Rabbi Jay Michaelson is a contributing columnist for the Forward and for Rolling Stone. He is the author of 10 books, and won the 2023 New York Society for Professional Journalists award for opinion writing.
Jay MichaelsonContributing Columnist
By Jay Michaelson
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Opinion Rep. Tlaib’s Israel-Hamas statements were offensive. Censuring her was even worse
The House censure was an abuse of power, a denigration of the Congress and a successful political trap set by Republicans
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Opinion What the ‘genocide’ charge in this war gets right — and wrong
Genocide is an emotionally powerful word, but also a dangerous one
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Opinion Calling Israel’s actions ‘genocide’ harms the cause of human rights everywhere
'Genocide' has a very specific legal definition within human rights law — it shouldn't be used carelessly to make polemical points
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Opinion What does Jewish law say about the war between Israel and Hamas? Depends where you look.
For both hawks and doves, there's a lot that's troubling about the Jewish law of war
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Opinion Spare us your explanations about what’s happening in Israel — now is the time for grief
Nearly every Jew knows someone directly affected by the violence in Israel, and in a sense, we're all sitting shiva
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Opinion Dianne Feinstein was tenacious and contradictory — just like American Jews
Sen. Feinstein’s combination of views reflected the general center of the American Jewish community
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Culture Why Sukkot is my favorite Jewish holiday
Shaking a lulav, finding the most fragrant etrog, eating outside with no patriarchal judgment — what's not to love?
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Opinion For Lauren Boebert and her appalling ‘Beetlejuice’ antics, the season of repentance is at hand
The Colorado representative's words and actions have gone well beyond mere hypocrisy
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Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
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Opinion With killing of Hezbollah’s chief, Israel occupies the inarguable moral high ground
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Culture A Jewish prophet of the 1980s would be horrified to see that we didn’t heed his warnings
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Fast Forward Meet Lev Kreitman, who brought down Tel Aviv shooter and survived Nova music festival on Oct. 7
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion A year after Oct. 7, Israel has the chance to remake its future — for better or worse
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Opinion Campus protests defined the year since Oct. 7. Could they actually change U.S. policy?
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Special Report At the kibbutz hit hardest on Oct. 7, a wrenching debate over how to rebuild
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Opinion Oct. 7 changed Israel. A year later, it must change American Jews, too
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