on other marginalized targets.

The post Double Standard Against Jews appeared first on Jewish Journal.

After the San Diego Community College District announced that Alice Walker would be the keynote speaker for the new Chancellor’s installation, protests immediately followed.

The post Alice Walker and the Jews, Again appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Ten years ago, my husband Daniel and I packed up our 2000 Toyota Camry, put our dogs in the backseat and started our journey from Bushwick, Brooklyn, to Pico-Robertson, Los Angeles.

The post Reflecting on 10 Years in Los Angeles appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I have an extraordinary amount of symmetry in my life: I had a flat tire on the 101 freeway and met the first love of my life.

The post To Catch a Thief appeared first on Jewish Journal.

If any party deserves a trial, it should be the party that is afraid of the truth.

The post Israel Should Take Mahmoud Abbas to the International Criminal Court appeared first on Jewish Journal.

One of the problems with constantly defending yourself is that you can lose sight of the big picture.

The post The Five Miracles of Israel appeared first on Jewish Journal.

It’s only by having sharp editors carefully vet and edit smart, thoughtful commentary from all sides that we can hope to elevate the national conversation.

The post Elon Musk Buying Twitter Won’t Improve the National Conversation appeared first on Jewish Journal.

After the first time I gave birth, I was resting in my bed at Kaiser, waiting for the airline-style kosher food from the cafeteria to arrive.

The post The Meal Train: A Great Community Gift appeared first on Jewish Journal.

I’m very hard on myself. But recently, I found two words that have given me permission to be self-compassionate while continuing to pursue my ravenously ambitious goals.

The post Two Words That Helped Set Me Free this Passover appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Many historical scholars believe that at least 80 percent of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt under Pharaoh’s rule stayed behind.

The post The Israelites Who Stayed Behind appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Soon after taking power in Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party staged a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.

The post Boycotting Israel Is an Impediment to Peace appeared first on Jewish Journal.

The Passover seder can be seen as a great dance between darkness and light. We don’t read our story like a Hollywood movie. Slavery is not a set up for the big ending of liberation.

The post The Power of Passover: It Compels Us to Look at Both Darkness and Light appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Even prior to COVID-19 ours has not been an era for facing stark reality.

The post Truth and Truthiness: The Changing Public Discourse About Masks and Vaccines appeared first on Jewish Journal.

You may have noticed that in recent years, the term “Jewish peoplehood” has grown in prominence.

The post Passover: Peoplehood Meets Ideahood appeared first on Jewish Journal.