At Jerusalem Jewish media summit, focus is on Israeli-Diaspora divide

December 07, 2016

By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

JERUSALEM (JTA) — I was in Israel for 36 hours before I saw daylight. Which can only mean one of three things:

1. The weather was lousy. 2. I am speaking metaphorically. 3. I am at a...

Leonard Cohen, my father and me

November 11, 2016

By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

(JTA) — Using his M-16 assault rifle as a pillow, my father awoke abruptly from a dreamless sleep by the pleading voice of a young woman outside his tent in the Sinai.

The woman, a uniformed volunteer,...

Fear and loathing, but mostly loathing, on the campaign trail

November 08, 2016

By BEN SALES

(JTA) — Some of us are voting for Trump. Most of us are voting for Clinton. But we Jews are all afraid.

There are the scandals, yes. There are emails and sexual assault allegations and emails...

When Shimon Peres needed a speechwriter — and I needed a nap

September 28, 2016

By BEN HARRIS

(JTA) — It was 9 o’clock on a weekday evening and I was lounging around my Brooklyn apartment in pajamas when the call came summoning me to a Midtown Manhattan hotel. Shimon Peres needed a...

How my JTA reporting about an anti-Semitic cartoon changed my views of Belgium — for the worse

August 26, 2016

By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — I used to think I had a pretty good understanding of what it means to be Jewish in Belgium.

A longtime observer of that polarized binational country, whose dysfunctions and successes often reflect those...

Another year, another flood for Houston’s Jews. What now?

April 22, 2016

By JACOB KAMARAS

(JNS.org) — For the second straight year, this is a story that I wish I didn’t need to write. But for the second straight year, I’m left with no choice but to help my local Jewish community...

Why I hired a Belgian butcher to circumcise my son

December 02, 2015

By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — They warn you that parenting means doing a bunch of stuff you never imagined yourself doing.

I had always assumed this applied to saying to children things like, “You watch your tone of voice,...

First Person: JNS editor reflects on Houston floods

May 29, 2015

By JACOB KAMARAS

(JNS.org) — As Jewish media far and wide started picking up on the story of this week’s devastating flood in Houston, which hit Jewish-heavy neighborhoods particularly hard, JNS.org has been (in my own estimation) conspicuously late to...

First Person: Boy Scout hike has Jewish touch

December 05, 2014

By ALAN SMASON

For the eleventh time in as many years, I was privileged to lead a contingent of 160 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, adult leaders on what has become a tradition for many families, the Ten Commandments...

FIRST PERSON: Praying for three boys whose plight hits close to home

June 18, 2014

By MARCY OSTER

KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank (JTA) — Four days into the search for three kidnapped Israeli teens, I attended a group prayer session dedicated to their safe return.

Dozens of women gathered together to read responsively psalms seeking...