David J. Fine
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David J. Fine

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Nov 12, 2021, 10:55 AM
Not for the Faint of Heart
On October 4th, the New Yorker published an article on “a botched circumcision,” an autobiographical piece by my old childhood friend Gary Shteyngart. (The article appears in the Oct. 11, 2021, edition of the magazine.) Gary Shteyngart is a brilliant author of fictional satire and...
Apr 30, 2021, 8:35 AM
Remembering Walter Mondale
When leaders of the past pass away, it reminds us of the passage of time. The death of Walter Mondale had me first saying, “That was a long time ago when he was vice president, and when he ran for president.” It is impossible to...
Aug 21, 2020, 8:41 AM
Toward peace in the Middle East
I grew up singing songs of peace for Israel.  “Next year we will sit on the terrace and count the birds.”  “If not tomorrow, then the day after.”  “Peace will yet come upon us and on all.”  “Go sing a song of peace, not a...
Jul 9, 2020, 8:03 AM
Symbols of an (un)usable past
In December 2015, I published an opinion in these pages making “the case for Woodrow Wilson,” as Princeton University debated his legacy. Almost five years later, Princeton University announced that it will take Wilson’s name off its prestigious school of public and international affairs, and...
Feb 6, 2020, 9:52 PM
Getting Past the Crucifix
Twenty-five years ago, I spent the summer living in a small Bavarian town, studying German. The plan was to get comfortable in German, taking a language course in a place where few people spoke English and we had to manage in German or go hungry....
Nov 11, 2019, 8:26 PM
Thirty Years Since the End of History
Thirty years ago, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. That day more than any other symbolized what Francis Fukuyama called “the end of history.” The Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War went down with the wall’s crumbling stones. Democratic...
Sep 19, 2019, 1:45 AM
America the Beautiful
America is beautiful. I spent just under three weeks with my family this summer, driving coast to coast and back. Through 7,500 miles, we experienced the vast empty spaces, the wind-swept plains, the majestic mountains, the forests, the deserts, and the sea-battered cliffs. While we...
Jul 19, 2019, 9:15 AM
Is it still the home of the brave?
The president’s suggestion that four non-white Democratic congresswomen “go back” to where they came from has brought the discussion on the nature of being American to a new level. The distance between fact and the president’s rhetoric is instructive in revealing the assumptions that are...
May 9, 2019, 11:47 PM
Why I am keeping my subscription to The New York Times
Illustrative. Man reading the newspaper. (iStock)
For years, friends have been trying to convince me to stop reading The New York Times. Usually they are outraged by its unfair treatment of Israel. Sometimes they are reacting to the overly sympathetic treatment of Israel’s adversaries. These past couple weeks we talked about...
Feb 22, 2019, 11:06 AM
Supreme Court Hastily Executes a Ruling
In a 5-4 split decision on February 7, 2019, the US. Supreme Court allowed a Muslim man to be executed in Alabama without an imam at his side. The decision raises serious concerns about our country’s commitment to interfaith chaplaincy and the way the First...
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About Me
Dr. David J. Fine is the rabbi of Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center in Ridgewood and past president of the North Jersey Board of Rabbis. He holds a doctorate in modern European history and is an adjunct professor of Jewish law at the Abraham Geiger and Zacharias Frankel colleges at the University of Potsdam in Germany.