By DIETER GRAUMANN
(JTA) — It has taken decades for the international community to deal with the Holocaust in a really serious way. Perhaps a new generation first had to emerge with sufficient courage to ask about the causes of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe” and to look into the abyss of [...]

Would Israel have handed the Sinai to Egypt had it known that, 30 years later, peace would be hanging on by a thread?
By MOSHE GIT
The Sinai Peninsula is more than twice the area of Israel, and it was virtually unpopulated, making it a prime spot for Israeli expansion. Add to that its strategic [...]

Jews today are challenged to apply their experience and beliefs in defense of those suffering bullying, violence and legalized prejudice based on their sexual and gender identity
(Editor’s note: The following article is an abridged version of Rabbi Stock Spilker’s Kol Nidre sermon.)
By RABBI ADAM STOCK SPILKER
Kol Nidre is the sanctuary of the soul [...]

Following the release of Gilad Shalit, Israel should begin negotiations with Hamas

By Moshe Git

Regarding the exchange of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, Israel may just as well go ahead and free all of its Palestinian prisoners. Incarceration no longer constitutes deterrence; and setting incarcerated Palestinians free in exchange for kidnapped [...]

All Our Worldly Goods, by Irène Némirovsky, translated by Sandra Smith, Vintage, paperback, 272 pages, $14.95.
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
Irène Némirovsky’s slender novel is a model of economy, capturing an enormous range of emotion and relationships in spare, simple language.
All Our Worldly Goods follows a prosperous small-town French family from happy times at the [...]

During the High Holy Days, a time when we are supposed to feel closer to God than at any other point in the Jewish calendar, many Jews feel abandoned by God

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By RABBI HAROLD S. KUSHNER / JointMedia News Service
Is it a sin to be angry at God?
I have been a rabbi for 50 years. [...]

A dark complexion and proximity to two passengers who aroused suspicions on a Denver to Detroit flight result in the writer being detained, strip-searched and interrogated at the airport
By SHOSHANA HEBSHI
TOLEDO, Ohio (j. weekly) — When I wrote an article nine years ago about going on a press trip to Israel, I was [...]

Bush is, at best, a polarizing figure — and many legal experts have compiled detailed cases for bringing the former president and top members of his administration to trial as war criminals

By PHIL FRESHMAN

As a longtime member of Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, I was troubled to learn that my synagogue [...]

By TEDDY WEINBERGER
On Rosh Hashana, all of life’s crucial aspects come under God’s judgment: Who shall live and who shall die; who shall become poor and who shall become rich; who shall struggle with illness and who will enjoy good health. In the following open letter I write about my family’s critical journey of this [...]

Parents learn to love a baby name that is synonymous with an Israeli-designed submachine gun
By ADINA GIANNELLI
When I learned I was pregnant with my first child, I knew I wanted to give her a Hebrew name. Although my partner is not Jewish, out of love, respect and an abiding wish to honor what mattered to [...]