Laura E. Adkins

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Mar 5, 2021, 1:04 PM

What have we learned in a year turned upside down?

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer's husband, Fred, and their son, George. (courtesy, Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer)

Their writing helped us make sense of a pandemic that was just beginning. Here’s what they’re thinking about as we enter Year 2 (12 excerpts)

Dec 15, 2019, 2:01 PM

Not your grandmother’s kosher latke

A latke topped with caviar. (Getty Images, via JTA)

A New Orleans restaurant serves shrimp, crawfish, fried pig feet, and Hanukkah latkes - which makes perfect sense to me

Sep 10, 2015, 5:11 PM

Lessons learned once the first year fear is gone: from being late to class to creating your own Jewish identity

Jul 9, 2015, 5:22 PM

This is not your conflict

To the outsiders who condemn Israel and leave Hamas unaccountable, you don't know what you're talking about

Mar 27, 2015, 9:38 AM

Israel in focus at NYC universities

During the 'Apartheid Week' anti-Israel fest, some NYU and Columbia students were focusing on truth and peace

Mar 19, 2015, 6:05 AM

The peaceful and the just

Walkouts and noncooperation with anti-Israel speakers will only deepen the chasm between the sides

Jan 21, 2015, 3:03 AM

Between Two Worlds: A Glimpse Through Kerem Shalom

This summer living in Tel Aviv, the Gaza Strip for me and many around the world existed only as the place from whence the rockets and pictures of destruction came and into which Israeli friends my age and hopes...

Nov 21, 2014, 5:09 PM

Now is the Time for Unity

It is almost Shabbat here in New York City. While the rest of the city continues to hum along at its normal unrelenting pace, what happens after sunset as Jews of all stripes join together across NYU is one...

Nov 19, 2014, 10:14 AM

Enough Blood; Celebrate Life

When I first learned of the vicious murders of Rabbis Kupinsky, Goldberg, Levine, Twersky, by Palestinian terrorists, I was in Washington, DC in the midst of an AIPAC summit teaching high school students how to be successful advocates for...

Sep 24, 2014, 3:27 PM

Abbas’s dream

The PA president is warming up for his UN address Friday, but left a New York University audience cold

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About Me

Laura E. Adkins is JTA’s Opinion Editor. She was previously Deputy Opinion Editor at the Forward, where she wrote about data, Orthodoxy, kosher wine, and built interactive maps. Laura has also served as the editor of Jewish Insider and an assistant blogs editor at The Times of Israel. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, SELF, the New York Observer and elsewhere.