Joshua Hammerman, at The Blogs

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Oct 7, 2024, 9:00 PM

Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 Brief – Six Takeaways from Jewish Sources

Here are some passages from Jack Smith's January 6 brief, as seen through the prism of Jewish sources. Let me be clear that I am not endorsing any candidate. I am simply building a response to Donald Trump's oft-repeated accusations...

Sep 29, 2024, 4:43 PM

42 Years Later, Israel and Lebanon get a Do-Over

For Lebanon and Israel, time froze on September 14, 1982, the day the Lebanese president-elect and Phalangist military leader, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated by Syrian agents. The killing of this Christian general sparked a wave of civil violence, culminating in the...

Sep 23, 2024, 9:53 PM

Trust, Truth and Trump (and Netanyahu)

Among the myriad norms shattered by Donald Trump’s decade in presidential politics, the one that seems most damaging and counter to Jewish ethical standards is his degradation of truth. Even more than his disdain for the stranger, his divisiveness,...

Sep 14, 2024, 10:28 PM

Trump’s Springfield blood libel is not funny, for dogs, cats and Jews too

When I heard it I cracked up. Donald Trump’s rant about Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio eating dogs and cats was by far the most LOL moment of the debate. Having heard this completely baseless rumor being juiced up...

Sep 7, 2024, 10:17 AM

Caught Between Heaven and Hell

Labor Day has passed and I feel very strange. After over 40 years in the pulpit rabbinate, I’ve retired to a New England shoreline community that can only be described as paradise. Below are some of the scenes I...

Jul 21, 2024, 3:08 AM

Does God Send Bullets – or Hints?

Last Saturday’s despicable and tragic shooting in Pennsylvania has, as one might expect, become fodder for millions of armchair theologians convinced that God steered that bullet away from a direct hit on Donald Trump. Trump himself has, not surprisingly, promoted...

Apr 1, 2024, 8:36 AM

Was Joe Lieberman ‘Too Jewish’ for American Jews?

The passing of Senator Joseph Lieberman reminds me that there was a time when being an observant Jew was considered a great selling point for a vice presidential or presidential candidate – except among Jews. In 2000, Joe Lieberman blew...

Nov 9, 2023, 2:33 PM

One lesson from Kristallnacht is positively terrifying after Oct. 7

Eighty five years ago, on November 9, 1938, the world faced a massive turning point. A dress rehearsal for mayhem proved that a war could be waged against innocent Jewish civilians, where the nations of the world would not...

Nov 3, 2023, 5:25 PM

The Badass People

I don't know about you, but when it comes to the current state of antisemitism, the term "uptick" doesn't quite reflect the facts on the ground. Last I heard, a thousand percent increase is more than an "uptick." That’s what...

Oct 20, 2023, 7:08 PM

The Botched Gaza Hospital Explosion Story: Fog of War – or Epic Blood Libel?

The “fog of war” has often been used as a convenient excuse for journalistic laziness. But what happened with the Gaza hospital explosion is turning out to be a case of outright malpractice, one that may have cost some...

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About Me

Award-winning journalist, father, husband, son, friend, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El in Stamford, CT. Author of Mensch-Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi – Wisdom for Untethered Times and "Embracing Auschwitz: Forging a Vibrant, Life-Affirming Judaism that Takes the Holocaust Seriously." His Substack column, One One Foot: A Rabbi's Journal, can be found at https://rabbijoshuahammerman.substack.com/ Rabbi Hammerman was a winner of the Simon Rockower award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism, for his 2008 columns on the Bernard Madoff case, which appeared first on his blog and then were discussed widely in the media. In 2019, he received first-prize from the Religion News Association, for excellence in commentary. Among his many published personal essays are several written for the New York Times Magazine and Washington Post. Contact Rabbi Hammerman: joshuah@tbe.org

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