Sarah Seltzer
By Sarah Seltzer
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Life I Will Never Love Christmas
Every year around Christmas, I see a schism among Jews. There are those of us with Christmas envy who want to join in and embrace it, and then there are those like me, the Scrooges. The ones who say, “Hey guys, this holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus. Not my messiah. Not my religion. Not…
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Life Birth Control is Not a Cadillac
Last week, my post on why Jews should care about the Hobby Lobby contraception case, and my subsequent defense of its points, caused a furor on right-wing Twitter. The collectivist principles inherent in insurance, the fact that the Affordable Care Act’s expanded coverage is associated with President Obama, and the promotion of women’s bodily autonomy…
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Life Why Jews Should Care About Hobby Lobby Contraception Case
The hallowed principle of religious freedom is centered around protecting the minority from being persecuted by a religious majority, as well as granting all individuals and denominations (including us nonbelievers) the right to freely practice and express beliefs. What it isn’t meant to do, on principle, is allow bosses to subject their employees to their…
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Life Our Bodies, Our Selfies
Move over Mommy Wars, breastfeeding wars and other categories of intra-feminist warfare. The selfie wars have arrived. Soon after “selfie” — a picture one takes of oneself — was proclaimed word of the year, the debate over the value of selfies began. Erin Gloria Ryan caused a furor when she wrote at Jezebel that selfies…
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Life Modern Loss, From Those Who Know It
In her essay “The Love of My Life,” Cheryl Strayed writes about losing her mother when she was a young woman, and returning to college to tell peers she had gone to Mexico over spring break. She wished to protect others from her own deep pain. Only later did she realize how unnatural this modern…
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Life What’s Happening in Texas
Right now in Texas, women are getting turned away from abortion clinics thanks the set of targeted regulations aimed at abortion providers once filibustered by Wendy Davis (pictured below), eventually upheld by a conservative appeals court. The scene on the ground is not a pleasant, or a fair one. The Austin Chronicle reported “tears” and…
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Culture Ruth Messinger and Marilyn Sneiderman Are Odd Couple of Jewish Social Justice
One or more nights a week, a lofty-ceilinged prewar apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan becomes an unexpected nexus of feminist Jewish social justice power. That’s what happens when the heads of two of the country’s major Jewish philanthropic organizations — Ruth Messinger, president and CEO of American Jewish World Service and Marilyn…
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Life The Real Glitch in Obamacare
The media is in an absolute tizzy over the website glitches in Obamacare. In fact, I keep getting breaking news emails with updates on the State of the Glitches (this isn’t an exaggeration). I admit: the Obama administration clearly messed up, big time, in their tech firm oversight. And it’s an undeniable concern that all…
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FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Trump appears close to victory, promising to reshape the United States and its relationship with Israel
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Fast Forward Craig Goldman of Texas wins race, becoming 3rd Jewish Republican in Congress
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Fast Forward Adam Schiff wins race for U.S. Senate seat previously held by Dianne Feinstein
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Fast Forward Exit poll: 77% of Jewish voters back Harris over Trump
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