Opinion Archives – Page 2 of 475

rows of suburban homes seen from the air

Opinion

White Jews fled to the suburbs. Black Americans could not. Here’s why that matters today.

I turned on my phone and felt an overwhelming sense of frustration, sadness and hopelessness. While I had been enjoying two days without electronics in…

By Hannah Lebovits Jun 23, 2020

Rainbow-colored challah at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav's 2018 Pride Shabbat. (Photo/David A.M. Wilensky)

Local Voice

Don’t let Pride’s 50th anniversary pass by. Lots of Jewish resources are available.

Pride Month invites those of us who stand at the intersections of histories to lift up the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and…

By Rabbi Mychal Copeland Jun 22, 2020

Members of the neo-Nazi South African group AWB.(Photo/JTA-David Turnley-Corbis-VCG via Getty Images)

Opinion

Joining the fight against racism because I grew up a white Jew in South Africa

When I was growing up in apartheid South Africa, my family often said that to be a Jew meant to always be on the side of the oppressed, not the oppressor.…

By Robert Bank Jun 22, 2020

"I’m coming out of the closet. I am Black, I am Jewish, I am queer, and on top of all that, I’m a woman, too," writes Aviva Davis.

First Person

How I learned to love myself as a Black Jew

As a child, I always knew I was Black, but I didn’t know what that meant for me as an individual. I certainly didn’t know how my Blackness intersected…

By Aviva Davis Jun 19, 2020

Left: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Joachim Prinz pictured, 1963. (Photo/JTA-American Jewish Historical Society via Wikimedia Commons). Right: A gathering to pay tribute to George Floyd, killed by police in Minneapolis, and Adama Traoré, killed by French police four years ago, Toulouse, France, June 10, 2020. (Photo/JTA-Alain Pitton-NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Local Voice

Let’s not make America wait again — true equality now!

Without doubt, the United States of America has much to be proud of. The great experiment in a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,”…

By Rabbi Mordecai Miller Jun 15, 2020

A Black Lives Matter protester raises his fist during a march to honor George Floyd in New York City, May 31, 2020. (Photo/JTA-John Moore-Getty Images)

Opinion

Israel isn’t an excuse not to support Black Lives Matter

Take a moment and remember where you were when you first heard about the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. I was in Tel Aviv getting…

By Maayan Belding-Zidon Jun 15, 2020

David Waksberg at a Simchat Torah rally for Soviet Jews in front of the San Francisco Soviet consulate in 1984 with son Raphael Bob-Waksberg on his chest. (Photo/Courtesy Waksberg)

Local Voice

Soviet Jewry activist turns his eyes toward a battle for today: BLM

When I was a teenager, I wore a huge Jewish star around my neck, and on it was the name of Mark Dymshitz, a Soviet Jewish prisoner of conscience. One day,…

By David Waksberg Jun 12, 2020

Jewish Youth for Community Action members at a recent Oakland protest. (Photo/Rachel Gottfried)

Editorial

Racial justice is a Jewish imperative

In the few short weeks since George Floyd died under a police officer’s knee, our nation has been jolted out of complacency. Millions of protesters have…

By J. Editorial Board Jun 12, 2020

The Neve Menachem settlement in the West Bank. (Photo/JTA-Gili Yaari-Flash 90)

Letters

West Bank annexation is reckless; ethnic studies is bad for the Jews; etc.

‘God bless those counselors’ A couple of issues ago, I was flipping through the pages of J. and my roaming eye came upon an article headlined “Crip Camp:…

By J. Readers Jun 11, 2020

The Jewish News

of Northern California

Opinion

White Jews fled to the suburbs. Black Americans could not. Here’s why that matters today.

Local Voice

Don’t let Pride’s 50th anniversary pass by. Lots of Jewish resources are available.

Opinion

Joining the fight against racism because I grew up a white Jew in South Africa

First Person

How I learned to love myself as a Black Jew

Local Voice

Let’s not make America wait again — true equality now!

Opinion

Israel isn’t an excuse not to support Black Lives Matter

Local Voice

Soviet Jewry activist turns his eyes toward a battle for today: BLM

Editorial

Racial justice is a Jewish imperative

Letters

West Bank annexation is reckless; ethnic studies is bad for the Jews; etc.