Composer Marvin Hamlisch, who died this week, may be the last of the Broadway-Hollywood composers with a Hassidic soul. Hamlisch wasn't Hassidic of course -- he grew up in a Reform Temple and didn't appear to be particularly observant.

Neither was his music especially Jewish, though someone apparently once told...

I am neither an Israeli citizen, nor gay. But I am a Jew and a Zionist, and I also am what's known in LGBTQ parlance as an "ally." In addition to devoting my life's work to understanding Israel in all its complexities and much of my community-engaged research to following...

Remember the old Lenny Bruce routine where he declares some objects "Jewish" and others "goyish"? Count Basie, Hadassah, pumpernickel, and black cherry soda: Jewish. Eddie Cantor, B'nai Brith, Drake's cakes, and lime Jello, on the other hand, clearly goyish. The sketch was funny, of course, because it contained a thin...

It's tough to be a liberal Zionist these days. Believing in a Jewish and democratic state, while despairing over the ongoing occupation is a recipe for criticism from both the right and the left. Last week's much-hyped debate between Peter Beinart and Daniel Gordis at Columbia University was the latest...

To boycott or not to boycott? Peter Beinart's recent New York Times op-ed calling for a boycott of settlement products (or what he calls "Zionist BDS") is predictably generating much pushback.

The Jewish Daily Forward calls the boycott "dangerously misguided." Too little of Israel's total export...

Most communities have so-called truths which give rise to standards of behavior. Over time, some ideas get replaced by others, but a core set of beliefs often remains. Within Judaism -- where debate is encouraged -- how far can one go in advancing one's own values or convictions until one...

As Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli administrative detention, ends his 66-day hunger strike, activists and Israeli government officials will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief. One man remains alive while Israeli authorities get to catch their breath. Whether they decide to reevaluate the use of controversial...

Recently the Jerusalem District Court issued a long-awaited ruling: What remains of Lifta, the last undestroyed Palestinian village from 1948 that has not been repopulated, will stay untouched.

Former residents and their Israeli supporters had tried to block a 2004 real estate development deal in the name of preserving historical...

Amidst all the alarming news coming out of Israel last week -- the government's treatment of the Arab minority and its flouting of humanitarian principles in the case of asylum seekers, one bit of happy news emerged. After a thirty-year hiatus, the Israel Broadcasting Authority announced...

By way of bidding farewell to 2011, I'm reflecting on the people I've encountered this year. Four individuals I met stand out as exemplifying how to engage in important and reflective conversations about change and progress in their own communities. If Jewish ethics through Pirkei Avot instructs us...

I didn't know Seth Morrison before last week, but now when I attend board and committee meetings, it's Seth that I think about.

In an article in The Forward, Morrison announced his decision to step down from the board of directors of the Washington metropolitan area's Jewish National...

Just the other day, a secular, liberal Jewish friend approached me for advice. He noted with some consternation that the leftist friends he cherishes are increasingly turning away from Israel. At the same time, he also loves his ultra-Orthodox relatives. How should he navigate his personal relationships in light of...

As sudden and dramatic events are wont to do, the release of Gilad Shalit opened a floodgate of emotions. But with it, some polluting discourses floated downstream. In discussing the prisoner exchange, one especially shocking Yedioth Ahronoth article spoke of Israel being "a villa in the jungle, an...

This week, mea culpa, I discovered I am a fairweather friend to the Gilad Shalit cause. Unlike many other Jews, I had not appended a Gilad badge to my Facebook profile for the duration of his captivity. Instead, I had gazed ambivalently at the billboard-sized Gilad posters that had hung...

One could be forgiven for being confused about the nature of Israel's demand that it be recognized as a "Jewish state," and the Palestinian claim that this is unfair.

Almost 20 years ago, as part of the mutual exchange of letters in the Oslo agreement, the PLO recognized the State...

Quiz: What do Joan Rivers, my friend's baby and the mayor of Ariel have in common?

Joan Rivers told an appreciative Ottawa audience last week about research claiming that 100 laughs per day is the equivalent of 10 minutes of aerobic exercise.

Today, my friend's baby enjoyed...

While we are enjoying the dog days of summer, we are also in Elul -- the final month of the Jewish calendar, and one of traditional personal reflection.

One American synagogue has decided to mark these weeks by issuing a coded question on Twitter: WDSCU2D? In the lead up to...

One of the first times I taught my Israeli-Palestinian relations course, a puzzled student approached me at the end of the first class. "I always thought Zionist was a derogatory word," he whispered.

I smiled sympathetically and explained that Zionism simply means the desire for Jews to have a state...

With the four-week old Israeli cost-of-living tent protests swelling in intensity -- capped by 300,000 demonstrators taking to the streets on Saturday night -- I am fascinated by the fact that the term "social justice" has become a household word.

The official slogan of the demonstrations -- "The...

The recent law in New York state allowing gays and lesbians to marry took effect on Sunday. With hundreds of couples tying the knot on that day alone, and with the New York Times' style section devoted to gay weddings, the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York has renewed...